Stader Validator Pools & Next Steps Towards Decentralization

The primary purpose of this article is to elaborate our thoughts regarding the Stader validator pools and the steps we are going to take towards enhancing decentralization.

Sections Covered Below:

1. Stader Stake Pools on Terra
2. Changes to the Pools and Criteria
3. Plan to Decentralize Validator Decision-Making

1. Stader Stake Pools on Terra

Stader stake pools went live on Terra on November 23rd. We already cater to the staking needs of over 7200 users on Terra and have a TVL of 4.2 M+ Luna.

Currently, there are 3 validator pools on Stader:

• Blue Chip with 5 validators
• Airdrops Plus with 3 validators
• Community with 5 validators

The selection criteria for the validators has been the following as elaborated in our previous blog piece.

• Uptime criteria >99.85% measured between 1st Oct ’21 and 1st Nov ’21
• No slashing in the past 3 months
• 1–2 Pool-specific criteria

2. Changes to the Pools and Criteria

Over the next 2–4 weeks we will be making three major updates to our pools which will further enable decentralization and provide more choice to delegators.

Addition of new pools:

We are adding 2 more pools to Stader to enhance decentralization and provide choice to delegators. Examples of pools we plan to add are mentioned below. We will conduct a poll among the #LUNAtics community to finalise this.

• Small Validators pool (e.g. Validators with low voting power and good performance)
• High Voting record
• High Self-delegation

Pool composition:

• Increase pool size to 8 validators where possible
• Remove bad performing validators from previous set
• Regarding stake.systems — Plan to conduct a community poll and finalise the decision

Changes to Validator Selection Criteria:

• High voting power (>2.5%) will be excluded from blue chip pool
• Consulting key community members on Up time/ performance criteria changes

Protecting user’s funds from slashing risks and generating consistent high returns will be paramount to us. Hence we have taken a cautious approach to expansion.

3. Plan to Decentralize Validator Decision-Making

As the Stader platform is decentralized, governance will determine pool and validator selection criteria, policies.

As an Interim solution, Stader will create a committee for us to consult/manage validator related aspects.

We will release more details on this soon.

If you have feedback, write to amitg@staderlabs.com.