# Incentives & Penalties ## Incentives As a public utility, anyone can become a mediator of the Joint Protocol, helping to solve disputes. However, mediators spend time and money to perform these duties. On Joint protocol, the mediator role is incentivized. Joint will reward mediators to solve disputes and keep the protocol lively. ## Slashing The Joint protocol considers the mediator critical to the protocol's success, as such irresponsible behaviours, mistakes, or incompetence will not be tolerated. To reduce misbehaviours, the protocol causes economic loss to mediators who are not following the rules by burning a fraction of the security bond associated with their ticket. There are two situations where a mediator's security deposit is slashed: * A fraction of the mediator's security deposit is slashed when a drafted mediator does not vote for the majority verdict. * A drafted mediator will be slashed when they do not vote or complete all the vote procedures. Slashed security bonds will be burned - This will serve as a deflationary mechanism for the native token. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.joint.exchange/concepts/dispute-resolution/incentives-and-penalties.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.