Lido Community Lifeguards Initiative

Proposals
1

Lido DAO Proposal

(Proposed by LEGO Council)

With Lido V2, the newly rolled out Staking Router will allow for dramatically increased community participation in the Lido protocol as part of the node operator set. New stakers from the Community (node operators) will benefit from contributors lending a helping hand in understanding how to interact with these modules. This initiative will require coordination and an active public presence to communicate and engage with the Ethereum staking community. In order to further the goal of a more open, diverse and, permissionless operator set, this proposal outlines a pilot “Community Lifeguards Initiative” (CLI) which would identify and reward community participants who would bring together existing DAO contributors, community stakers, and the wider Ethereum staking community.

Objective

This proposal is for the Lido DAO to fund the Community Lifeguards Initiative Pilot as described below. The full proposed (maximum) funding amounts are described in detail, as are the suggested structures for LEGO collaboration with the CLI.

Community Lifeguards will actively engage with new individual community stakers, work to create knowledge bases and educational content, help organize community initiatives, represent community operators in Lido DAO discussions and working groups, and provide information during Lido Node Operator community calls. Additionally, they will work together with community participants, other LEGO grant recipients, and third parties to shepherd and facilitate the exploration and usage of community tooling, including but not limited to, initiatives such as:

Duration

The Community Lifeguards Initiative pilot is proposed to commence within Q2/23 and last until Q4/23, at which point LEGO and the Lido DAO should consider whether this initiative is worth continuing, expanding, or sunsetting. Within the pilot period, the initially identified Community Lifeguard(s) should effectively support the growth and success of community staker participation through the initial V2 rollout and new module implementation. After that period, it may make sense for the initiative to expand into a committee or workstream of its own to allow for more robustness of execution.

Scope & Responsibilities

  • LEGO shall make an open call for nominees or self-nominated applicants to participate in the Community Lifeguards Initiative (targeting up to ~2-3 full-time equivalents for the pilot). Community Lifeguards may be part-time or full-time. Applications will be open for the length of the pilot, provided there are slots available.
  • Nominees will be vetted by LEGO and accepted, via LEGO Council vote, as members of the Community Lifeguard Initiative.
  • One of the accepted participants shall serve as Coordinator, and join as a guest member of LEGO in order to be involved in the assessment of community staker-focused grants and to report on and assess sub-initiatives / projects.

For the pilot program, a maximum of the below funds should be set aside; if additional amounts are required, they should be requested and approved via a new vote (either LEGO or DAO, depending on the size). Based on the delivery of additional staking router modules that enable community operator entry, it may be reasonable to scale up the amounts below in Q3 and Q4 of 2024.

The funds will be administered by LEGO plus the above-mentioned LEGO-vetted Community Lifeguard Coordinator (where relevant, see below). Roughly, these funds could be utilized in the following manner:

Amount Use of funds Approver
Total Funding Requested: 230K LDO, 50K DAI See below See below
120K LDO (up to) (40K LDO per quarter) Compensation for Community Lifeguards, based on time and quality of contribution (i.e. approximate max of 13.3K LDO/FTE per quarter, where max would indicate of exemplary performance) LEGO (Note, this is not necessarily all to be spent on compensation, but constitutes a maximum)
60K LDO (up to) (20K LDO per quarter) Up to 3K LDO per use as grants towards exemplary participation, value add, or small-scale initiatives in the scope of the initiative (Larger grants can be approved as per normal LEGO approval requirements) LEGO (>= 2 council members) + Community Lifeguard Coordinator
50K LDO (up to), 50K DAI (up to) (In aggregate for Q2-Q4) Taking over the currently directly LEGO-funded solo stakers’ related initiatives (e.g. Stereum grants and Metrika support) Community Lifeguard Coordinator + 1x LEGO Council Member (Must be continuation of previous / existing grants or LEGO grant recipients, otherwise can follow normal LEGO approval)

Vote and operations

This proposal will be suggested for approval by the Lido DAO via Snapshot vote. If accepted - 230K LDO and 50K DAI to be transferred via Easy Track motion to LEGO committee multisig.

Additional 2 / 3 multisig (signers to be 2 LEGO council members and 1 Community Lifeguard Coordinator) to be set up which will receive expected monthly grants limited as per above table. In the future (if the pilot considered successful and the initiative continue is approved by the Lido DAO) it may be extended with other participants to accommodate a greater amounts according to Lido DAO ops multisigs policy.

