StaFi Validator Eco Building Program

StaFi Chain has attracted 250 Validators since its rollout almost one year ago, including 160 official Validators and 90 more on the waiting list. We hereby reinstate our deep gratitude to those who have supported and helped us since our Sitara Incentive Testnet.

However, when the StaFi Team did some soul-searching recently regarding the situation of Stafi Validators, some issues caught our attention:

1)Some validators run multi-nodes at the same time, which poses great challenges to the security of the StaFi Chain in terms of decentralization.

2) There are only a few professional institutional Validators, which means the low exposure in the top renowned validators group.

3) The delegation of StaFi Foundation has not sufficiently reached its purpose of motivating Validators.

4) Only a few Validators have set up On-chain Identities.

5) The commission setting of part of the Validators who are granted by the Foundation is too high.

As all StaFi rToken Apps are evolving, a range of smart contracts which are more complex in nature are being deployed on StaFi Chain. This has increased the demand for StaFi Chain Validators.

In order to address this requirement, we are launching a StaFi Chain Validator recruitment plan (StaFi Validator Eco Building Program) that aims at attracting institutional Validators to join us as StaFi Validators. The inclusion of institutional Validators will significantly improve the variety and the professionalism of the Stafi Validator team, and StaFi will be better prepared for the Special Validator Plan.

Program Rules

StaFi Foundation will use unsolicited invitations and community applications to optimize the current StaFi Chain verifier ecology.

1.Unsolicited invitation

StaFi Foundation will proactively direct invitations to well-known institutional verifiers to the nodes that run the StaFi Chain.

These institutional verifiers will generally have to meet the following two conditions: 1) high visibility and 2) important partners of StaFi Ecology.

2.Community application

StaFi Validator Eco Building Program will also open applications to the community, and any professional Validation Provider will be able to apply.

StaFi Foundation will make a comprehensive judgment on the basis of the applications submitted and the contribution to StaFi rToken ecology. Applicants who have made important contributions to the ecological development of StaFi will be given priority.

Link to the application form: https://forms.gle/GzEeF2Xjonat52EN6

Any verifier who is invited voluntarily and approved by the community after diligent investigation can be nominated by the Foundation to help him/her become a formal verifier.

However, StaFi Foundation will disqualify said nomination if:

1) It is found that the validator is already running multiple StaFi Chain nodes, and at least one of them has been elected.

2) The number of nominations received by the verifier exceeds the maximum number of acceptable nominees (currently the value of the network oversubscription limit is set to 256).

Foundation Nomination Rules

For Validators who pass StaFi Validator Eco Building Program, StaFi Foundation will nominate them according to the following criteria:

1.Max Validator Commission: 10%

Validators are free to set their commissions as they deem fit, but delegations from the project will generally be reserved for validators with a commission of 10% or less.

2.Max Rank Cap: 30

StaFi Foundation will generally not delegate to validators ranked 30 or higher (voting power). Overriding obligations or extraordinary contributions by validators will still enable additional delegations despite being in the top 30.

3.Concentration & Decentralization

• StaFi Foundation will generally not delegate to validators with >5% of voting power
• StaFi Foundation will generally not delegate >500,000 FIS per validator

4.Max Nomination Period: 2 months

The StaFi Foundation will conduct a Review every quarter (2 months) to re-Review the Performance of the Validators that are Granted, such as their reputation, Validation Performance, community contribution, etc.

For those who fail the requirements, StaFi Foundation will disqualify their nomination by the next quarter.

5.Community Contributions: Proactive and Positive

Validators who are Granted by the Foundation are expected to actively help build the StaFi Community.

To provide some examples, one Validator had developed a Docker, while another (by the name of Ryabina) had made an open-sourced StaFi_Bot. Moreover, participants of the StaFi video competition had made video clips teaching other members about how to make a profit from nominations, and educating them about other aspects of Stafi.

Community contribution is an important factor for StaFi Foundation when reviewing the Validator qualifications. For more information, please check:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fDxqX50ASGXahjhZYm0PxHqdP_wYmLaQN2yL-0ft2HY/edit#gid=0

6.On-chain Identity: Full

The nominated Validators need to set up On-chain Identity and submit detailed node information for community disclosure.

Disqualification

For the stable and sustainable development of StaFi, we must choose reliable Validators to nominate.

We will withdraw the nomination right at the operation period if:

1. A Validator node is unstable, causing signing omissions or withdrawal multiple times.

2. A Validator is double-signing or multiple-signing.

3. A Validator attacks the StaFi network.

Learn More

1.A Tutorial for Validators: https://docs.stafi.io/stafi-chain/network/participants/validator-sv/become-a-validator

2.StaFi App: https://apps.stafi.io/

3.Apply for Validators: https://forms.gle/GzEeF2Xjonat52EN6

About StaFi

StaFi is the first DeFi protocol unlocking liquidity of staked assets. Users can stake PoS tokens through StaFi and receive rTokens in return, which are available for trading, while still earning staking rewards. rToken is a synthetic staking derivative issued by StaFi to users when users stake PoS tokens through StaFi rToken App (https://app.stafi.io). rTokens are anchored to the PoS tokens staked by users and the corresponding staking rewards. rTokens can be transferred and traded at any time.

Website: www.stafi.io
rToken App: https://app.stafi.io
Twitter: @Stafi_Protocol
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/stafi_protocol
Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/stafi_ann
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/jB77etn
Forum: https://commonwealth.im/stafi