Rocket Buidlers Workshop with Ken Smith

Now you're ready. Morning everyone. Thank you so much for coming today. My name is Dante, also known as Forex from the Rocket community and I'm here with Ken. Will you introduce yourself Kim?

Yeah. Hey, good morning everyone. Uh, happy battle week. Uh, my name is Ken Smith. I'm uh, one of the community members and rocket scientists with rocket pole and glad to be here.

Nice. So we are here today to talk about uh this is the rocket builders workshop and we're here to uh let everyone know how easy it is and how everyone can be a node operator and a validator for uh the securing the Ethereum network. Um I'm forex and I'm not on the rocket pool team. I'm just a big enthusiast and this workshop was funded by the rocket community through its grant grants committee. So uh well uh let me just start on the why stake uh your ether to secure the network and I'll start with a a small story because I I promise can't that I would I would tell that here um I'm from Brazil and came here just for it's my my first Ethereum conference And that's a funny story on the on the immigration.

Maybe not sure how many of you came from other countries and pass through this uh nice immigration uh process. And the guy asked what what I was doing here and I said, "Hey, I'm here for a a blockchain conference. I'm so excited." And he said, "Did you say bombchain? No sir, I I said blockchain conference.

I I didn't say bombchain and he said there you said again and I what I said I didn't say bombchain. Uh and but you said again and I at this point I was no this guy is kidding me. I started laughing. You probably have a a strike system. If I say three times, it's straight to jail.

And I guess they don't like jokes. And I got a a nice invite for the room. Not sure if any of you have been to the room, the immigration room where some officers uh do lots of questions and they started asking a lot of questions about blockchain and what's a blockchain, why people use it, and where does the value come from? And I guess he just wanted a a free course on blockchain and was a a nice 30 minutes asking a lot of uh answering lots of uh blockchain rel related uh questions. So that was a kind of new experience and kind of welcoming for the and a preparation I guess for this for this moment.

what I had to answer why the blockchain is valuable because so many people think it's interesting to to use those networks and and have a true uh trust list system a true uh neutral system where no one has uh where where you can develop system where no one has an admin king for to to change things that is a really uh powerful statement Right. And this relates to to why I take a reef. Um so the the first and and biggest uh reasons to secure the network so that we can have uh this cred credibly neutral system that uh where everyone can trust that it uh there is a shared ledger that no one can isolatedly uh change. uh they would need to have a majority of uh validators to to change the the state of the network. Um so that's the the main reason that we uh would tell someone to to create a validator on the Tyrion network.

And since this is a um beginner uh workshop, I may I'm going to give some really um basic concepts here. So, and maybe in in the end, we're also going to have some more advanced and even for the uh future uh deployments uh future developments on both RocketU and and Ethereum. So to to become an Ethereum validator, you need to stake 32 E if you lock that on a on a smart contract and you make a commitment to run uh Ethereum clients um both execution clients and consensus clients that what one client of each type that need to be connected to each other. So it is a commitment to keep those clients running 24/7 and updating and keeping the node as secure as possible. Um we currently currently have more than uh 500,000 uh validators uh securing the Ethereum network.

So that's times 32 if so that's a amazing amount of uh ether securing the the network. So an attacker that uh will like to would try to attack the network would need to be uh heavily invested in the network to be able to to to perform any kind of attack. So he we need to have so much ether that he would be the most uh impacted by the these attacks. So it's a um a very interesting way to align the people that are securing the network with the health of the the network as compared to uh a proofof work um system where um the miners would just run um uh a software with GPUs and they wouldn't suffer anything if they tried to to grab enough uh hash power to to perform an attack. They could just continue attacking and and on proof of stake uh they would have that that capital uh slashed.

So they really suffer from from that attack. And um the next uh good reason for people to be uh uh to become a staker to become a validator is to earn rewards. So we have um both uh consensus rewards that uh include attestations that uh you receive a small amount every epoch that is 6.4 minutes. Uh you have you can be selected to be part of a SIM committee and SIM committees are um a group of 512 validators that are randomly uh selected every uh 27 hours to a test on blocks on on each slot.

