A Year in Review — The Journey of SSV for the Past Year!

A year in review — the journey of SSV for the past year!

What a year it’s been!

SSV has undoubtedly went through a lot of fundamental changes, improvements, and achievements in 2023. From the formation of the DAO Genesis Committee, to the incorporation of the SSV Foundation and the Permissionless Launch, SSV took quite a journey in order to navigate successfully in the disparate world of the crypto and staking space as we know it.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

First and foremost — A big thank you to all SSV contributors and community members!

From builders, protocols, developers, and various working groups and committees, your contributions are highly impactful and appreciated. This has undoubtedly contributed towards making the SSV ecosystem flourish.

Here’s to another great year ahead!

To commemorate a great year, the ssv.network DAO would like to summarize most of the important events that happened within SSV, such as governance, tech, protocol and more:

Highlights:

• SSV Foundation formed
• 4 testnet iterations
• Reached 70,000 ETH staked with 92 active operators spanning across 5 continents
• 55 builders contributing to the ecosystem. with $3,143,530 distributed to builders
• Incentivized mainnet released
• Successfully transitioned from the Pre-Launch phase all the way to the Permissionless Phase

The foundation of it all: The DAO Genesis Committee Formation snapshot vote passes — Dec. 2022

Although it happened at the end of 2022, the formation of the dGC proved to be a successful, autonomy-promoting DAO decision that has lead to great things.

In short, the dGC is a group formed within the ssv.network DAO to help it operate effectively and grow sustainably. The committee is responsible for defining how the DAO functions, creating a plan for decentralization and growth, and implementing that plan. Of which is setting the governance framework, a roadmap to decentralization, and execution of said roadmap.

Learn more about it on the Snapshot.

Fostering builders and innovation: $50M Ecosystem Fund is announced — Jan. 2023

A $50M ecosystem fund is established in with the help of various venture capitals and staking entities. Aspiring builders are empowered to build and strengthen SSV’s ecosystem via decentralized apps, tooling, analytics, and more.

Learn more: Funding the future of DVT

The mentor is here — Shifu V2 testnet is launched Jan. 2023

The Shifu testnet V2 is officially announced, marking a significant milestone that builds upon the completion and alignment of the node specification. The upgrade now enables operators to conduct all duties on the beacon chain, officially enabling the SSV network nodes to participate in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake consensus using DVT. A big win!

Learn more here: ‘Get Ready for Shifu V2 — Multi-Duty: Feb 2023’

Build applications and win $35,000 — SSV visits ETHDenver Feb. 2023

SSV contributors are at ‘BUIDLWeek’ during ETHDenver, with the mainnet launch on the horizon!

As DVT picks up heat, the SSV DAO secures a Cyhper-tier sponsorship for BUIDLWeek and in addition, allowing for prizes of up to $35,000 to be distributed for aspiring builders.

Learn more here: ‘ETHDenver: Get Ready for DVT’

The SSV DAO’s next level — Key proposals & Foundation ideation — Mar. 2023

The SSV DAO takes a stride towards autonomy and is jam-packed with ecosystem initiatives as well as major improvements to the internal structure. Get the low-down:

• Growing the Developer ecosystem via the Grants and Ecosystem programs
• Hackathons
• Incorporation of the SSV DAO’s Foundation — a proposal for the incorporation of the SSV foundation, which will increase autonomy and will optimise operations both online and offline.

Learn more at: SSV DAO Updates: Issue #3

Prepare your engines — JATO testnet is here. The final step before mainnet! — Mar. 2023

The third iteration of SSV’s testnet and a mainnet candidate, Jet-assisted-take off, or JATO, brings a plethora of improvements and features.

Learn more at: ‘JATO: The Last Step Before Mainnet‘

It’s show time. SSV Network is finally operating on Ethereum Mainnet — Jul. 2023

SSV Network launches on Ethereum mainnet! From humble beginnings to testnet milestones, SSV is a robust infrastructure tackling fundamental Ethereum validator challenges, including fault tolerance, security, zero-coordination, and diversity.

Following the launch, a rollout schedule is introduced to ensure the optimal security and stability of the network, gradually allowing various operators and validators to onboard to the network.

The rollout is being done in 4 different phases:

Learn more about the Mainnet Launch at: ‘Unveiling the ssv.network Mainnet: Shaping the Future of Distributed ETH Staking‘

The next step in SSV’s path on Ethereum Mainnet — The introduction of Verified Operators — 02/08/2023

Following a smooth mainnet launch, it is time to introduce external players to the SSV Network. A series of professional, stable and reputable node operators will join the SSV network to strengthen and diversify operations.

Dubbed the Limited Launch phase, the SSV DAO Verified Operator Committee (VOC) has specially selected 20 Verified operators (VOs) to start managing a closed group of validators in the network.

Becoming a Verified Operator (VO) demands technical expertise, high performance, and a commitment to being a top service provider. VOs gain trust, respect, visibility, and credibility within the SSV community — and most importantly, the responsibility of performing duties for validators!

To learn more, see: ‘The ssv.network Limited Launch: Welcome VOs to Mainnet Rollout’

SSV’s ‘Chain Reactions’ weekly podcast/community calls launch — Jun. 2023

We’re all about keeping in touch with the community and various partners in the industry. Chain Reactions is a weekly Twitter Spaces initiative that aims to usher a connection and communications channel between SSV and the community, including the broader DeFi and staking industry.

