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Validator Migrations Initiative

Diva Staking is still under development, and there's already an Early Staker initiative to allow people to commit ETH for its launch.

However, there is still no equivalent initiative for Operators. This page presents a proposal made by The Staking Foundation, currently under discussion.

Context for this initiative​

Several large ETH holders approached The Staking Foundation, committing to run Diva nodes and deposit ETH collateral.

They have committed to staking 21,504 ETH to be used as Diva collateral. This will contribute by providing both ETH TVL as well as Operator capacity in the network.

These Operators expect to improve their staking operations by using Diva's DVT and earning additional Operator rewards.

The Foundation, following its mandate to distribute DIVA to network participants, has accepted their commitments and has offered DIVA grants from their own endowment to ensure there are network participants running fully collateralized nodes with verifiable performance for mainnet.

  • Current commitments are fully allocated with DIVA from the Foundation's treasury.
  • The Foundation suggests extending this initiative to the entire Diva community so all validators can participate.

If the program extension is approved by the community, the Foundation proposes that further commitments obtain their own DIVA allocations from the DAO, without interfering in any way with the Early Stakers allocations or tranche calculations.

Proposed initiative​

This initiative is aimed at Ethereum node operators running one or more 32Ξ Ethereum validators on mainnet If you'd like to join with any amount of ETH, check the Early Staker initiative instead, or suggest ways to allow operators to join with amounts smaller than 32Ξ.

Proposal: Allow Ethereum mainnet operators to commit to an Ethereum Validator Migration to support the launch of Diva.

This is a draft for community discussion. The format is made to align with the signaling mechanism The Staking Foundation has requested from existing commitments.

If this proposal goes forward, incentive structures should be discussed.

  • What: A mechanism for Operators to commit ETH to be used in Diva as operator collateral
  • Why: This benefits Diva by providing active nodes and staking capacity for Liquid Stakers.
    • With more ETH from Operators, Diva can ensure a smooth launch.
    • Without this, Diva might suffer from not having enough nodes with sufficient ETH collateral. This creates a risk that ETH doesn’t get 100% staked, thus reducing Diva's APR.
  • How: A non-custodial signaling process has been proposed to commit Operator ETH and demonstrate their ability to run nodes with high performance:
  1. Operator commits an ETH amount in multiples of 32Ξ.
  2. Pre-launch of Diva: Operator stake this ETH them into Ethereum validators, which they operate.
  3. During Diva Testnet: Operators demonstrate their ability to validate Diva testnet.
  4. Once Diva launches: Operators withdraw their ETH and deposit it into their Diva nodes as collateral.

Motivation​

This initiative aims to accelerate the launch and adoption of Diva Staking by helping to:

  • Gain confidence that the protocol and DIVA are widely adopted
  • Distribute voting power to participants according to their commitments
  • Plan node operator capacity and DeFi integrations ahead of launch
  • Decentralize the network by inviting as many Operators as possible

This ultimately helps balance and decentralize the Ethereum staking ecosystem by promoting diversity to its LST landscape and embracing the future of DVT technology.

In a scenario where the Early Staker vaults are full, Diva will have a TVL of 100k ETH to be staked.

This Validator Migration initiative could match that with a TVL from Operators of ~15-30k ETH (to be discussed) to ensure the network is balanced.

Operators could become eligible to receive DIVA incentives by completing all tests above demonstrating excellent performance in both Ethereum mainnet and Diva tesntet (pre-launch) and for a period of time in Diva mainnet (post-launch)

The design of this initiative is fully non-custodial (using existing Ethereum validators) and it provids Operators with ways to participate in DAO governance once they fulfill their commitments.

  1. Diva Early Staker Vaults allow depositing any amount of (st)ETH.
  2. This initiative allows anyone to migrate their 32Ξ validators to Diva.
  3. New initiatives can be discussed to allow future operators to commit amounts of 1Ξ or more.

TVL commitments are important, because they attract Liquid Stakers, Operators and facilitate integrations.

The proposed initiatives are non-custodial, allowing participants to withdraw their funds anytime.

Signaling mechanism​

The Foundation proposes reusing the Operator signaling mechanism already in place for TSF commitments so far.

  • Sending an on-chain Ethereum 0 ETH transaction
  • From the depositing address which made the validator 32ETH deposits
  • To the address: 0x93f3d5BB7901a00c88703cf78fA27bb6647774E9
  • With a HEX encoded data field containing JSON like { keys: [ pubkey1, pubkey2, ... ] }

This allows queries and dashboards to verify and display commitments, like in this sample Dune query.

Here's an example transaction.

Incentives & Rewards​

While the Early Staker Vaults have clearly outlined rewards, this initiative still needs community discussion to be finalized.