In total, DCF holds approximately 94M BLD and will use those tokens to decentralize the distribution of stake across the validator set as the network grows. This document lays out DCF’s proposed Delegation Policy and presents that information for community comment and review.
DCF intends to delegate approximately 65m of its BLD holdings during this phase of delegation, and may make further delegations in the future. This year’s delegation total (65m BLD) represents an increase of 20m BLD over the last round of delegation. Furthermore, DCF will encourage delegation from the broader ecosystem of BLD holders, including founders, investors, employees, public sale purchasers, community members and the Decentralization Fund.
Delegation Thesis
To ensure that BLD, Agoric’s native staking token, is well-distributed among high-quality validators, DCF will engage in a delegation program to select a cohort of validators using defined criteria and program requirements. The DCF will endeavor to frequently rebalance delegations to incentivize the healthiest validator set. Applicants will need to complete a questionnaire, which will then be considered and scored against the stated criteria. The responses to the questionnaire will be used to periodically review the resilience of the network and to assist in development of a maturity model that will help inform DCF how best to deploy capital to support the network.
The primary goal of this effort is to support a diverse, secure, decentralized network. A secondary goal is to generate revenue to help support and sustain foundation activities into the future. DCF believes that transparency and collaboration enhance security and will provide and expect it from validators. To achieve our goals, the DCF will:
- Encourage and support emerging contributors to the network who demonstrate expertise in the Agoric protocol.
- Look for recent and historic contributions on Discord, GitHub, or on social media to the evolution of the protocol.
- Support validators that provide network services such as IBC packet relaying, monitoring, alerting, and dashboards related to applications on the Agoric network.
- Require that recipients deploy tmkms, Horcrux, or similar solutions to secure key material and ensure that there are multiple layers of double sign prevention deployed on the network.
- Prioritize self-hosted validators over users of staking as a service providers.
- Strive for balance in distribution of staking power across the validator set and across jurisdictions in order to encourage censorship resistance and avoid single points of failure.
Eligibility
Both new and existing validators are eligible to apply. Applicants who meet one or more of the following criteria will have a higher likelihood of receiving delegation:
- Substantial contributions to crisis response, code review, or design
- Deployment of substantial new services
And additionally, validators will be expected to:
- Maintain a “security@” email address at all times in order to facilitate communication of matters relating to node operations
- Submit a fully completed the DCF Delegation Application in timely fashion
Application Process
To apply to receive delegation from DCF, please complete the DCF Delegation Application in full. Applications must be completed and submitted by 31 October 2023. Delegation will be made 30 November 2023. Recipients will be notified in advance.
Applications for our recent delegation program are now closed. We will be contacting individuals who have been accepted into the program in the coming weeks.
Terms of Delegation
In order to maintain delegation, validators must meet the following minimums:
- Hardware requirements detailed in the Agoric Validator Runbooks
- Uptime of at least 95%
- Set a reasonable commission rate
- Commit to not exceed 10% voting power
- Actively participate in security and upgrade governance proposals
- Commit to network growth in one or more of the following manners:
- Creation or active support of IBC infrastructure components, for example, bridges, relayers, RPC nodes, performance monitoring and reporting mechanisms
- Write and deploy DeFi apps/Dapps that employ IST
- Write and deploy smart contract components within the Agoric ecosystem
- Ongoing efforts to educate and provide skills development, for example, the creation (and maintenance!) of educational content (articles, tutorials, videos) about any of these topics:
- Developer training materials or seminars aimed at helping Web1 and Web2 developers transition to Web3
- Using IST
- Building with Agoric smart contracts
- Present at a DCF-related event on governance proposals, validator experiences and best practices, or provide other relevant community updates
Please note that DCF will monitor and assess compliance with these requirements on a periodic basis, to assure alignment and determine whether requirements need to evolve. At any time, the DCF may undelegate, redelegate, or change the amount of token delegated to a validator for any reason including but not limited to failure to meet the established minimums outlined above. Additional delegations to improve decentralization of stake may be made at any time.
Token Distribution Communication Policy
DCF encourages everyone who participates in the ecosystem to act in the best interests of the community. To foster a culture of cooperation and collaboration, we encourage all to do their own due diligence, to give the benefit of the doubt to others, and to continue to actively participate in important conversations in our shared community forums.
Please note that with respect to token delegation, the Agoric OpCo and DCF are separate entities, and they do not communicate on behalf of one another. Only the DCF can speak authoritatively about the details and activities of the DCF delegation program, as proposed in this document. Similarly, Agoric OpCo is the sole entity with authority to speak for their delegation policy.