Rocket Pool 2 — Beta v1 Guide
This guide is for a previous Rocket Pool beta. View the guide for the currently running beta here.
About the Rocket Pool Beta v1
Welcome all to the public beta for the latest, greatest version of Rocket Pool! This guide will walk you through how to set your computer up to interact with the beta when it launches on the 24th of September at 00:00 UTC, see the state of the Rocket Pool network, make a deposit into it, track the state of the deposit and interact with it, and finally, withdraw your earned rETH back into your account.
This beta features some tweaked settings to both the Rocket Pool network and the beacon chain. Staking durations have been set to 1, 2, and 3 days respectively, and beacon chain validator induction and exit delays have been reduced substantially. The beta is also running on our own private Proof of Authority network. These settings do not reflect how Rocket Pool will operate at launch, but will keep the beta moving quickly so that everyone gets a chance to check it out ;).
The current version of Rocket Pool targets v0.8.1 of the Eth 2.0 Spec. While the spec is now frozen, we may see some minor changes to it in the future. This is unlikely to affect how the Rocket Pool website works in general, but expect some small changes before our mainnet release!
This guide is for regular Rocket Pool users; if you want to run a Smart Node in the network, check out the Node Operator’s Guide!
Getting Started
To begin interacting with the Rocket Pool Beta v1, you will need:
- A desktop or notebook computer
- Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Brave with MetaMask installed, or a web3 enabled browser
- Some ether for our private test network. Don’t worry, there’s a faucet on the beta site to top yourself up!
Throughout this guide we will be using MetaMask; if you are using a web3 browser, consult its documentation for the relevant steps.
1. Install MetaMask
If you haven’t already, install the MetaMask browser extension. Just visit https://metamask.io/ and follow the links. Once you have installed MetaMask, you will need to create a new account and sign in — just follow the instructions as they appear.
2. Connect to the test network
Open the MetaMask panel using the icon in your browser toolbar, and click on the network dropdown in the toolbar at the top. Select “Custom RPC”. Enter the network information as shown below and click Save:
- Network Name: RP2 Beta
- New RPC URL: http://gateway.rocketpool.net:8888
- ChainID: 77
3. Go to the Rocket Pool Beta
Head on over to https://beta.rocketpool.net/ to get testing! If you see a notice about a web3 browser being required, or the network being invalid, make sure you’ve completed steps 1 and 2 correctly before continuing.
4. Get some Testnet Ether
Click the “Testnet Faucets” link in the header, select the “Testnet ETH” faucet, enter the amount you’d like to withdraw, and click the “Send Tokens!” button. The faucet will also show how much ether you can withdraw, and how long until the withdrawal limit resets. It can take a moment for your ether to be sent, so be patient. If your balance on the dashboard doesn’t update after 15 seconds, try waiting a little longer and refreshing the page.
Beta Overview
The new Rocket Pool website features a greatly simplified design, with the most relevant information and features taking centre stage. First, you’ll notice your current account “blockie” along with your ETH and rETH balances:
rETH (or “Rocket ETH”) is a special token designed to pay you staking rewards in a form which you can use before Phase 2 of the Ethereum 2.0 rollout. Because validators on the beacon chain can’t withdraw their rewards until phase 2 launches, Rocket Pool is instead paying staking rewards out in the form of rETH. rETH is backed by beacon chain ether 1:1, and will be tradable for ether after the phase 2 launch. Until then, you can trade it like any other ERC-20 token!
If you click on your account details, you’ll see an overlay showing detailed information for that account, including: any notifications for your deposits; your queued and staking deposits; and your deposits which are ready (or almost ready) to withdraw. If you’re using a web3 enabled browser, you’ll also see a list of your available accounts, with the option to switch between them.
Note that a deposit can be assigned to multiple minipools which could be in a variety of different states, so part of a deposit might be staking while another part is still queued, waiting to begin staking, or already withdrawn. The status displayed for a deposit always refers to the part which has progressed the furthest. For example, a deposit will show up under with “withdrawals” section as “pending” if it’s partly assigned to a logged out minipool, even if a portion of it is still staking. Click the arrow to the right of the deposit details to see the breakdown of the minipools it’s assigned to, or its position in the deposit queue.
When you’re ready, click the close button above your account details to return to the landing page. Let’s try the “Network Map” link in the header to view the current state of the Rocket Pool network!
This shows us the nodes making up the network, broken down by geographical region. The icons under each region indicate: the number of nodes operating there; the number of deposits assigned to those nodes; and the total amount of ether which is staking under those nodes.
Depositing With Rocket Pool
Now that you’re familiar with most of the UI, let’s deposit some ether into the Rocket Pool network! Using the deposit form on the landing page, enter an amount of ether to stake, choose a staking duration, and click “start staking”:
You’ll see a notice explaining the use of the rETH token. Confirm to continue:
Finally, confirm your transaction in MetaMask to finalise the deposit! You should see a notification in the bottom-right corner of the screen as the transaction is processed and then confirmed. Once it’s finished, the new deposit should appear under the “deposits” screen under your account details. If the deposit queue was empty and there were minipools available, your deposit will immediately be assigned (and potentially begin staking)! Otherwise, it will be placed in the deposit queue to be assigned when able.
Now that you’ve made your first deposit, sit back and enjoy the ride! You can track its progress as it’s assigned to minipools and they begin staking, then log out and withdraw from the beacon chain. The progress meter in the background always shows how far the deposit is to the next stage in its lifecycle.
Withdrawing Your Deposit
After your deposit begins staking and its staking duration has passed, you can head back to the beta site to withdraw your rewards. At this point, it should have moved from the “deposits” list to the “withdrawals” list under your account details. If its status reads “XX rETH — available” then you’re ready to go! Click the arrow to the right of the deposit details to see available actions, and click “Withdraw”:
You’ll see a notice explaining the withdrawal process and how fees are charged. Confirm to continue:
Finally, confirm your transaction(s) in MetaMask to finalise the withdrawal! You should see a notification in the bottom-right corner of the screen as the transaction(s) are processed and then confirmed. Once it’s finished, the remainder of your deposit which is still staking (if any) will appear back under the “deposits” list. Otherwise, your deposit has completed its journey through the Rocket Pool network and will disappear. Check your rETH balance on the landing page — it should show your newly collected tokens!
Congratulations! You’ve withdrawn your deposit + rewards from Rocket Pool and completed your first staking period with us. Treat yourself, you earned it!
Wrapping Up
This concludes the guide to the Rocket Pool 2 — Beta v1! We hope it’s been useful and you’ve enjoyed your experience with the Rocket Pool network :). We can’t wait to bring you the next version, as we’re constantly cooking up new improvements!
Don’t forget, we will be rewarding testers with RPL tokens by airdropping them to addresses which participated in the beta. Make sure you keep your MetaMask account handy so that you can claim your tokens once you receive them!
We’d love to hear from you about your experience and if there are any improvements you think we could make.
Questions or just say hello!
Well 10 points to you for making it this far! If you have beta questions, feedback, bug reports or want to know a bit more about us, why not swing by for a chat and say G’day! You can view our website or have a chat with us in our chat room that anyone can join. If chat rooms aren’t your thing, we’re also on Twitter!
