Announcement: Lido on Solana Wave 3 Onboarding

Node Operators
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As discussed in the Solana Wave 2 evaluation update, the LNOSG determined that a separate evaluation should be held to evaluate node operators interested in joining the Solana staking ecosystem (i.e. without current nodes on mainnet) with the help of Lido. As a result of these discussions, the LNOSG has decided to propose another small shortlist of operators (which the DAO can choose to ratify or not) not currently running active mainnet nodes with delegation. This is basically a pilot, in order to determine to what extent and how easy it is to bring brand new operators to the Solana validator set and thus we expect that the first round (especially given the current depressed rate of the market) to be a very small one (i.e. one or two shortlisted applicants).

This proposal by the LNOSG demonstrates Lido’s continued effort to decentralize the protocols on which we operate (in this case by improving validator diversity).

Applying

If you are a Node Operator interested in joining the Lido on Solana Node Operator set, you may submit an application by following the link in the Node Operator Portal or directly HERE.

As this onboarding round’s goal is to onboard net new operators to the Solana ecosystem, we kindly ask that if you are currently running an active mainnet node with delegation to wait for the next Solana onboarding round.

If you are not currently running a Solana validator and have applied in a previous round but weren’t selected for the short-list, you may indicate that you have already applied and you will not need to fill out the entire form. Alternatively, you may choose to re-fill out the form in case you wish to add additional details to your application.

Deadline

The application form will be open from August 2 - August 15 23:59 UTC.

Evaluation Criteria

  • Operators running active Solana mainnet nodes with delegation are ineligible.
  • Professional organization with demonstrated experience validating on other networks.
  • Experience running a validator on the Solana testnet would be a benefit.
  • Ability to run a node out of a datacenter with low Solana saturation.
  • Proof of Team call with notes made available to LNOSG members unable to join.
  • Operator agrees to publicly commit to working with the Lido on Solana team to reach a baseline of performance within a reasonable amount of time (e.g. 3 months) of joining the set, otherwise give up their slot to another operator.

Evaluation and Onboarding

Applications will be evaluated by the Lido Node Operator Sub-governance Group (LNOSG) in August and a proposed shortlist will be sent to the DAO for approval. Given the close timing with Solana Wave 2 and nature of this round being a pilot program in bringing on new validators to the ecosystem, we expect to only onboard a very small amount of operators (most likely 1, potentially 2 in a special case).

Please note that being shortlisted is not a guarantee that you will be onboarded. The DAO ultimately chooses who will be onboarded, and we will be cognizant of DAO and/or community requests to review and propose further options if they are deemed necessary.

EDIT:
The proposed Wave 3 onboarding shortlist has gone to Snapshot proposal here: Snapshot

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a good try to onboard some non-Solana mainnet validators.

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We would like to update you with the results of the onboarding application evaluations that took place Tuesday, September 6th.

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Evaluation Results

The Lido Node Operator Subgovernance Group (LNOSG) decided to nominate two applicants for the proposed shortlist for onboarding onto Lido on Solana, as well as one waitlisted candidate.

Shortlisted applicants have been asked to confirm their desire to join the Lido on Solana operator set. In case they do not reply affirmatively in a timely manner, or for some other reason cannot join this round, they will not be onboarded and will need to re-apply in a future round.

Upon confirmation of their interest, they will be asked to publicly commit in this thread to working with the Lido on Solana team to reach a mutually agreed baseline of performance within a reasonable amount of time, or otherwise give up their slot to the waitlisted operator as suggested by the Evaluation Criteria.

We had solid turnout this round with 21 total applicants, though five were excluded from consideration due to active mainnet nodes and two voluntarily withdrew their applications. Given that this onboarding round is essentially a pilot program to determine how feasible it is for Lido to bring net new operators to the Solana ecosystem, it was determined that onboarding two operators was appropriate at this time. Of the two operators proposed for the shortlist, one is new to the Lido Node Operator set and the other is an active Lido on Ethereum Node Operator.

During the meeting on September 6, 2022, the LNOSG decided to propose the following applicants for inclusion into our node operator set for the Solana protocol:

Shortlist (in alphabetical order):

H2O Nodes

Kukis-Global

The following candidate was waitlisted, meaning they will be officially proposed to the DAO for onboarding if either of the shortlisted candidates are not successfully onboarded or if they display sustained poor performance over the coming months.

Waitlist:

Cryptomanufaktur

You can find the full PDF with summary statistics and the recordings of the introduction and conclusion to the LNOSG evaluation meeting in the public drive below. Due to the privileged/confidential nature of some of the information provided in some of the applications, the portion of the call where applications were discussed in detail was not recorded.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-_3cI-imG4M4v45FksYtq0xohm5SeV9f?usp=sharing

Both shortlisted and non-shortlisted applicants have been emailed notifying them of the results. Where relevant, applicants who were not shortlisted also received comments regarding potential ways to improve their application in future rounds should they wish to reapply. If for some reason you applied but did not receive an email, please reach out to [email protected].

Governance voting

A snapshot will be proposed in the coming days and the link will be added here: snapshot link. The snapshot will be for the inclusion of the 2 (or fewer, in case applicants cannot continue) Solana Operators. Should the DAO disagree with any of the proposed applicants, request additional information, or otherwise request additional input for the onboarding, the LNOSG will reconvene to propose a next course of action.

