Darknode Rollout: Limited Participation Update
Next phase of participation in Darknode network due to start January 2019.
To accompany the recent RenEx: Roadmap Update #1, we would like to provide more details regarding the next phase of the Darknode Rollout Plan: Limited Participation. This marks the first chance for the community to participate as Mainnet Beta transitions out of the initial stabilization period.
Throughout the Limited Participation period, the highest priority for Ren will continue to be the security and stability of the network as we continue to test and upgrade the Darknodes.
Starting January 2019: Limited Participation
The Limited Participation period for Darknodes will begin in the first week of January 2019. In the first month, we will guide core community members individually through the setup process. This will ensure that there are plenty of active community members that understand the Mainnet Beta setup process — encouraging the growth of community-driven support and feedback. It will also ensure the continued stability of Mainnet Beta as Darknodes begin to be run by the community for the very first time.
As more community run Darknodes come online we will gradually reduce the number of Darknodes run by our team in order to help accommodate a greater level of community participation, while maintaining a stable level of economic incentive for Darknodes.
Rollout Details
Due to the limited nature of viable Darknodes available during the Limited Participation period, technical support from the team will be initially provided to:
- Ren Ambassadors
- Members of the Telegram group for Testnet Darknode Operators
These groups have experience running testnet Darknodes and supporting the team, so we will prioritize that user base to ensure that the initial set of Darknodes are reliably operated and that valuable feedback can be obtained at an early stage.
There will be no restrictions for the deployment of a Darknode. Anyone will be able to set up a Darknode from January onward if they wish to. However, if launching a Darknode won’t be profitable it will be highly discouraged via the notification system in the Darknode Command Center.
Darknode deployment instructions and technical assistance from the team will only be initially provided to the aforementioned groups.
Darknode Participant Guidelines
In light of limited Darknode availability, we’d encourage those that setup Darknodes to follow these guidelines such that we can maximize community participation and benefit.
- Only run one (1) Darknode per participant
- Setup your Darknode using the default configurations and do not disable auto updates
- Assist in ongoing testing and provision of feedback for Darknode operation
- Notify the team if you are terminating a Darknode
As a permissionless decentralized protocol, you are not bound by these guidelines but we’d like to reiterate that following these guidelines will greatly help the project’s progression and community involvement as we transition to an openly run network.
Fee Model Experimentation
We will be using the Limited Participation period to experiment with various fee models within Mainnet Beta.
The fee models to be tested will include, our current static model of 0.2% (20 BPS) for both makers and takers, a Dynamic Fee Model with tiered fees dependent on volume traded which can includes small rebates for makers (as described in RenEx: Roadmap Update #1), as well as other models designed to be more accommodating to future implementations that support RenVM — which will be discussed extensively in future blog posts.
This testing will allow us to have confidence in finalizing the best approach going forward for how the fee models will operate with multiple dark pools, and other potential applications, built on the platform. In particular, by testing on Mainnet Beta, we are able to test the implications of different incentives more thoroughly since testnets are not able to replicate this behavior. It also allows us to be sure that the Darknodes are economically profitable to run, without being prohibitively expensive to use.
January will mark the commencement of our Limited Participation phase and bring closure to the Initial Stabilization Period. Since the initial deployment of Mainnet Beta our Darknodes have maintained 100% uptime and we have collected invaluable data from them to ensure the security of RenEx Beta.
We now turn our efforts towards the successful deployment and integration of community Darknodes. In the coming weeks, we will also be releasing some new exciting updates about the underlying protocol and a wider ecosystem.
— Loong Wang, CTO, Ren
About Ren
Ren is a private and interoperable liquidity layer for decentralized finance. Freely move value between blockchains and transfer tokens in zero-knowledge while maintaining complete privacy.
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