So uh on a slot is every 12 seconds. So you have a new block every every 12 seconds. So the sim committee is u a very very uh um what's the word rare rare because it is expected to happen every two years maybe a bit more now uh but also very profitable because you uh you receive uh those rewards every 12 seconds and also uh you receive uh rewards on when you are also random randly selected to be the blog proposer. Uh that is expected to happen every two months or a bit more now depends on the number of validators. And when you propose a block, you receive a bit of consensus rewards that go uh to your balance on the on the beacon chain, but also execution rewards that include uh tips and um tips are uh small amounts uh of ether paid uh by by users that want to include their transactions on the block.

and uh also me and I'm going to uh explain ME a little better in a few minutes. Feel free to add anything if you'd like. And um so that is the basic concept of um staking your ether to become an Ethereum validator. And now I'm going to uh explain why RocketU makes it easier. uh you have initially the the first and most important is that it reduces the entry cost instead of needing uh 32 if you only need uh 16 plus 1 1.

6 if of RPL that's the rocket pool uh token and soon it's going to be even lower only needing 8 if plus 2.4 four uh worth of RPL. So that's a a very um much lower uh entry cost. And we also have a a very interesting um mechanism that uh is a good incentive for people uh creating their node. Uh that I'm also going to to explain it uh better in a few moments.

But uh when you create a new uh validator, a new mini pool that's called on on rocketpool uh you have the opportunity to perform an arbitrage operation and profit from it. So it covers your your deployment cost and also gives you uh some profit from it. Um, we also have some extra rewards because instead of having just uh one validator with your 32 if you could instead have uh two mini pools and you earn the the um reward from your ether and also 15% commission on the 32 if provided by the protocol. So um um and and also uh on the RPL that you needed to to stake to create those miniples you have uh rewards that every uh 28 days that is equivalent to um we have a a RPL uh inflation every 28 days that is 5% % um and and uh 70% of that goes to node operators and 15 to the grants committees and 15 to the Oracle D. Yeah.

Um, another thing that I wanted to discuss is um because many people are um afraid maybe to it's a new concept to uh keep this uh this machine running and it usually needs a Linux distribution. Well, mo most people use Linux and it can be a challenge to to some people to to do that. So uh one other very interesting thing is that uh Rakapool has u some excellent uh guides on how to do this things. Most of them written by uh Joe Let me just grab some other Yeah, I'd say uh just to add to kind of the commentary here that I' I'd mention two things. one, if you're in the audience and you're interested in staking and you're like, I don't quite know if I have the technical capabilities.

I don't know if I get stuck, if there's going to be somebody out there to help. I'd say the strongest asset of Rocketpole right now is the community and the Discord channel that it has that almost any time of day, you can get on there and one of the uh community members that's more experienced will certainly help you with the installation. But you'll see today the installation's pretty simple. Uh but it still helps to know there's a lot of people there that are going to be willing to step in and help your validator get going if you get stuck. And to the earlier point about the uh the what I call the accessibility of staking uh 32 ETH even at today's prices is a significant amount of money.

And so by using a staking pool like RocketPool, you could reduce the capital needed. Right? You're hearing the kind of soon to be uh only eight ETH required. And I think there's going to be an announcement during the main presentation. Rocketpool's a sponsor of uh of um of ETH Denver this year.

And you'll you'll uh hopefully hear an announcement to that uh on Thursday, I think it is. Um, the other thing I'll mention to it in terms of earning rewards is because when you stake with RocketPool, you put only eight, but the Ethereum protocol requires 32, uh, 24 ETH is coming from liquid stakers, and you earn a commission. It's going to be 14%. But since you're earning that on three times the amount that you put in, you really earn 46% node commission. And that is just an exceptional return.

uh if you're just looking at uh kind of dollar cost but again the main purpose of staking uh we believe strongly in rocketpool is to secure the network and we believe by uh yeah uh it's it's yes it's 46% on the uh return on the overall return so like as mentioned here your your execution layer um uh returns vary by uh mev and tips your consensus layer returns are about 4% so you earn an extra 46% on that. Right? So it it doesn't quite come to 46% but it's 46% of you know I'd say roughly around seven seven and a half% is I think what most of our nodes are are making. I'm seeing some shaking heads that are in there. Um so definitely do your math do your research on it but uh that uh thing uh I like calling it a multiplication factor does come in quite handy.

Thank you Ken. Um, so I invite um you guys to join the Discord. Here's the the link is there. discord.gg/ rocketpool.

And uh there you'll find uh 247 people available to ask to to answer any of your questions. Uh we have some really big brands that are donating their time there and answering uh the most complex uh scenarios that you guys can can come up. You have u uh many users that willing to to help you fix any any issues that you you may find. So here's my uh shout out to the support guys. Thank you.

