soaresa
commented
2 months ago Problem
Currently, there is no mechanism to promote bid competition among validators for the seats auction in Proof of Fee. All eligible validators eventually enter the validator set regardless of their bid amount.
Current Snapshot/Context
In epoch 90, we had 16 validators in the set with the same minimum bid of 1%. Without a competition mechanism, there is no reason for them to change their bids.
Initially Proposed Approach in this Issue
Starting with 40 available seats, remove x seats, where x is a random number between 0 and 4 (10% of 40). With this approach, the number of available seats will tend to decrease over epochs. This is because the number only increases by one if all nodes behave well, and there is a 1/5 chance that x will be zero.
Alternative Approach
To provoke competition among validators when the validator set surpasses the boot-up threshold of 20 compliant validators, the validator set size will be defined by the minimum value between:
- Musical Chairs suggestion, and
- 90% of qualified bidders
This percentage is experimental and may be adjusted after observing real-world performance. It could also be dynamic, based on another function or randomized within a range, as initially proposed.
Impact on Current Seats Auction
Assuming all 36 validators are compliant in the current epoch and remain the same qualified bidders, we should expect the size for the next epoch to be 33, leaving out the 3 validators with the lowest bids.
If multiple validators have the same lowest bid amount, they will be randomly picked by shuffling their positions after sorting by bid.
Example: The last 3 validators (0x1, 0x2, 0x3) have the lowest bid of 1%, and 2 will be out of the set according to the new rule above. We will shuffle their positions (0x3, 0x1, 0x2) to ensure fairness when picking the one to be in the validator set.
Advantages of the Alternative Approach
- Consistent Competition: Ensures continuous competition, encouraging validators to regularly review and increase their bids.
- Dynamic Adaptation: Adapts the number of seats to the current bid landscape, promoting a responsive and competitive validator set.
- Fairness and Transparency: Resolves issue #271 by ensuring fairness and transparency, avoiding potential biases and manipulations.
- Higher Stakes for Validators: Motivates validators to commit more resources to stay in the set, leading to a more secure and robust network.
0o-de-lally
Problem
Currently, there is no mechanism to promote bid competition among validators for the seats auction in Proof of Fee. All eligible validators eventually enter the validator set regardless of their bid amount.
Current Snapshot/Context
In epoch 90, we had 16 validators in the set with the same minimum bid of 1%. Without a competition mechanism, there is no reason for them to change their bids.
Initially Proposed Approach in this Issue
Starting with 40 available seats, remove x seats, where x is a random number between 0 and 4 (10% of 40). With this approach, the number of available seats will tend to decrease over epochs. This is because the number only increases by one if all nodes behave well, and there is a 1/5 chance that x will be zero.
Alternative Approach
To provoke competition among validators when the validator set surpasses the boot-up threshold of 20 compliant validators, the validator set size will be defined by the minimum value between:
This percentage is experimental and may be adjusted after observing real-world performance. It could also be dynamic, based on another function or randomized within a range, as initially proposed.
Impact on Current Seats Auction
Assuming all 36 validators are compliant in the current epoch and remain the same qualified bidders, we should expect the size for the next epoch to be 33, leaving out the 3 validators with the lowest bids.
If multiple validators have the same lowest bid amount, they will be randomly picked by shuffling their positions after sorting by bid.
Example: The last 3 validators (0x1, 0x2, 0x3) have the lowest bid of 1%, and 2 will be out of the set according to the new rule above. We will shuffle their positions (0x3, 0x1, 0x2) to ensure fairness when picking the one to be in the validator set.
Advantages of the Alternative Approach