The multisig address and participants to be provided in replies to this proposal upon settling.

The Community Lifeguards will be responsible for the following tasks

  • Engaging with Lido Community Operators, documenting their concerns, and collecting feedback.
  • Representing the voice of the Community Operators in Lido internal discussions, ensuring that their interests are considered in the decision-making process.
  • Providing regular Community Operator-focused updates during Lido Node Operator community calls.
  • Collaborating with Lido’s marketing and communication teams to develop and implement strategies for increasing Community Operator engagement and awareness.
  • Identifying opportunities for LEGO grants (e.g. community staker tooling) and facilitating the grants process for such initiatives (e.g. via RFPs, one-offs, or repetitive/milestone-grants).
  • Identifying opportunities for collaboration with other Ethereum staking projects and fostering new initiatives within the Ethereum staking community.
  • Participating in community events, webinars, and AMAs as members of the Lido ecosystem and staker community.
  • Creating knowledge bases for stakers interested in participating as Lido Node Operators across different module design types.

Goal

The goal of the Community Lifeguards initiative is to significantly increase and diversify the operators participating in the Lido on Ethereum protocol while fostering a vibrant and inclusive community.

Vision

The Community Lifeguards Initiative envisions a collaborative and supportive environment where all stakeholders can actively engage in the Lido ecosystem. It aims to create a strong sense of community that encourages participation, facilitates knowledge sharing, and fosters innovation within the Ethereum staking community.

Metrics

The success of the initiative can be gauged using the following metrics:

  1. Working closely with contributors, operators, module developers to determine what kinds of potential would be realizable by Q4 2023, and reporting on the results.
  2. Defining what kinds of success metrics may be used by the Lido DAO and contributors to assess the success of an expanded (post Q4 2023) Community Lifeguards Initiative.
  3. Engagement in Lido community channels: Measuring the activity levels in Lido-related community channels (such as Discord, Telegram, and forums) will indicate the level of participation and enthusiasm within the community.
  4. Satisfaction survey results: Conducting periodic surveys to assess community operator satisfaction with the support provided by Community Lifeguards will offer insights into the effectiveness of the initiative.
  5. Educational content created and shared: Tracking the number of knowledge base articles, guides, and tutorials produced by Community Lifeguards will help evaluate their efforts in educating community operators and the wider Ethereum staking community.
  6. Attendance and participation in community events: Measuring the level of engagement in community events, webinars, and AMAs will help assess the impact of the Community Lifeguards initiative.

By monitoring these metrics, LEGO and the Lido DAO will be able to determine the success of the pilot and decide whether to continue, expand, or sunset the Community Lifeguards Initiative after the pilot period. This data-driven approach will ensure that resources are allocated effectively and that the initiative delivers tangible benefits to the Lido ecosystem and the broader Ethereum staking community.

Qualifications

Community Lifeguards should possess the following qualifications

  • Deep understanding of Ethereum staking and familiarity with staking as a solo operator.
  • Familiarity with Lido’s vision, objectives, and technology stack.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to engage and motivate community members.
  • Experience and expertise in creating educational content, simplifying technical writing, and leading community sessions.
  • Community Lifeguards Coordinators may be part-time or full-time.

Conclusion

As Lido V2 introduces the infrastructure for new modules and expands its offering to the Ethereum staking community and solo stakers, having a dedicated Community Lifeguards will be crucial for fostering engagement and ensuring effective communication with community stakeholders.

If you are interested in applying, please contact LEGO. Applications should all be public on the research.lido.fi forums.

Update amount of Lifeguards compensation per quarter in the parenthesis is corrected to reflect correct amount per quarter, i.e. 40K LDO per quarter, as it’s mentioned in the Snapshot.

23 Likes
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This is a great initiative and personally I hope the DAO votes it through because I can’t wait to get the broader staking community more involved in participating in the Node Operator set =)

12 Likes
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Very cool! Looking forward to see how this is iterated upon-- definitely a step in the right direction.

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This is an exciting initiative and is being proposed at a crucial time for the Ethereum staking ecosystem. Lido V2 modules will allow community stakers to be directly involved in the protocol and greatly expand the Lido ecosystem beyond the existing permissioned operator set.