Um so uh uh well one thing that is important that I I didn't explain properly was uh that rocket uh the protocol it has two big groups of users that it intends to to serve uh the ones that are willing to make that commitment to to have a machine running 24/7. um and uh maybe people that really like u computer and and and tinkering with u software and we also have u users that hey I I just have a small amount of it and I don't want or or for other reasons for maybe for tax purposes they they prefer to just stake that that that either without uh running the the the the software. Um so Rocketpool matches those two kinds of of users. one willing to run the software makes this initial u deposit and the remaining uh ether to to be uh used to create the validator is going to be pulled by the the second group of users that just want to make deposits and receive the yield without making the commitment to to run the the software. Um so for those that uh I'm going to discuss mostly uh here the features that make the life easier for this group that is the the node operators to make their life easier to run that software.

Uh we have some special features created either by uh the rocketpool team or by the rocket pool community. Uh the main thing that uh makes life easier is the smart node. It is a um CLI tool with a a terminal user interface that makes it really easy and I'm going to show that interface uh in a few moments. Uh you just really need to select the options that you want to run. Select your client um if you have a fallback or not.

uh how you want your MV boost and you're ready to go. It's so it's uh a piece of software that is really well done and uh deserves many compliments here for the for the team. Um another very interesting uh feature of rocket pool is that you you we have the smoothing pool which is a um contract that with with the intention of um when you as I mentioned when you're being selected to propose a block that could happen that is going to happen in a random random manner so could take maybe months months for you to be selected to be a block proposer and that way that um that source of income is really uh unknown as when you're going to be selected. So if you you have the option to join this smoing pool to um and everyone every uh operator who joins that smoing pool will uh send their rewards to this to this contract that is going to be shared uh equally uh and proportionally to to uh the amount of validators that each operator has. so that you you reduce this um what's the term the this um this variability thank you and have a a steady and expected uh income flow so that's a a very interesting you you kind of don't need to worry hey I'm really five months without being selected you're still having an income from from the pool Um on the other hand, if you are selected and you and you receive a really big reward, you don't receive the big reward, it's going to be uh equally shared among the all the other operators that that joined that pool.

So it's a a trade-off. You kind of uh wave any big winnings for a ST and certain win uh uh every 28 days. Uh another sorry I'm talking about the oh let's finish here. Um another very interesting um feature is the rocket rescue node and that is a uh communitydriven uh feature initially by pop and patches and object uh that worked on this really amazing um um service. Uh that is a um a node that runs both clients an execution and consensus client that is um available to be used as a fallback for any node operator.

Uh so which means that when your node is down for any reason you need to perform some updates or you had some issues your disc is full any problems with that uh you can just connect to the rescue node and use it as a fallback. So you can continue um performing your your duties your attestations and proposing blocks and while uh taking your clients down and performing what you need to to fix there. So that is a amazing um feature for another operator because it it takes away this this pressure of hey you need to be 24/7 online and you you can take some downtime and not worry about it and you you continue receiving the the rewards. So that's a a very interesting um thing to have and it's available to any rocket pool node operator. Um you just um currently operators ask for these credentials to use the the rescue node.

But we have um a website. Let me show it to you guys. rescue. I'm not sure if this one is uh so we have the rescuode.com website and it has the instructions on how do you um you would request these credentials to use this the service and it it only takes um a signed message from your node wallet uh and you paste that um that information here and it will give you a new uh URL to to use.

Um, and you you can use that for 15 days. So even if you need a full reync, if you if you need to to uh wait for some new part to arrive, you're covered and and you can u renew those credentials uh four times per per year. So that's really amazing. Um I mentioned here the MV boost as a um as just as a a feature for from the smart note that it makes you really makes it really easy to select uh which relays you want to your your node to uh communicate. So if you have concerns about uh regulated or unre unregulated u relays uh the smart makes it really easy for you to select which kinds of which kinds of um relays we want to to connect.

Anything you want to add? Okay. Um smart as I mentioned it abstracts all the complexity of installing those clients. Um the the basic um installation uh is using docker. So as I mentioned you you just select your client.

It supports all the major clients given bezel for execution and lighthouse pris and loadar and nimbus for the consensus client. Um, and it makes it uh super easy to update when you when you update a new version of you when you download a new version of the smart node, it will already um update all the versions of the clients for you and you really don't need to to worry about anything. It also comes with some very interesting um monitoring tools as graphana and primeus. um Grafana, not sure if any of you um have used. It's um a software that can that helps you keep track of the node matrix.

