The NOM contributor workstream on behalf of the Lido Node Operator Subgovernance Group (LNOSG) would like to provide an update regarding the results for Stage 2 of the Lido on Ethereum Wave 5 Onboarding LNOSG evaluations that took place over two meetings (on Wednesday August 30th and Tuesday September 5th, 2023).
Onboarding Round Update
At the Stage 2 application deadline, a total of 117 applications were received, and 111 were eligible for evaluation when taking into account duplicate applications and the 2 Node Operators onboarded during Stage 1.
Evaluation Results
During the evaluation discussion, the LNOSG suggested 7 applicants should be proposed for the Stage 2 shortlist for onboarding onto Lido on Ethereum, in addition to the 2 Node Operators onboarded during Stage 1. A total of 9 Node Operators are being proposed for onboarding during the Wave 5 evaluation.
The 7 additional shortlist candidates proposed by the LNOSG were deemed to appropriately reflect the onboarding goals outlined in the Lido Operator Set Strategy and the “Factors to Consider’’ section of the onboarding announcement.
The operators proposed for onboarding are running active mainnet validators, using a diverse mix of execution layer and consensus layer clients, using non-public cloud hosting for their primary infrastructure, and generally running validators out of underrepresented geographies.
Shortlisted applicants have been asked to confirm their desire to join the Lido on Ethereum 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.
In the case of a shortlisted applicant being unable to join the set, an additional applicant was selected by the LNOSG as a wait-listed candidate that will be proposed to the DAO as a replacement only in the event that not all of the 7 proposed operators are able to move forward.
With a record number of applications received for this onboarding round, the LNOSG evaluation process was extremely competitive. In the near future, it is possible that additional methods of running validators using the Lido protocol will become available. Non-shortlisted candidates are encouraged to continue monitoring Lido communication channels and sign up for future initiatives such as Lido DVT testing.
During the final meeting on September 5, 2023, the LNOSG suggested to propose the following applicants for inclusion into the node operator set for the Ethereum protocol:
Shortlist (in alphabetical order):
Numic (a brand of QUTY Group Pty Ltd, ACN 634265204)
You can find the full PDF with summary statistics and the LNOSG meeting recordings of the introduction and conclusion of the first meeting, as well as the final conclusion and shortlist proposal 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/14gzDp3tXilGZazyXCEVejxvxbLW656kP
Shortlisted and non-shortlisted applicants have been emailed notifying them of the results and are welcome to reach out via email to [email protected] for further clarification.
Governance voting
A snapshot will be proposed in the coming days and the link will be added here: The snapshot will be for the inclusion of the 7 (or fewer, in case applicants cannot continue) Ethereum 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 teams can execute faster), the NOM workstream will collaborate with the respective teams to onboard the new node operators onto relevant communication channels and prepare operators for inclusion onto mainnet by completing preparatory work on the Goerli testnet. The estimated timeline for the seven potential new node operators to be fully on mainnet is late September.