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If decentralization is one of the main value propositions of Ethereum, then how can I help to make Ethereum more decentralized? Solo home staking is the gold standard for Ethereum decentralization, and I would always suggest that as a first option if someone has 32 ETH. But for people with less than 32 ETH, people looking for liquidity, and many other reasons, community staking with Lido should be an option. Not just “an option”, I would like to ensure that it is an attractive, competitive, sustainable, and secure option that enriches the Ethereum ecosystem.

So, with that in mind, I would like to formally apply for the Community Lifeguard Coordinator role :partying_face:

Why would I be the right person for the Lido Community Lifeguard Coordinator role?

As a solo staker and member of the EthStaker community, I have a lot of experience ideally suited to this role. Supporting communities, creating educational resources and a passion for Ethereum staking are what motivates me. Here are some examples of the contributions I’ve made to the Ethereum staking ecosystem.

EthStaker Knowledge Base

In October 2022 I started the EthStaker Knowledge Base. This has grown into a significant resource for neutral and impartial staking information. I continue to maintain and update the content, which helps to keep my knowledge current on all things Ethereum staking-related.

DVStakers Node Operator

DVStakers is an initiative I started in March 2023 as an educational resource to help people learn more about Ethereum DVT staking. As DVT will be an important part of permissionless and community staking V2 modules this knowledge will be useful as the Community Lifeguard Coordinator.

Obol Documentation Writer

Through my work on the EthStaker KB I was asked by Obol to write and update content for their documentation site. This was a great opportunity to deeply understand the nuts and bolts of how DVT works and has been invaluable when supporting the ongoing Lido DVT trials.

Lido DVT Trials

Lido has been running DVT trials, using Obol and SSV, with their existing operator set and a number of community stakers. I have been an active participant in those trials as well as writing the instructions, technical documentation, and providing support. I’ve enjoyed being part of the trials and seeing how Lido functions internally.

Staking Interview

At the Lisbon Staking Summit in 2022 I was interviewed about solo staking. If you’d like to hear me talking about Ethereum staking, showing the passion and enthusiasm that I would bring to this initiative, please take a look :eyes:

To see all of the projects I’ve worked on check out EridianAlpha.com.

What would I hope to achieve in this role?

Inclusivity is incredibly important to me and in the Lido community, everyone must be welcome. EthStaker has the tagline “Welcoming first, knowledgeable second” which I think is a great ethos and one that I would bring to this role and foster within the Lido staking community.

Attending events and speaking about this initiative is something I’d hope to be able to do, as I think it’s a great way to meet the community in person, hear their feedback, concerns and give the initiative a friendly face :slightly_smiling_face:

The ultimate goal though, is to “significantly increase and diversify the operators participating in the Lido on Ethereum protocol” and I have ideas on how this can be achieved in the short, medium, and long term. In the short term, while robust DVT solutions are being actively developed there are ways to launch community staking initiatives that require bonds, or other structures in place to provide the Lido with the security and assurances it needs. In the medium to long term, as the DVT solutions and the Ethereum protocol matures, there will be greater flexibility and opportunity for community stakers to participate in fully trustless, permissionless, and decentralized ways. So, while I understand the end goal of this initiative, I’m also pragmatic and appreciate that we need to act within the current capabilities of the system. With this in mind, I am eager to contribute my ideas and efforts to help the Lido community staking initiative reach its full potential in a secure, sustainable, and inclusive manner.

Conclusion

I love that this is an open initiative on a public forum. It’s a great first step in building a community to show that the leaders are selected transparently. Also, if you’re reading this and considering applying to be a Lido Community Lifeguard, please do! It would be great to work with people who have a wide range of skills and experiences.

If anyone would like to know more about what I could bring to this role, please let me know as I’d love to discuss this in more detail. Thanks!
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23 Likes
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I’m very excited to see this proposal and fully support the vision and metrics for success that are outlined.

Over the next year the Staking Router is going to allow for huge expansion in the number of independent Node Operators participating in the protocol. I believe the Community Lifeguards Initiative can help play a crucial role in expanding awareness to Community Stakers interested in participating as well as offering valuable perspective during the roll-out of future modules.