I have here um a dashboard that's it it shows you like every metric, every important metric about your your node. So for those that really uh want to uh improve their node the their uh performance you find here uh every information that you you may need. It's like your your battle station here. And you can also set um alarms uh alerts uh for like when your disc is clo uh is almost full you you can receive an alert or for any metric that you you can see here you can configure um an alert but that will only work when your node is online. So another very interesting um um product to use is the beacon chain um mobile uh application where you can uh monitor your validator and and opt to receive notifications when it is offline and that will work even when your node is offline.

So um so if you have a um if you your uh loses power you can be notified and and act on it. So those tools are super useful to keep track of your node performance before you go on there. I think one of the key things especially if you're sort of new to this that it may not be entirely clear is to run an Ethereum node it is um it is getting better but it right now it requires I think no less than three different pieces of software right you need one one Ethereum client called the execution layer client or the execution client you need another one called the consensus layer client or the consensus client and you can you can mix and match from the slide that was shown Right. There's a third one that you're running which sometimes is one and the same or sometimes it could be different which is your validating client. It kind of the client that actually signs your signature to a test to each block that uh or each uh each block that you've been assigned to, right?

Uh you most validators will probably run the fourth client which is your me boost because you would like to gain the chance to win one of these lottery blocks or to make extra income on there. So you're you're running four clients, right? Three that you need, four that you're probably running, and you need some other piece of software to kind of keep track of your node just in case something hiccups on it and you got to do something with it. And for a person that solo stakes that just does this out of the box, uh it takes a little bit. There's really good user guides out there by the East Staker community, but it does take some time to go through.

And I think what you'll see a little bit later on with the smart node stack is it does it all for you in just a couple of command lines. Thank you Kim. Um so another um thing that I want to explain to to you guys uh as I mentioned before when you create a mini poolool um currently we are on a on a scenario where as I mentioned we have the people that just want to stake without running the the software. So they they make they they deposit the ether on rocketpool and receive the RF token back and that contract has a limit on how on the amount of ether that can be deposit. It's currently 5,000 ether and the deposit is is uh this contract is currently at its full capacity.

Uh so what happens is that okay when new users want to to have um to buy RF they need to to buy it from the market and it creates uh a small premium on the on the uh RF price and when a node operator say hey I I want to create a new minip new validator. So it deposits 16 E and withdraws 16 E from this pool which means that it opens space for a new 16 if deposit and as the price on the market is trading at a premium. So this operation allows the person that is making the deposit that is creating the the mini poolool. It allows you to create a bundle transaction that creates the mini poolool uh deposits 16 ether on this newly created space on the on the deposit pool gets the equivalent amount of RF on that from that deposit at the official Rif rate and sells those newly minted Rif sells at the market for a premium and um and you can do a a flash loan to to uh grab this extra 16 lift that is required. So at the end of of this process you repay that that loan and keep the the premium uh from this operation.

So uh when you we are at this uh scenario this a very good incentive uh we saw node operators receiving point4 if for creating each mini poolool. So that is a a very good incentive for for new node operators and it's a very interesting uh way to balance the because when we have too many uh of one kind of user join the joining the network like only people depositing without wanting to create new miniples. It kind of uh creates an uh out of balance um protocol. So uh it is a a a nice way to um make the protocol to to rebalance the protocol. So you have an incentive for the other kind of group to to launch new miniples and increase the capacity of the the protocol and this is a rocket is a community feature.

It was not uh created by the by the team. It was something that Ramana uh developed both smart contract that deals with the with the flash loan required and and doing all these operations and and also a script that will create a bundle so that if you don't use this script we you create a mini poolool and some other bot is going to say hey there's I can make this deposit and and profit so a bot would do that. So uh using this script you create a bundle meaning that uh you execute all these transactions um together and you can make sure that the person who is creating this new space is the one who's going to to profit instead of a uh random MV bot out there. So um um kudos to Ramana for this amazing uh development that do you remind how many people how many times it was used? I don't remember uh really not profited like 400 if from from using rocket arm.

So that's an amazing tool. Uh I'm um showing here um a graph about the MV boost just to explain a bit about the um how it works. The to the left you have the the builders that um are looking for uh transactions to uh the the most profitable profitable uh blocks that grouping transactions to create blocks and sending this. then to on the at the center um the relays and the relays would send those blocks to to uh validators that are on the on the right. Um so RocketPool makes it really easy for you to select which relays you you want to connect according to um which ones you think it's better fitted for your your situation.

I already covered the rescue node. Sorry. So, um the these features that I mentioned are on the software part like making it easier to to run the clients to to run all those um uh the monitoring tools that come uh as well with the with the smart node. So, that covers the the software part and I'm now uh going to introduce you uh to a project by uh Joe Clapis that is on the rocket pool team that's called Proteios and it's a staking machine that is uh ready to go. you buy it and you receive it and you plug it and it already has the the software installed and and it has all the the hardware um requirements to to create to to run the the the software.

