Strategic Validator Liquidation in Proof-of-Stake Tokenomics

Proof-of-Stake token economies contain a feedback loop between validator liquidation, token price, user demand, participation, and security. We study this loop using a validator-user simulation and empirical game-theoretic analysis. Continuous liquidation policies are reduced to three interval-based meta-strategies; simulation payoffs form a heuristic payoff table; and, Alpha-Rank identifies equilibrium liquidation intervals. Across an 81-regime market-protocol sweep, market environment is the main organising axis: bear and sideways regimes select the High liquidation interval, while bull regimes select the Medium interval. A supplementary drift sweep localises the High-to-Medium transition. The results show that within the simulated grid, equilibrium adaptation is primarily scenario-driven, while bonded security remains close to saturation. However, high bonded security does not eliminate fragility, which can still arise through price-demand-participation feedback.