There are currently over 70 non-Lido Node Operators (solo stakers, community stakers, and other professional operators) currently participating in DVT trials through the Lido registry on Goerli. While these tests have made it clear that there are many parties interested in running validators through Lido modules, it has also highlighted a number of areas that will need further development to ensure efficient execution in the scale-out of new modules. I believe the Community Lifeguards can play a very important role in this regard working with Lido contributors, but still offering nuanced perspective from their experience outside of the Lido ecosystem.

I also would like to voice full support for Eridian as the Coordinator of the initiative. Over the last few months, Eridian has been incredibly helpful in our testing of Distributed Validator Technology with Obol and SSV and has provided very valuable insights in the initial discussions of what a given module might look like, how Node Operators can participate, and how it all ties back to benefiting the Ethereum protocol.

I strongly believe Eridian would provide significant value to both the Lido DAO, as well as the broader Ethereum community as his core focus and prior experiences center around a desire to expand the number of independent Node Operators participating in running Ethereum validators.

12 Likes
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I definitely support this initiative, it’s crucial for the DAO to allot efforts both to evolving the protocol and fostering the community. And this proposal routes the right way towards this direction.

Also appreciate transparency of the way how these roles are proposed and described on the forum.

I’m super happy to see Eridian💜 as an applicant and hope to see more community members here!

10 Likes
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Snapshot vote started

Please get your wallets ready to cast a vote :white_check_mark:, the Lido Community Lifeguards Initiative Snapshot has started! The Snapshots ends on Thu, 01 Jun 2023 18:00:00 GMT.

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Hello all! This is Isaac from KipuStakers. We love the direction Lido has taken with V2 and fully support this proposal, which is why we would love to apply to be a Community Lifeguard.

Here’s some more info about us and what we want to accomplish as part of the program.

What is KipuStakers?

KipuStakers is one of the many initiatives of ETH KIPU, a borderless project co-created by leaders of more than 15 local Ethereum communities all around Latam to maximise the impact of Ethereum in the region. We started with ETHLatam, the biggest Ethereum event in Latam, and are now working on projects ranging from Education to Public Goods and of course, Staking.

Latam is one of the leading regions in crypto adoption, but we currently represent about 0.5% of Ethereum’s nodes. Not only 32 ETH is a prohibitive cost, but we are also lacking awareness and quality content in Spanish. - This is where KipuStakers come in.

We are committed to increasing the representation of Latam in the validator pool. We’ve been chatting with a lot of projects in the space like EthStakers, RocketPool, Obol, dAppNode and more to explore ideas to make this a reality.

Some of our recent work includes*:

  • Educational Twitter Spaces
  • YouTube tutorials
  • Helping with. EthStaker’s Knowledge Base translations (WIP)
  • A report on the state of Staking in the region in our Mirror
  • We also presented at EDCON '23! I’ll update this post with a link to the recording once it’s available.

*Because I’m new to the forum I wasn’t able to add links

The KipuStakers Team

  • Paula Doy, general coordination ETH KIPU & Ethereum Argentina
  • Nico Gallardo, product/BizDev Troop Labs & Ethereum Bolivia
  • Andy Guzman, product owner Privacy & Scaling Explorations (EF) & Ethereum Costa Rica
  • Isaac Gonzalez, project manager Token Engineering Commons & Ethereum Dominicana
  • Rodrigo Benzaquen (advisor), co-founder & ex-CTO SenseiNode

What do we want to accomplish?

It all comes down to representation, geographic distribution and access to opportunities.

Our goal is to be a neutral voice, supporting all initiatives that benefit our communities and individuals, and we recognize the importance of Lido and hope to be the voice of Latin America in Lido’s Community; this is a region with an enormous potential and tremendous reach thanks to the similarities in language and culture.

Some of the things we can help Lido with:

  • Create content and education around the protocol and staking-related technologies.
  • Coordinate with local communities for community initiatives around staking.
  • Engage with solo stakers in the region and help them throughout the process of setting up and running a validator.
  • Provide relevant feedback to Lido’s workstreams about the usage and needs of stakers in the region.

Happy to answer any questions :slight_smile:

10 Likes
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Hi everyone! This is Sam from Stakesaurus. I am probably going to be the newest kid on the block amongst the applicants but am going to give it a shot nonetheless as I believe I am well-positioned to reach the under represented communities in Southeast Asia in a unique way!

Who am I?

I started Stakesaurus to help the people in Southeast Asia (SEA) get started on running their own home-based validators and build a grassroots community of self-sovereign node operators here. I emphasize on an education-first approach with the goal of minimising trust assumptions for my community - starting from my home grounds of Singapore and Malaysia.