So you just plug it in and it's ready to go. And let me show you guys one here. Thank you. Uh so if the camera can uh zoom here. So it's a extremely tiny machine.

Um it has the it's based on the Raja Rock 5B uh board and has a two terabytes NVME disc an optional Wi-Fi um board and everything that you need. Thank you to to run your validator. Um Joe uh did a lot of work into into this project and he created u uh an image with the recommended security features that we uh otherwise have on our guides for the users to to harden their their installation. So this with this image you already have all these features uh set up for you. Uh it is capable of running all the clients.

Uh runs at uh around 5 to 10 watts. So it's a um amazing uh efficient machine uh especially when compared to the uh requirement the energy requirements when we were on the uh proof of work. So you replace those all those GPUs with now a machine that runs at uh five watts. It's like uh an amazing improvement. Um it's a low cost um hardware this um all this uh let me show the the tax back here.

So all of these components uh they're going for what's the amount a bit less than $600. Um and you have also some geek effect on it. Uh it runs on the ARM architecture. Uh the case is uh made with uh 3D printed parts and you have that customized vanity plate where you can um send any image that you want printed there. So that is super cool.

Uh you can customize with uh different colors. We have u a few units uh going around if you guys want to to take a look. So that's a a an amazing project by Joe that we can all see how much uh love and and dedication he had to to this project. So, as I mentioned, it has a Rock 5B, uh 16 gigs of RAM, two terabytes of SSD, um an optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module. You can have both options of active or passive cooling.

The Active has a a fan that is super quiet. If you guys later want to to Yeah, it's a Noctur fan in there. So whisper quiet. You can't even hear it. Yeah.

If you if you guys want to approach here, then we have one that is powered and you really don't can hear the fan working. And the uh personalized vanity plate that you can make your own. And here are all the pieces that are um used to to create the proteus. It is uh incredibly small a small machine even smaller than the the nooks that are already a small machine. I have here the QR code if anyone wants to take order uh to order one.

Uh there is a online form that Joe um set up and Joe is accepting crypto for for the payments. So that's um quite easy and a good use for your crypto if you have it there. Um I'm wanting to cover some next steps about both the um Ethereum network with the um Changai upgrade and also the um expected ch changes on the rocket side for this um uh for the this coming fork where we're going to be able to withdraw the validators. So I want to cover the the process involved. So let me first describe the withdrawals.

Um cuz previously or or currently um you make that 32 if deposit and you are not able to to withdraw and with the coming fork uh we are going to be able to to get that if back when we want. Uh so for uh the rocket process you would have uh we would start with one command on the on the smart node that is rocket minipool exit and that makes your um your mini poolool join an exit queue. The exit queue uh it's around uh eight validators can exit uh every epoch. So you avoid having too many validator validators exiting at once. Um so while you while you're waiting on that queue, you still have to run your node.

You still performing your um normal uh duties and when you uh reach the exit state, so you can turn off your node and you don't need to keep it running. Uh then there's an automatic process that is going to to to happen um either uh scheming your um your balance that is above 32 if so that is called scheming. So you uh receive what is um above 32 if on your on your mini poolool contract or if you requested a withdrawal you would receive the entire balance and when that balance reaches your because the minipool is a a smart contract that is deployed. So when that if reaches your your contract you call a second command that is rocket pool miniipool distribute balance. So um because it will um distribute the rewards that is split between the operator and the RF holders because they they had a part of u of the ether on the on that node and so they receive part of the rewards.

Um and it uh gives back the capital the the uh if that was deposit and distributes the the rewards uh accordingly to the RF holders and the to the node operator plus the commission that he receives for running the the software. Um after that he can also call rocketpool node withdraw RPL because he had some RPL staked to be able to to run the the mini poolool. So he can uh also reclaim that that RPL and that's that's it. It's a simple process with three commands. Um, another very interesting thing that is going to happen when um when the the with the new upgrade for Rocket boot that's called Atlas.

We currently uh require the 16 deposit from the node operator and and we're going to be able to convert that to what's called an LB8. It's a low ether bound bond um that only requires eight. So if you have one currently with 16, you're going to be able to start the process to migrate to this um more interesting version where you receive commissions for 20 24 if instead of only 16. Um so you call the command rocket pool mini pool begin bond reduction and it will perform some um you have to to wait for u some checks to be performed it. It's called the the script check.

