SSV Community Digest — Issue #9

The first community digest of the new year. Here we take some time to recap and discuss everything for the path to mainnet.

SSV Community Digest — Issue #9

By Ben Affleck

🎉Happy New Year🎉 to everyone on the ssv.network! Last year is over, but we still have a lot in store for the new one. 👉Path to Mainnet🏁, Code updates👨‍💻, an upcoming Community Call👨‍👨‍👧‍👧, Know your Operator shorties🔴, incentivized testnet💰 and much more—happy digesting😍.

🏁 We’re on the Path to Mainnet, as described by Alon Muroch in his new-year🎉 post, which is a beautiful example of a well-written, well-thought piece of text💪. This issue features a rundown of his post in the ‘Path to Mainnet’ section below👇. But first things first…1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣

Do you want to know your operators better🤳? We had LowFeeValidation and ChainLayer as guests🤝 in the legendary Know Your Operator series🎥. Have a look👀 at the newest episodes or watch the entire Know Your Operator playlist. https://medium.com/media/1c40c34d648c0e4a134ead8b891b51a8/href

🦜Talking about Operators, we say hello to our newest DAO Partner ValidBlocks👋. With a brilliant proposal📝, they were voted ‘yes’✅. It’s great to have you on board🚢. Welcome😍!

👊 AuditOne, another active participant on the ssv.network, made it clear how easy it is to be part of our network on a nicely curated Twitter thread.

Mathias Ang reminded us with a great quote👨‍🏫 from Alex Bogusky, that “transparency is not a choice”☝, and highlighted the recently launched ssv.network Community Dashboard by SpookyG. Well spoken📢.

🎯 On the proposal side📃, we saw great comments on the DAO curated node registry for ‘Verified Operators’🔰 thread and the specs for the incentivized testnet (V3)💰. So go and share your thoughts💭.

The next Community Call 📞 (#5) is just around the corner, with tons of updates on the upcoming incentivized testnet. This time we record🔴 the call offline and publish it on the 6th of January📅. Make sure to ring the bell🔔 on YouTube so you get notified when the recording🎬 is available.

Meanwhile, the core team made significant progress and released Version 0.1.8 of the SSV operator node client, with tons of new features🌟, fixes, and performance upgrades. If you’re an operator, please 🆙date your nodes.

The Path to Mainnet

In his well-articulated new-year post, Alon Muroch shared the ssv.network’s roadmap, which he called the ‘Path to Mainnet’. Alon took the chance to reflect on the year that passed and what lies ahead for us. Here’s a quick recap of his thoughts, but I’d encourage everyone to read the full post.

A brief history (of Bloxstaking and SSV)

It was not until 2021 that the team drafted a mini paper describing SSV as a network of operators that form a decentralized infrastructure for Ethereum staking that protects against slashing, decentralization, promotes client diversity, and more. The idea of Layer-0 was finally born.

The team was working on the core tech throughout 2020/2021, implementing the necessary QBFT protocol, basic P2P networking, and other bits and pieces, so we finally had a vital testnet in the second half of 2021 to get a little taste of everything.

In 2021, Bloxstaking and its dedicated (non-SSV) staking service saw tremendous growth, ending the year with ~2.150 Mainnet validators with roughly 73k ETH staked. That’s about $300M at stake.

For Bloxstaking and its dedicated service, 2022 is all about improving their infrastructure, supporting the beaconchain, and helping with client diversity. Of course, Bloxstaking will eventually become a prominent Operator on the ssv.network. That’s why building a bridge to SSV is the number one priority.

Looking forward

Inspired from Vitalik’s chart for Ethereum itself, the core team drafted a roadmap to show the ‘Path to Mainnet’ for the ssv.network and the tech beneath it. The primary building blocks are Smart Contracts, the SSV protocol itself, a testnet, and a vital DAO to assure strong decision making and ongoing R&D efforts.

SSV.network ‘ Path to Mainnet’ flow chart.

The original blog post of Alon is tech-heavy and explains it all in-depth; thus, it is not for everyone. So instead, here’s an attempt to give you a quick and simple overview of the blocks we work on until we can eventually reach mainnet.

Contracts

A set of smart contracts act as the autonomous “management layer,” so validators and operators come together and to assure the economic parameters behind the network, mainly operator fees paid with SSV tokens.

Protocol

The protocol is everything that happens inside an SSV operator node. The implementation controls the networking, consensus, cryptographic, and execution of the smart contracts from above. It also includes an implementation of all the specs the DAO + R&D agrees on. QBFT, Networking, Messaging, and other building blocks are just examples of such specs, which all together form the SSV protocol.

Testnet

The current testnet has a primitive set of contracts, almost like placeholders. We’ll see various iterations of such a testnet (and even multiple testnets) by the time we reach mainnet readiness. Every iteration will roll out new and updated functionality until everything works as per the specs and is bulletproof. To keep everyone committed, a testnet might be incentivized.

DAO + R&D

The DAO is ultimately responsible for the current and future state of the ssv.network. Major proposals such as the incentivized testnet specs, verified operator registry, an operators assessment framework, a unified SSV spec, and a long-standing testnet program are good examples of the DAO duties. It also covers grants for further R&D of tools, specs, and other initiatives. Everything goes through the DAO.

It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock’n’roll)

Alongside the technical Path to mainnet, there is much work to be done with partners, community, and spreading the word, but we’re well underway!

To summarize the Path to Mainnet, we want to quote its original author:

“The path to mainnet is challenging, one that will take development, DAO and community to new frontiers.” — Alon Muroch

…to boldly go where no one has gone before🖖!

👨‍👧‍👦 Community Asks

🤔 My SSV validator doesn’t propose blocks!

“SSV currently supports attestations only and not propose. Will be implemented in the near future.”
Niv.mu

🚀 DAO Updates

= Accepted 🟥 = Declined 🚦 = Currently Voting 📃 = Proposal
🌟= New 🆙 = Updated

Valid Blocks — DAO Partner Program

📃🌟 Incentivized testnet V3

📃🆙 DAO curated node registry — ‘Verified Operators’ proposal.

📃 Fundamental Labs — DAO Partner Program

🔴 Videos & Podcasts

https://medium.com/media/23efa6aa0bef04fc3b0a2147ae104c8c/hrefhttps://medium.com/media/54036ce19dd2213e93cd1eb0994f9a35/href

📅 Events & More

ssv.network Community Call #5

The launch of the incentivized testnet is around the corner, and we’ll hold a community call on the 5th of January🏆. The call will be recorded offline, and we’ll publish it on the 6th of January on YouTube. Make sure to ring the bell🔔 on our YouTube Channel.

👨‍💻 Tools & Code

Version 0.1.8 of the SSV operator node client was released. Please 🆙date your nodes.

Release V0.1.8 · bloxapp/ssv

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