With that in mind, I mainly do 3 things:

  1. Set up, operate, knowledge transfer -

    *I help individuals with a guided setup of their home validator nodes and run these nodes for them (with minimal trust assumptions) while transferring the operational knowhow to them over time. The goal is for them to run their own nodes as “amateur technicians” while I remain available to them as a consultant to continue improving their craft

    *Today I co-run 14 validator nodes remotely with my customers in Singapore and Malaysia, with 40 more keen learners in my community that I am inducting as new ETH node operators. It’s still a small community currently but numbers on both ends are growing steadily!

  2. Education for aspiring node operators -

    *I conduct pro-bono hands-on sessions for students (often without technical backgrounds) to get a feel of spinning up their own testnet validator nodes on the cloud. I provide fit-for-purpose guides and continue to keep my lines open for troubleshooting help.

    *I am doing this because I believe that cultivating the talent pool for new node operators is most impactful for this demographic. I will be expanding these efforts to seed the student communities in the broader SEA countries. I also do minimally-paid sessions with working adults - just enough to cover operating expenses so that I can do this sustainably.

    *I write to a broader audience about running nodes as one of the skillsets everyone should consider picking up to secure their place in the new Web3 economy in my newsletter - https://stakesaurus.beehiiv.com/ - This serves nicely as a “top of funnel” strategy.

  3. Spearheading grassroots community efforts for DVT adoption and other new initiatives -

    *I keep up to date with developments around DVTs and other initiatives (eg. Staking Router) that are helpful for convincing new Web3 participants to take up the mantle of node operators

    *I have applied to participate in the next DVT trials and will be creating guides + conduct training for my community in the meantime

    *I am rallying other node operators in this region to run clusters using DVT

Why me?

Diversification of node operators through Singapore / Southeast Asia:

The importance of decentralisation across all layers have been highlighted by the recent events of the Prysm/Teku non-finalisation issues and MEV relays aligning with OFAC censorship.

Singapore is a severely under represented geography for solo node operators with only 426 nodes despite having large investment flows in the Web3 space. Not to mention that there are only 483 nodes in the whole of Southeast Asia, with 11 countries and 11 different regulatory jurisdictions.

This means that there is a huge opportunity for both geographical and jurisdictional diversification by seeding the solo node operator communities in Southeast Asia, to which the Staking Router module can be a huge catalyst for.

Leveraging VC network in SEA hypercharge node operator communities:

I spent the last 5 years as a VC investor in SEA and built a strong network amongst the VCs and local Web3 + Fintech brands here as a result.

This puts me in a good position to get the VC community involved in the movement of cultivating the node operator talent pool. 3 reasons why they would like to be involved:

  1. Impact is a huge investment theme in SEA both for the VCs themselves and their own investors. The best businesses to back often solve large social problems as well - eg. financial inclusion, uplifting the underserved. Investors of VC funds want to know how there is an impact angle. A large proportion of the SEA population still live below minimum wage levels and empowering them to be node operators is a way to uplift them out of poverty levels

  2. VCs have always been making efforts to give back to the community as part of their branding efforts - eg. working with schools to advise students pro-bono, opening up templates for legal docs and investment decks

  3. VCs need to rehab their image following the barrage of negative press related to bad investments made over the past 2 years. i.e. Supporting initiatives around public goods is a natural fit

What do I want to achieve?

  1. Create a movement where Web3 participants in SEA look up to and aspire to be node operators
  2. Run co-branded community engagement activities with local VCs and Web3 brands
  3. Induct aspiring node operators in underserved communities in SEA with the goal to improve their standard of living
  4. Serve as a voice for the node operator communities in SEA using the Staking Router and a feedback channel for Lido

Please feel free to ask me any questions to know more!

9 Likes
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@enti @Stakesaurus your applications look great! Let’s set up a Telegram group so we could arrange a call to talk about this initiative and what we could all bring to it :slight_smile: I’m @Eridian on Telegram :iphone: (and @Eridian on Twitter if you’d prefer to connect that way).