Um after that um the smart node calls a function automatically that is that's going to perform the the bond reduction that is the green reduce bond. Uh not sure if you guys can read that it's a bit small. Um, with that um with that option, you you're going to have um a credit to create another um LB8. Um so you would have a command to create this this new mini poolool. um requires one E to be available in the deposit pool and then uh after some time the the smart node calls a second function that deposits the remaining 32 31 if and that's it.

you converted one 16 NIF mini poolool to two LB8s and you would receive as Ken mentioned um 466% uh more rewards than a than a solo validator and here's another very interesting uh flow that we rock is going to support which is uh a person that currently has a solo valid ator that is not um rocket pool node operator but wants to um become one. Um he can um migrate his credentials if they have a a Zerx0 credential they can perform this um this credential migration. And so it it's going to start uh by creating a rocket pool node just like any um node operator. That's where uh the person starts creating a new node staking RPL because that's uh the utility of the rocketpool um token. it uh unlocks this possibility to receive uh extra rewards to receive the the uh commission from RF holders.

Uh so you take RPL you create a what is called a VA vacant mini poolool because it's going to um receive this migration from the from the solo validator. So it's not a mini pool that you deposit your ether like when you create it with your a new bond. You're creating one that is vacant. It doesn't have any. You don't need to deposit to create that.

And you specify the the validator pub key and its current balance. So you've been a solo validator for some time and it currently has it's 32 if plus all the rewards that you received as a as a solo validator. Um so you specify that information the the oracle is going to confirm this information the check that the credential is valid check the the balance the balance is correct. So that's the scrub check and at some point you're after that scrub check is done you can promote that vacant um mini poolool. Um so uh it would become an operational um rock mini poolool as any other.

And as you had 32 if and you converted that to either 16 a 16 if one or an LB8 that only requires 8 if. So according to which one you select you would have credit to create uh either two 16 leaf or four with LB8. Um, so you can use that additional credit to create this this other mini pool and you would call uh refund function that would um give you the rewards from your solo validator because and it's a a different function that that the usual uh that is is split between the node operator and the re folders because this part of the the rewards the uh it won't be shared with RF holders was just the solo validator that that received them. So it goes entirely to the node operator. Uh and so so this function gets called just once because it's the rewards you received as a solo validator.

So we received it entirely. Um so it's just one. So your future rewards. So as you receive um uh ether from the protocol the the following uh distribution is going to be split between you and RF holders. If I could just add two comments I think are very useful for that.

So one challenge that rocketpole has right now that I think everybody agrees is that even though it has more than 2,000 node operators uh it is still needs more node operators. uh the demand for the liquid staking token exceeds the ability for RocketPool to actually stake it on on the uh on Ethereum on the beacon chain. And so one of the things that this does by reducing the node operator um equity or or deposit from 16 ETH down to eight, it actually the way the math works out, it it allows Rocketpool to increase its lift capacity or its ability to stake uh on the liquid token, the re uh it increases it by a magnitude of of three. So it's basically going to allow it to double and then double again its staking capacity. And for the node operator, what they get in both of these scenarios, whether or not it's a conversion from an existing rocket pool uh half6 mini poolool to the LEB8s or if it's a solo validator that wants to then take their 32 ETH and convert it to four LEB8s, um that they'll be able to get that additional additional reward.

So a a rocketpool mini poolool uh operator can go from right now uh they might be getting 20% they can go to 46% and then obviously a solo validator can go from 0% additional return uh immediately to 46%. So, we are kind of anticipating once this is announced uh perhaps here later on at ETH Denver with a Medium article coming out uh by the team, we're hoping to see a large increase uh to the number of node operators that RocketPole already has. Thank you, Kim. Wait, one other thing. The key thing on that, sorry, the key thing is that in either case, whether or not you're an existing minipool operator or a solo validator with these migrations, the reason they're called migrations is you do not have to exit your existing validator.

You do not have to go through the exit queue, which could be long after after Chappella here. You don't have to get back into the entry queue, which could also be very long around Chappella here. We'll have to see. Uh you could do it without having to exit the beacon chain at all. And that's the key thing.

There's no waiting in line to exit and there's no waiting in line to get back in. Um, so this was meant to be a a workshop with a hands-on uh experience, but um so we we planned to have some ProTuce units that you guys could uh interact with, but we have some limitations on the the network here. So I could just uh connect one here with a a good connect internet connection so I can uh show some of the concepts that we we discussed here. Um so let me I'll switch out the mics here. I can't.