Chain Reactions: Unveiling Blockchain’s Future | Linktree

Vote Delegation and the Karma dashboard is introduced to the SSV Governance procedure — Aug. 2023

The SSV DAO approved a grant for Karma to develop a delegate dashboard to enhance voting and distribute voting power in the DAO, with that the ssv.network DAO is excited to announce that the https://delegate.ssv.network dashboard is officially complete and can be used to vote on proposals.

What is Karma?

Karma offers a custom delegate dashboard that the DAO and community can use to onboard delegates, get visibility into their activities, hold them accountable, improve voting participation, and further decentralize the DAO.

To learn more, see: ‘Introducing Vote Delegation to SSV DAO Governance’

DAO Proposal Batch #2 is announced — empowering decentralization and autonomy — Aug. 2023

Batch [2] DAO Proposals Overview

This batch goes over the journey of SSV for the past year, introducing key proposals such as the Multi-Sig Committee, Quorum Proposal, Grant Program and Committee, and Mainnet Proposal.

The Multi-Sig Committee aims to enhance security and manage the DAO’s treasury, while the Quorum Proposal suggests simplifying the current quorum calculation. The Grant Program and Committee seek to advance projects within the SSV ecosystem to foster a thriving environment.

Most importantly, SSV takes a step in the right direction towards a fully community-owned, decentralized protocol.

The ‘SSVNetwork’ and ‘SSVNetworkViews’ contracts will have their ‘owner’ set as the Multi-Sig address. That means that any parameter changes or modifications have to go through the multi-sig committee, via a thorough and conclusive governance process, making the SSV Smart contracts fully decentralized and community-owned.

To learn more, see: ‘SSV DAO Proposal Batch [2] — 17 August 2023’

The Jet has taken off — JATO V2 is here, providing a near-mainnet-like environment — Sept. 2023

The new testnet, JATO V2, aims to replace its previous iteration JATO V1, in order to provide a seamless and mainnet-like environment to prepare for all scenarios on mainnet.

JATO V2 marks a monumental shift towards SSV’s readiness and planning towards mainnet, allowing aspiring operators to simulate the environment of its mainnet counterpart.

To learn more, see: ‘Exploring the Power of Jato-V2: The New SSV.Network Testnet has Landed’

The SSV.Network Launch Phase: Launch Partners & Validator milestones! — Sept. 2023

SSV’s Launch Phase is here! This phase aims to introduce reputable and professional operators and services to the SSV network, while also allowing for external-TVL (validators) to onboard, opening the SSV network to stakers for the first time.

A big congratulations to XHASH — which onboarded the SSV network on the 14th, and managed to hit the 100 validator milestone just 1 week in!

This will allow a thorough scaling of the network until the permissionless phase goes live, and aims to test various scenarios before the big release.

In the previous phase, the Limited Launch, results have been staggering. With near 100% performance across attestation, effectiveness and block proposals, SSV is nearly ready to tackle on an influx of validators and operators on the network.

Tune in to the Mainnet Call #4, which goes over performance and key valuable insights about the network and where it’s heading.

To learn more, see: ‘The SSV.Network Launch Phase: Revolutionizing the Staking Landscape’

The foundation of it all & community empowerment — The SSV DAO’s steps towards autonomy — Oct. 2023

The Foundation Working Group (FWG) has finalized its proposal for establishing and operating the SSV Foundation.

Earlier In March, the ssv.network DAO approved the Incorporation of the SSV DAO’s Foundation proposal, which outlined the steps and motivation for creating a Cayman foundation for the ssv.network DAO — The SSV Foundation.

Additionally, the Core Team has empowered active DAO participants with increased voting power.

Using the Karma dashboard, the Core Team can objectively identify active DAO participants and empower them, in order to promote a healthier and more active governance environment. In this way, the process is completely neutral.

To learn more, see: ‘Governance 2.0: Establishing the SSV Foundation & Community Empowerment’

Fostering adoption for DVT usage — the Incentivized Mainnet Program is here! — Oct. 2023

What better way to foster DVT adoption than with incentives?

The SSV DAO has put forth an incentivization program which aims to reward every validator on the SSV network, based on tiers.

The aforementioned tiers provide a way to regulate the rewards as more validators are joining the network.

Starting off with a very generous 50% boost at the time of its creation, validators can earn hefty rewards for simply running their validators on SSV!

To learn more about the program, see: Decentralization Vanguard: Launching ssv.network’s Incentivized Mainnet

The grand finale — SSV goes fully permissionless, allowing operator and validator onboarding — Dec. 2023

It’s showtime! The culmination of hard work by contributors for the past 3 years is taking shape, paving a way for the future of distributed staking.

What once was a very ambiguous idea, which then started with the SSV spec, has climbed its way out of ideation into a fully fledged, thriving protocol and ecosystem, paving the way for Ethereum staking. DVT is a force to be reckoned with, amidst the rapid growth of the staking industry.

For its debut, SSV is equipped with high-performance, professional operators that have been vetted by the Verified Operators Committee.

These are industry leaders which attain perfect performance, knowledge and experience in running validators, hardware and software.

Learn more about the permissionless launch at: ‘Ssv.network Goes Permissionless: Unlocking DVT for the Staking Industry’.

Join the SSV Network Discord community to stay updated: https://discord.gg/ssvnetworkofficial