8 Likes
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@Eridian sounds like a great idea! Let’s chat on Telegram - pinged you there :mechanical_arm:

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Snapshot vote ended

The Lido Community Lifeguards Initiative Snapshot has passed! :partying_face:
The results are:
For: 55.3M LDO
Against: 833 LDO

5 Likes
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Greetings Lido Community! I’m Nneoma, a Governance Analyst at StableLab. I’m super excited to present our application for the Community Lifeguard role and glad to see that this passed in the recent Snapshot vote. With a background in Developer Relations, technical education, and community stewardship, I believe I am well suited to help support and enhance Lido’s Staker and Node Operator community. Below, I’ve outlined more details about StableLab and our vision should we have the honor to serve as a Community Lifeguard.

About StableLab

StableLab is a governance firm specializing in comprehensive services and products for DAOs. We work with numerous DeFi DAOs on Ethereum, propelling governance forward through active participation and research. Our work extends across major DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO, Optimism, Aave, 1inch, Balancer, Element, Compound, and Uniswap. We formulate systematic frameworks for DAOs that encompasses governance methodologies, decentralized workforce, implementation, documentation, communication, and community engagement. Through our parent company, StableNode, we maintain and operate nodes for networks such as Ronin, Polygon, Hashport, and more. Most notably, our role as Governing Validator and the 3rd largest validator on Ronin which empowers us to influence decisions that shape the future of the network.

Why StableLab?

We’re deeply committed to each DAO we work with, often assuming key roles on committees and working groups to help promote community engagement and sustainably grow the DAO. We currently hold a seat on the Uniswap Accountability Committee, where we actively contribute to key operational processes within the Uniswap DAO. As Recognized Delegates at the 1inch DAO, we frequently host community calls on the DAO’s behalf, providing key updates and helping educate the broader community.

Our team’s diverse background brings a nuanced perspective to our work, informed by our extensive experience across various protocols, including Lido. We joined the Lido DAO in March of 2023 as active delegates, championing the protocol’s path to decentralization. Additionally, our direct involvement in node operation ensures skin in the game, allowing us to share informed perspectives about staking and validator operations. My personal background in Developer Relations facilitates effective communication and connection with technical and non-technical communities and would be nicely honed in this role.

Our Goals as Community Lifeguard

The introduction of the Staking Router in Lido V2 marks a pivotal moment for the protocol’s future. Cultivating and engaging a diverse community around this development is paramount to the protocol’s longevity. As Community Lifeguards, we see an opportunity to establish a more robust ecosystem that not only represents Node Operators and Stakers but also incentivizes collaboration among various staking providers, including potential competitors.

Below are some ways we aim to contribute as a Lido Community Lifeguard:

  1. Enhance education and engagement around the Lido protocol and its staking-related technologies through multifaceted initiatives including community forum discussions, workshops, and other interactive initiatives.
  2. Foster a supportive environment for community initiatives around staking by providing resources, guidance, and support.
  3. Assist Solo Stakers in setting up and running validators through step-by-step guides, troubleshooting support, and sharing best practices.
  4. Establish a Lifeguard feedback loop between the Staker community and Lido’s Workstreams to help shape improvements and innovations in the Lido ecosystem.
  5. Advocate for Lido’s Distributed Validator Technology in other communities we’re affiliated with
  6. Educate Stakers and Node Operators on the nuances of DAO governance, brainstorming on concepts like the dual governance model
  7. Foster inter-DAO synergies between Lido DAO and other DAOs we are affiliated with

Please drop any questions or comments you may have below. I look forward to hearing from you all!

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Why do I hope to apply to become a lifeguard for Lido?

  1. Early involvement with a professional team: I joined a professional team - Ebunker in the early stages of the staking track. Our team’s founder was previously in charge of staking business, managing over $3 billion staked crypto assets. Our technical team is also top-notch and has been responsible for building the technical architecture and development of staking services for several leading exchanges. I have always had a deep understanding and appreciation for Lido’s model and governance since the early days. Having the opportunity to learn from the best has allowed me to accumulate in-depth knowledge and understanding of Lido and staking. The knowledge and support I have showered by the Lido community since day one make me highly value the opportunity to contribute to the active community.

  2. As a latecomer and continuous learner: Admittedly, compared to the many outstanding members of the Lido community, I cannot claim to be a crypto OG… However, as a latecomer and constant learner, I have proven myself through transitions from a designer and educator to an investment firm professional and entrepreneur. Lido was the first project I came across when exploring the staking track. Within the Lido community, I have also benefited from the wealth of staking-related knowledge and technical discussions. Therefore, I hope to have the opportunity to give back to the community and assist newcomers and other users in answering their questions and addressing their difficulties.