Okay. So, I um let me I have um made a connection through my laptop into the ProTuce that I have here uh using SSH. So I'm going to call here rocket service config. So, when you receive your ProUs, connect it to the power, connect to an Ethernet cable or to Wi-Fi. Uh, all you need to do is, well, first you're going to uh you can connect directly with a keyboard to it.

I'm not not doing it that now. Um, so when you connect a monitor and a a keyboard to it and login, you would only need to run rock service config. And I have to lower the terminal. See, not Here you go. Um so this is the the user interface that I I mentioned where you just in a very user friendly way.

um select for instance if you want to run on the predator test net which we always recommend that new node operate node operators start by practicing on the test net so they they can see all the operations that they would need to perform without risking any any funds and see how your your machine uh performs if it's it has the the required um um like if your your disc is uh fast enough to to sync the the network, you don't need to to worry about those tests with the pro tips because it has um a disc that is super fast and and all the requirements that you need. But if you're running on your own machine, it's interesting for you to to make those tests to see if your your hardware is adequate for the task. Um you can select on the execution client. It is locally managed. So it means it it will manage uh with a docker container.

It's going to download and you just select if you want to download an image with the latest version from GF, Nethermind, Bizu and it gives you the options to you don't really need to to change these things only but you you have uh the capability to to customize everything like the the ports that are going to be used if you want to expose the RPC ports the P2P port is going to be used cache size. So it it comes with u the default configuration it's um adequate for running but if you want to to change those uh parameters it's very easy to to do same thing for the if2 client for the consensus client you just select which one you prefer and we are always incentivizing u node operators to select the minority clients for uh to uh avoid having one client uh being too dominant. Um and you also have here an easy way to select all all the options that you might need to to use that um client. You can select a fallback client. Uh if you have a se a second uh node that you when your first node is having any issues, it would automatically try to uh to use the fallback node to uh take over.

Here's the MV boost settings uh where you just enable it here and you select uh which um kinds of relays that you you want. you can just group them on uh all unregulated um relays or if you are worried and want to enable just the regulated or you can also select individually some of the um of the relays that are supported and Rocket is continually adding new relays for um the node operators to select which ones they want and the operator are free to to choose which ones they want to to connect to. Here you can enable the metrics as I mentioned the uh that you're going to see on that graphana dashboard. So you really don't don't need to worry about that's all ready out of the box for you. But you can change the these configurations if you need to.

We have some add-ons as well like we're currently have the the wall painted the graffiti uh wall painting that is we painted the rocket pool uh logo on the beacon chain uh wall. So that was something cool that the community on each new uh block that was proposed you you use it the graffiti with the coordinates for a pixel that will be painted and we painted the the rocket logo. So after you run and select those options, um the system the the uh smart would take care of running the clients for you and you could have other commands here like see the logs for the if one. So you can see that uh it is running and receiving new blocks correctly. If you need to to debug some issue, you would grab those logs and and post on our support channel and someone would take a look for you and help you figure out anything that you need to do.

Uh any other comments? Uh you can do rocket node sync might be kind of node. Yeah. So let me show Uh we have rocketpool as the the main uh command and it has um a few options. So the the most used options are the node one node where you have options to see the status the the the the sync progress of your clients.

Let me show node sync. So it gives you the information that you're currently on the predator network and your clients are fully synced. Um you would have important uh operations here like to to stake your RPL um set your withdrawal um address. So that's one very interesting concept and we always suggest people to one of the first things that they do when when setting up their their node is to define uh an address that would receive all the rewards and and would receive the the the when they withdraw. So that you set this address to a harder wallet that you keep safe and and so that um any of your funds would always end on that address and and you don't risk uh them being uh lost.

Status and rewards. Let's try the rockoo node status. Oh, I don't have um a wallet here. Yeah. So, you would start by running rocket wallet in it.

That's Well, I'm not sure if I could do that. Yeah, but yeah, that that's the command you would run to um initialize a wallet. So, we would give you um your 25 words minimonic that you can use. And that's one also one interesting thing that uh if you're um when you create your node and you have some mini pools there. So each minipool has its its keys that it uses to to validate the the network.

Um the only thing that you need to um to backup is this minimon minimonic there this 24 uh words and when you want to move to a new node with those 24 words you can recover all the uh your node wallet and all it all of its keys you can rebuild this the keys with just this single um minimonic. So that's a very easy the the only thing that you need to keep safe is the the node minimonic and also your um hard wallet that would be your withdrawal address and not going to be I don't know how how long we have here uh probably questions now 15 minutes yeah let me just um one important thing that is maybe most of you are uh anxious is that um we have a pull-up for the attendees. So, the attendees that are here in person, um they were able to mint uh one pull-up. And if you guys still didn't mint it, uh you can um do it with with uh Giovanni in the back. And for any uh person that is watching online or even for the ones that are here, uh you can also meet this online version.