Next Steps

Following DAO approval (or during the vote optimistically so that we can execute faster), we will coordinate with the respective teams to onboard the new node operators onto Lido’s communication channels and prepare operators for inclusion onto mainnet. The estimated timeline for the new node operators to be fully on mainnet is sometime mid-to-late September.

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Hi Lido DAO, I’m Max from H2O Nodes! I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves.

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We are strong believers in liquid staking, but are concerned by the over-reliance of many blockchains and staking pools on cloud-based validators. We offer our experience with on-prem infrastructure to improve the diversity of Lido’s node operator set.

Our team has a combined 75 years of experience running on-prem infrastructure and is led by Daniel Urstöger, who with two decades of experience has served in roles such as Head of IT for CHECK24. We are also joined by Dr. Alexander T. Scheuwimmer, president of the Austrian Lawyers Association, who will ensure that we will remain on top of regulations here in Austria. On my part, in the years since first mining Bitcoin in 2013 I’ve become passionate about Proof of Stake, developing a narrative around Proof of Stake as a superior source of yield, publishing research highlighting the decentralization of Solana, the energy efficiency of Proof of Stake, and furthered the conversation around validator decentralization also together with Lido.

In the future, we’d look forward to working with Lido to improve the onboarding and monitoring of validators, publishing enough information about our infrastructure to satisfy institutional stakers, and experimenting with new technologies like MEV, Distributed Validator Technology, zkRollup validation, and new Layer 1 chains.

On behalf of the team at H2O Nodes, I’d like to thank the LNOSG for their vote of confidence in us, and we hope that this confidence can be shared by the broader Lido DAO. To read more about our motivation, team, and infrastructure please visit h2o-nodes.com, and feel free to ask us any questions here in the forum!

Sincerly,

-Max, H2O Nodes co-founder and managing director

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Snapshot voting is now live and waiting for your votes!

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I believe this is the correct link for the snapshot vote :wink:
(That link was the previous onboarding)

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Good call. We’ve updated the OP as well to reflect htis

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Hey everyone!

We are excited to have the opportunity to join the shortlist! As always, we are available to answer any questions the DAO may have while it votes on onboarding.

Andrew
CTO | Kukis Global

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The Snapshot vote has passed, congratulations to H2O Nodes and Kukis Global. Welcome to the Lido on Solana Node Operator set!

Over the coming days we will coordinate with both teams to begin the mainnet onboarding process. Both operators are expected to be active on mainnet by the end of the month.

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As discussed in the Solana Wave 3 onboarding criteria, both of the new onboarded operators should commit to working with the Lido on Solana team to reach a baseline level of performance. After analyzing cluster-wide metrics across the past ten epochs (~ 1 month of data), the Lido on Solana and NOM team determined that Uptime, Vote Success Rate, and Block Production Rate are appropriate metrics to track for these new operators.

During the coming months the Lido on Solana team will monitor the performance of H2O Nodes and Kukis Global’s validators to confirm they both can sustainably operate performant validators that will reliably score above the determined metrics over the long-term. In the event that either operator does not operate a reliably performant validator, the waitlisted operator Cryptomanufaktur will be proposed as a replacement.

Upon the team’s analysis, the following standards were determined to be an appropriate level of performance for operators to work towards:

  • Uptime above the cluster average - 1 standard deviation
  • Vote Success Rate above the cluster average - 1 standard deviation
  • Block Production Rate above the cluster average - 1 standard deviation

Both H2O Nodes and Kukis Global will publicly commit in this thread to working with the Lido on Solana team to demonstrate they can reliably operate high quality Solana validators as members of the operator set and achieve these performance criteria.

The Lido on Solana and Node Operator Management team will provide an update over the coming months on both operators performance, while also taking into account the pending Protocol Upgrade Proposal.

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H2O Nodes looks forward to working together with Lido over the coming months, in order to demonstrate consistently high performance on our validator!

We are happy to report that during our first month of mainnet validation, we’ve brought our performance to a very high level. (As shown on validators.app, we are usually voting at the most recent slot (“0”) or one slot behind. (“1”))

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We welcome members of the Lido DAO and the general public to keep track of our validator’s real-time performance on validators.app here, or at Stakewiz here. (Please note that our overall StakeWiz score is overwritten to zero because Lido’s setup requires the validator to set a 100% commission.)

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It is essential for us to show that we can maintain this high level of performance consistently over time, specifically on the metrics set by Lido outlined above. (Uptime, Vote Success Rate, and Block Production Rate) We look forward to this next period where we will demonstrate consistently high validator performance. We are also looking forward to the protocol upgrade proposal and the improvements it will bring to Lido on Solana.

Again we are grateful to both the LNOSG and the Lido DAO for your vote of confidence in us, and are very happy to be a part of the Lido node operator set on Solana! Please reach out or comment here if you have any questions or concerns for us, otherwise you can read more about us at h2o-nodes.com.

Sincerely,

-Max, H2O Nodes co-founder and managing director

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We (Kukis Global) look forward to working with Lido on Solana team and other node operators to ensure we are performing well above the cluster average and committing to the performance criteria mentioned above.

During our first month, we managed to operate on an outstanding level (well above the cluster average), and we aim to maintain this performance in the future.

The performance of our validator can be tracked on

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Upwards and onwards!

Andrew
CTO | Kukis Global

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