Additionally, as an Asian woman working in the staking industry, I have noticed that female representation is still relatively rare. Every encounter with a female collaborator has always made me feel a sense of closeness and warmth. I hope to encourage more women working in the infrastructure-related track and represent Lido with my kindness and patience in serving more community members.

Why can I be a qualified lifeguard for Lido?

  1. Bringing diversity to the Lido community: Based on previous exchanges with the Lido team, I have a deep understanding of Lido’s emphasis on decentralization and the efforts they have made in this regard. Leveraging the rich industry resources my team and I have accumulated in the Asia-Pacific region, including industry VCs, asset management institutions, potential collaborative projects, and communities, I can greatly enhance the diversity of Lido community nodes. Moreover, in my personal capacity, I can be responsible for covering time zones friendly to the Asia-Pacific region and overseeing this vibrant sea , making sure no one takes an unexpected dip! :wink:

  2. Experience with solo staking: I have experience with solo staking. I have been involved in the operation of non-custodial nodes through our staking service and the deployment of self-developed PoS mining machine hardware. I have experience in setting up and managing Ebunker non-custodial node service clusters using Geth and Prysm/Lighthouse clients, which provides a better user experience for solo stakers in terms of staking and node deployment operations.

  3. Passion and understanding of Lido: I have a deep passion for Lido and a thorough understanding of its purpose. Ethereum PoS enables every user to participate in Ethereum consensus, but the barriers are still high for the majority of users. For example, users need to generate validator private keys, own 32 ETH, and maintain their own nodes, which can be challenging for non-technical individuals. $stETH perfectly solves these problems by reducing the entry barriers for joining ETH PoS, allowing non-technical users to participate and earn stable rewards, which makes me a HODLer of $LDO.

  4. Experience and insider perspective from DVT testing: I have firsthand experience with DVT testing for SSV and Obol, as well as a deep understanding of DVT technology. Our team members and I have participated in the SSV test network from 2021 to 2023, gaining a deep understanding of SSV DVT’s operation and actively addressing identified issues. We have also been involved in Obol’s Bia public test network, running validator clusters and participating in Obol’s Alpha mainnet testing. We are excited about the development brought by DVT technology and hope to witness new opportunities alongside Lido and the community.

What do I hope to achieve in this role?
The high-quality content and open and friendly atmosphere of the Lido community have always fascinated me. Lido’s contributions to the staking ecosystem, its focus on decentralization, robustness, and staking experience, are evident and commendable. I have had the privilege of experiencing and understanding the overarching goals and pursuits throughout this process and I am eager to participate and contribute to the thriving community. :heart:

8 Likes
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Hey! I’m super excited for the passing of this proposal as community lifeguards will be essential to helping Lido move in a path towards becoming more trustless and rely less on the curated validator set, while also creating foundational content and material for others working on staking technology in the space.

Lido has already set the standard for unlocking access to staked ETH for regular individuals through stETH, Lido V2 will only continue to diverse the validator ecosystem with the introduction of solo stakers, DAOs, and DVT (distributed validator technology) clusters. This process of moving towards decentralization in validator sets will not only benefit Lido, but the rather Ethereum community as a whole.

With that being said, I am defiyeti and I would like to formally apply for a role as a Lido Community Lifeguard Coordinator.

Why Me?

  • Solo Staker: I am currently a solo staker who has experience setting up an at-home node service clusters using Geth and Prysm/Lighthouse clients.

    • I also have an surface level understanding of minority clients, such as Teku, Lodestar, and Nimbus. I think it’s imperative to learn, educate, and utilize these clients to help improve the protocol’s client diversity.

  • Data-Driven Insights: I have a strong grasp of on-chain analytics and have created many Dune dashboards to help projects. ie. RTFKT & QiDao, visualize their data on-chain through my personal work and through my research collective that I head, 3 Step Capital (@3stepcap on Dune).
    source: @defiyeti & @3stepcap on Dune.com

  • DVT Trials: While I have not been directly involved in the current Lido DVT trials. I have been been playing around with some of the testnets and keeping up with the progress, such as Obol’s Athena Public Testnet and SSV’s Shifu testnet. I also understand the importance of smooth coordinated distributed key generation (DKG) ceremonies.