It's on on the Pope check checkout and it it's asking for a very small like $3 um transfer to avoid uh a person grabbing all of the the pull-ups. Um and we're going to have some very uh let me just add something because I I can see a lot of people taking the QR code in the audience. If you're in the audience, you get the POP for free. In the very back right here, the gentleman raising his hand has an IYK card. Just scan it with your phone and you get the POP for free.

If you're watching online on Twitch, love you guys. Uh there's uh the POP checkout that just has a small nominal fee to prevent farming and you'll understand why in a second. Yeah. So, just to clarify, there are two versions. uh one for uh that you can claim uh uh that everyone here can can claim for free and this version that is on the Pope's checkout.

And um these two pops are going to be uh used um as tickets for a raffle that we're going to raffle one of the Proteus units and also five RPL. That's close to like a $250 of price. So, um you can uh join the raffle. Anyone holding any of those two or or even if you have the the two pop-ups, you can join this raffle that's going to be um that's going to run tomorrow. So, you have some time to to mean the pop-up and to to join the the raffle.

And um it's going to use the popup uh funfun website. So you don't need to trust me. It's the the official pop-up solution and it's going to be a fair um selection of the the winners. So one person is going to take a produce home or five RPL. That's some very nice prizes.

if you want to end. Uh so I'm opening now opening now for any questions you guys may have and if you're watching the stream and want to send questions on you can send them on on our Discord as well and I'll ask someone to to read them for me. Anyone have any questions? question. We have [Music] That number search Hello.

I operate a handful of solo validators and migrating them to Rocket Pool sounds like an interesting option. I was wondering if there is a a dry run option with the software to uh well to do just that to to perform a dry run without risking my ETH um to see that it's going to work ahead of time. [Music] Okay. Um I I'm not aware. Well, oh no, correcting myself.

So he asked if there's any way for you to test this migration uh on a solo validator. So uh yes we're going to uh rock is going to have a beta testing that on the on the predator network. So you could uh create um a solo uh validator on the pinter network and download the rocketpool software and practice that on the on the test net. So, hi. Can you hear me?

Yeah. No. Can you hear me? Oh, do closer. Um, you mentioned that h you can switch from like 16 E to 80 E by doing this.

How many? Sorry. How many validators can you run on like one of your staking solutions basically? Okay, that that's a good question. Um, so a machine like like the ProUs can handle any amount of validators like the limit is how much is the amount of V that you have.

So uh it is we have people running 900 validators on a single node. So um it can handle a very large amount of of validators. Any other questions from the audience here? Uh, I run just two of the current mini poolool uh, sorry, I run just two of the current mini poolool validators um, at the 16 ETH size. And if I migrate them over to LE 8s, will I still be able to execute the rocket ARB function when I launch those new pools?

Um yes. So when when you are um when you are migrating it would also um let me see if it would open new space on the on the deposit pool. Well currently the rocket app doesn't support that operation. it would need to be updated to any new uh scenarios that would be um available to to arbitrage. Uh I'm not sure if that's that opens because um yeah, it's an excellent question.

I'm going to have to think about it. I don't think it opens spot in the deposit pool. The other thing that I anticipate is going to happen is that uh once withdrawals come, we're going to see a very large uh equalization between the market price and the true value. So I don't think that the imbalance of the price difference is even going to be there even if the ARB worked. But I like Forex is saying, I don't think it actually opens up a spot to arb the ETH because you're just redeeming a coupon.

Yeah. So when you create a new LB8, so you're depositing ADF to create a new mini poolool. So that's a different arbitrage. So you would arbitrage to with a bigger amount with 24 if instead of 16. So it's even better arbitrage when you're creating a new LB8.

Uh but when you're migrating, we need to to take a look at the the at the steps and if there's any point that you could still um um do that as well, but I'm not really sure. So yeah, and I'm quite positive right now in trading or somewhere on the rocketpool discord. Trading is a community can channel. There's probably already 100 people shouting into the discord there the correct answer. So we should just check there.

Check the discord and they they'll give you the answer. Anyone else have a question from the audience here? All right. All right. I think that's all the questions from the audience for next.

Okay. Thank you so much. [Applause] [Music] Rolling. [Music] Rolling. We're rolling, Bob.

Bob, are we rolling? Somebody. She [Music] was all I had.