Dear Idena community,
We plan to release a new version of the Idena node on May 7, 2021. It will be a seamless hard fork update.
There are the following changes planned.
Early invitations
The reward for the invitation is calculated based on how early in the epoch the invitation was activated. The later the invitation is activated, the lower the reward.
- When the invitation is activated, the number of the block when the activation was done is stored.
- Before the invitation reward is distributed, the reduction factor k is calculated for each invitation as k = 1−t⁴ · 0.5, where t ∈ [0..1] is the amount of time that has passed from the start of the epoch to the moment of the activation.
- When the rewards are distributed, the invitation reward for each invitee is reduced by factor k depending on how early that invitee activated the invitation.
- The coins left because of the reduction are redistributed to other users.
- The reduction factor equally affects all invitation rewards the inviter can get for all three epochs after the activation of the invite.
Motivation
- To endorse the users to give out their invites earlier in the epoch.
- To equally distribute the invitation activity throughout the epoch and prevent the last-minute invitation rush before the validation.
- To stimulate the users to proactively search for quality candidates for the coming epoch.
- To reward the users who spend more time educating their invitees about Idena and the validation ceremony and increase their chances to get validated.
Payouts for terminating invited identities
The payout for terminating the identity you invited is set to 1/6 of the invitee’s stake.
Motivation
This change is done to stimulate the inviters to supervise their invitees for the next two epochs after their first validation. The inviter can check on their invitee through the epoch and make sure they created the flips and prepared for the next validation. If the inviter has doubts that the invitee will pass the validation, the inviter can terminate the invitee’s identity and secure the payout. The inviter should be more interested in facilitating the validation for their invitees than in securing termination payouts because the invitation reward is set higher.
Minor changes
Add data to IPFS transaction is added.
Bug fix
Fixes the oracle voting bug that caused the prolongation of the vote after the quorum had been reached.
How the hard fork will be activated
1. The new node version will support both the current blockchain protocol and the upcoming protocol changes.
2. Running the new version of the node means that the validated address is voting for the upcoming protocol changes. A node with an active mining status will be automatically publishing signals about the hard fork readiness.
3. The hard fork update will be activated only when the following voting criteria are met:
- more than 80% of online mining nodes support the upcoming changes
- more than 66.6% of validated addresses support the upcoming changes
4. The hard fork update will be activated no earlier than May 11 or anytime after once the voting criteria are met. Otherwise, the hard fork update will be blocked on May 18.