  • Personal Work Experience: I am currently the Lead Solution Architect at Bitwave (leading enterprise tax+reporting tool for crypto companies), where I lead all of sales engineering. I have extensive experience working closely with staking providers, and also submitting and evaluating RFPs proposal and milestone-driven grants. Additionally, I started at the company as the first customer success hire and worked closely with staking providers to understand their pain points, document their issues, and follow through with a resolution all being tracked using Agile methodologies.

What do I hope to achieve?

  • Create high-quality technical and educational content tailored towards various stakeholders (ie. Node Validators, DVT software creators, solo stakers, etc.)
    • As I was browsing Dune’s Projects section, I realized other major protocols had pages but Lido did not. Therefore, I made some open source contributions to Dune to create a profile for Lido and aggregate some of the brilliant dashboards. source
  • Assist with the onboarding of new solo stakers into the Lido ecosystem with high-quality resources and sessions
  • Create a Lifeguard feedback loop connecting the staker community with Lido’s workstreams in order to actively contribute to the enhancement and advancement of the Lido ecosystem.
  • Establish close collaborations with DVT technology providers (ie. SSV & Obol) and seamlessly onboarding new projects to leverage this cutting-edge innovations.
    • A large problem is crypto is the lack of high-quality documentation when it comes to some of technology. I hope to tackle this by creating this content via guides, posts, etc. and educating others through videos, workshops, and webinars.

I am super excited for the creation of this role and would love to be considered. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns!

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@Emilie_hifi @defiyeti both your applications look awesome! We’ve set up a Telegram group so we can talk about this initiative directly and what we could all bring to it :slight_smile: I’m @Eridian on Telegram :iphone: (and @Eridian on Twitter if you’d prefer to connect that way).

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Is there a recording of your presentation yet? Would love to check it out!

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Yes it is! Can’t edit the OP so here are a few links with some of our work and presentations:

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Hi everyone!

I am excited to submit my application for the Lido Community Lifeguard role. With a strong passion for Ethereum, extensive experience in the ecosystem, and a commitment to community engagement, I believe I am well-suited to contribute to the success and growth of the Lido ecosystem and staking community.

Background:

I have participated in the Ethereum staking ecosystem for the past few years, gaining valuable insights along the way. As member of the CryptoManufaktur team, I have been intimately involved in managing, scaling and maintaining infrastructure for thousands of validators. Through this experience, I have developed a deep understanding of the intricacies of staking and the importance of secure and reliable operations.

I am actively helping to maintain eth-docker to continually improve it to meet the needs of stakers and wrote the eth-jit-exiter to enable NOs to send Voluntary Exit messages without pre-signing them or re-creating them after forks.

Goals:

By providing comprehensive resources and conducting workshops on running validators using eth-docker and implementing monitoring, being present in Ethereum conferences and engaging in broader community outreach initiatives, in both English and Spanish, I aim to empower individuals from diverse backgrounds to participate in the Ethereum ecosystem.

I am eager to collaborate with other node operators in the Ethereum ecosystem. By forging strong partnerships and alliances, we can collectively work towards enhancing the decentralization, security, and inclusivity of Ethereum staking. I am committed to fostering an environment of knowledge sharing, open dialogue, and collaboration, ensuring that the Lido community remains at the forefront of Ethereum staking advancements.

Conclusion:

I am thrilled at the prospect of serving as a Lido Community Lifeguard and contributing to the growth and success of the Ethereum ecosystem. My technical experience, deep understanding of Ethereum staking, and commitment to community engagement make me well-equipped for this role. I am eager to work closely with the community, node operators, and other stakeholders to further decentralization, foster innovation, and create a vibrant and inclusive Ethereum staking community.

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Hey, Lido community!

LEGO comes bearing fantastic news! After carefully reviewing all the applications for our proposed initiative, we are thrilled to announce that @Eridian’s application for the role of Lido Community Lifeguards Coordinator has been approved by the LEGO Council!

Congratulations to Eridian, who will be leading the charge as the driving force behind this initiative. With their incredible passion and expertise, we are confident they will pave the way for a successful launch.
Eridian together with @Aleksandra_G and @dgusakov are to develop a further plan of moving the initiative further and to review and propose to LEGO council the best candidates to engage into the project, stay tuned!

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