A Lisk username is a unique name that you can assign to your LSK address. While the main purpose of a username is to create a Lisk delegate address, users may choose to simply have a name for an account as well.

The following are the rules for selecting a Lisk username:

• It must be a unique name (not already registered by another account);
• You can use only lowercase letters. Uppercase letters are not accepted;
• You may use numbers (0-9);
• Special characters may include any of the following: !@$&_.
• It must be between 1-20 characters long.

To register a Lisk username, you must send a Delegate Registration transaction. Note that this type of transaction costs a minimum of 10 LSK tokens. The easiest way to do this is through Lisk Desktop.

Once you login to your account on Lisk Desktop, click "Wallet" on the left hand side. Then, click "Register delegate" under Balance.

Next a pop-up will appear explaining how registering a delegate works and how delegates are selected to secure the network. At this point, you can enter your desired username name, then click the "Go to confirmation" button.

A final pop-up will then appear. This pop-up will show a summary of the Delegate registration transaction. After confirming its accuracy, you may click the "Register delegate" button to submit your transaction to the Lisk network. Once submitted, your username will be tied to your Lisk account.

Every new block round (103 blocks), the top 101 active delegates by vote weight and 2 randomly selected standby delegates become eligible to forge a new block. The minimum required delegate vote weight for this eligibility is 1000 LSK.

For a more in depth look at how vote weight is calculated for the Lisk voting system, and how users can vote through Lisk Desktop, read our blog post on the Lisk Voting Process.

In order to become an active Lisk Delegate, a substantial amount of vote weight must be secured. While this may not be a hurdle for large LSK token holders, some will need to attract votes from the community.

To find more information on how voters may choose which delegate(s) to vote for, read our How to Find Lisk Delegates? blog post.