Hello Community, and welcome to the th edition of the SSV Community Digest. This time we cover the incentivized testnet, POAP distribution, new DAO partners, SSV [AMA], Ethereum Foundation,  Validators, Vitalik Buterin, Rocketpool integration, Eth-Docker support, DAO votings, and much more — happy digesting.

After intense discussions with the community, the final spec for the incentivized testnet is online. If accepted by the DAO, the incentivized testnet will start on the 24th of January and last until the 4th of April. Now it’s getting serious!

The ssv.network Ambassadors and Blox Team are hosting a [AMA] Session for the Upcoming Incentivized Testnet (on Reddit 17th of January). So make sure to submit all your questions by the 17th of January.

If you want to learn even more about the upcoming incentivized testnet, and in case you missed it, here’s the recording of Community Call #5 with tons of information.

Although the incentivized testnet hasn’t started yet, we can literally feel the interest of the whole Ethereum community. Last week the network crossed the  Validators mark, and we addedvalidators in the last 4 days alone! Ensign Crusher, maximum warp! Make it so .

If you’re still unsure why the ssv.network is so essential for the future of eth staking, the Blox Staking Team published a great article about what the ssv.network is, and why it is inevitable. A must-read to reinforce our mission.

What is ssv.network ?

Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchains because it was the original one to feature smart contracts. But that…

blog.ssv.network

Talking about staking, RocketPool has its momentum. There was a super exciting discussion on integrating SSV/DVT into RocketPool on their discord. Alon Muroch and Yorickdowne did a great job kicking this off! You can find a (technical) summary here.

But that’s not all. Even Vitalik Buterin himself had something to say about SSV/DVT:

“I think we just want to get onto a point where it’s practical for
(i) a single user to run a DV between eg. their home and two servers
(ii) a group of friends to come together and make a pool using DVT
And there’s really easy tools for users to do things like this”
— Vitalik Buterin

Another proof that SSV/DVT is on the rise is found in the seventh edition of the EF Research Team’s AMA Series. SSV/DVT was a much-anticipated topic, with great answers by the Ethereum Foundation.
Here’s a summary:

• What do you think about Secret Shared Validator technology?
• Are there any long-term proposals/considerations about changing the 32 ETH staking minimum? (1/2)
• Are there any long-term proposals/considerations about changing the 32 ETH staking minimum? (2/2)
• Why is DVT important and what value do you see those projects adding to the Ethereum ecosystem? (1/2)
• Why is DVT important and what value do you see those projects adding to the Ethereum ecosystem? (2/2)
• What do you think about Secret Shared Validator technology as in projects like SSV and Obol?

Also, the community of solo stakers started to notice the ssv.network and asked some great questions on r/ethstaker.

If you need data to reason the need for ssv.network, then @EthereumPools is a Twitter account you have to follow. They ruthlessly show how much money people lose with some staking pools. This was an excellent opportunity for the team to adapt their mission statement — of course, with a little wink.

For our Chinese speaking Community, @0xdog published a wonderful guide on Eth2.0质押黑马SSV价值分析，撸空投羊毛教程. A great example of how widespread the ssv.network community already is.

 Ben Edgington also mentioned the importance of SSV/DVT in the latest ‘What’s New in Eth2–14 January 2022’ issue. Ben also said he’s bullish on SSV/DVT and will report more about it in the future.

‘A technical handbook on Ethereum’s move to proof of stake and beyond’ is another great contribution by Ben. Something you should bookmark to understand the most significant network transition in the history of computers. We are a part of that!

Another significant announcement is coming from the DAO. Tim Beiko, from the Ethereum Foundation, is suggested as the 7th signer for the DAO’s multi-sig wallet. Tim is the facilitator for the Ethereum AllCoreDevs calls. More about Tim Beiko on his Twitter account. That’s a great deal for the ssv.network! Voting opens soon!

Forbole, an experienced professional operator on over 30 blockchains, including Cosmos Hub, Polkadot, Solana, and Flow, wants to join the DAO Partner Program via ‘open market’. Forbole also joined the network as a ‘verified operator’. Great having you!

That’s not the ! With Launchnodes, we have another great operator on the ssv.network. Check out their guest appearance on the famous Know Your Operator Series with our great hosts, Eran Efrima and Alon Muroch.

Stakin, another prominent ssv.network operator, published its ‘Year in Review 2021’ paper, but not without mentioning their involvement in SSV. A beautiful recap of the year that has passed.

Also, our friends from Lead Capital published an excellent article on non-trusting ETH Staking Protocol and the ssv.network’s path to Mainnet, which is full of insights, education, and a hopeful future.

Do you recall our ‘decentralized marketing’ vision for our DAO Finally, it’s becoming a reality. Eran Efrima published his second blog post on Phase II of decentralized marketing that talks about the plan and the actual mechanics.

A first step is already made. The DAO is currently voting on a Network Grant to kick-start the decentralized marketing and recognize both the ambassador’s and partner contributions thus far. So far, this proposal has the most votes ever on a DAO decision, and we’re close to 1M SSV votes.
Go, go, go!

Speaking about marketing, the Binance Research page for the SSV token received some polish and is now up-to-date!

A few months ago, the DAO successfully voted on formal verification of the SSV protocol by Roberto Saltini, who now requested grant payment by the DAO. This is a major milestone in standardizing SSV and IBFT.

On the tooling side, eth-docker now supports running an SSV operator node. The necessary setup is minimal and allows you to choose the consensus and execution clients you prefer. Well done, Yorickdowne!

Puh, that’s a mouth full! Great to have you all on board!

Community Asks

When will the GoETH faucet be back?

To set up a validator on the testnet, you need 32+ GoETH (aka Göerli ETH). The team implemented a GoETH faucet bot on our Discord server. However, due to heavy abuse, the bot is currently disabled.

“We are working on a solution. There has been quite a bit of abuse so we need to make sure that the distribution bot work well. We should have it up and running this week. With that said, there will be stricter rules for claiming goeth on a daily basis. We’ll keep you guys informed”
— Eran Efrima (Discord)

When do I get my POAP rewards?

The team finally published a proposal to reward our active and loyal members. Have a look and share your opinion.

DAO Updates

 = Accepted  = Declined  = Currently Voting  = Proposal
= New  = Updated  = On Hold

 POAP allocation and distribution

 Incentivized Testnet — Final draft

 Forbole Joining as SSV DAO Partner Proposal

 Adding Tim Beiko as a multisig signer

 Formal Verification of SSV Protocol

 DAO curated node registry — ‘Verified Operators’ proposal

 Fundamental Labs — DAO Partner Program

 Videos & Podcasts

Tools & Code

 Eth-docker v1.6.9 now supports running an SSV node.

We need you

Have you spotted interesting content around SSV and related topics, or did you create content yourself? Let me know and drop me a line at batfleck9383@gmail.com. Any feedback is welcome.

— Ben