[Micro-Grant] Running a Liquidator Bot

Introduction

The SSV Network grants committee is giving away 5 micro-grants worth $2000 each to partners or individual community members for operating a liquidator bot for at least 12 months.

This micro-grant is designed to support and incentivize members who take on the vital task of liquidating underfunded clusters within our network. As a liquidator, you will ensure that our network operates seamlessly, contributing significantly to its overall robustness. Review the Liquidations section in the docs for more detailed information about liquidation in the SSV Network.

We’re encouraging everyone to submit an application and potentially get selected by the grants committee. Although only 5 applicants will be considered, everyone can run a liquidator and claim the liquidation collateral of a liquidated cluster. This micro-grant awards the selected applicants on top of said benefit.

Requirements

To get considered, an applicant must fulfill the following criteria:

  • Run a liquidator bot on the Holesky testnet
  • Run a liquidator bot on Mainnet for at least 12 months
  • Report 2 successful liquidations on the Holesky testnet during the evaluation period
  • Completed SSV Karma profile with a score above >10
  • You’re not part of an SSV Network committee, core development team, or core team

How to apply?

Step 1

Complete your Karma delegation profile and ensure your score is above 10. To complete your profile, go to https://delegate.ssv.network and log in with the wallet where you hold your SSV tokens (if any) and from where you participate in snapshot votes. Complete your profile by linking at least your forum and discord handles. Also, make sure to have a proper bio description set. To learn more about the role of delegation in the SSV Network ecosystem, read this blog post. If you face challenges during setup, ask for help on the general discord channel.

Step 2

Fork the application document, fill it out, and submit it through the grants form.

Step 3

Prepare to liquidate 2 clusters on Holesky during the evaluation period, which will be announced here on the forum and Discord when it starts. Make sure you’re prepared. Check out the liquidation bot technical documentation.

Step 4

Report your two successful testnet liquidations as an answer in this post. The message must include a link to the transactions showing the successful liquidations from the addresses you provided in the application doc and after submission.

Next steps

  • The grants committee will announce the 5 selected applicants here on the forum after the evaluation period has ended.
  • Once selected, grantees will receive the initial payment automatically. Successful mainnet liquidations shall be reported by the grantee here on the forum by posting the transaction link. The grantee will receive another payment according to the reward structure if valid.

Reward Structure

Milestone Amount
Approval of your application $500
First successful liquidation on mainnet* $500
Following successful liquidations on mainnet** 4 x $250
Total $2000

/* Must happen within the duration of this grant. Liquidation must have happened from the provided mainnet wallet address. The cluster liquidated must have had at least 2 validators registered at the point of liquidation.

/** Only one successful liquidation per quarter. Therefore, the maximum number of rewardable liquidations is 5 (first liquidation + 4 x liquidations, 1 x per quarter). The requirements for the first successful liquidation also apply.

Terms

Duration

The micro-grant starts on the day after the evaluation period ends and lasts 12 months.

Payments

Grants are paid 100% in SSV on a 7-day moving average. If the price of SSV were to fall under 10 USD per SSV at the time of a milestone approval, the grantee would receive an SSV amount equal to 10 USD per SSV. Payout will happen automatically to the address linked with your Karma profile.

Abusive Behaviour

Abusive or suspicious behavior will result in exclusion from this program. The grants committee has full discretion to decide on such behavior in the best interest of the SSV Network.

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Hello, everyone! The grants committee is happy to announce that the evaluation period starts on Sunday, March 17th, and ends on April 7th. After that, the committee will announce the selected applicants.

Good luck. :four_leaf_clover:

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It seems that the mev bot must be bypassed, otherwise it will be robbed :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Hi. applied and hope i can raise my karma score above the initial value of 7. bot is running now. can we ignore error outputs like

getBalance { error: ‘IncorrectClusterState()’, hash: ‘0x12e04c87’ } {
owner: ‘0x4C367437bC7D2f0C05A5B5f8833afBD07A1d7625’,
operatorIds: ‘66,144,199,236,248,304,306’
}

My two Holesky liquidations:

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Hi, is this grant for the people who were already running a bot on mainnet? so not for new people who want to try the liquidator, am I right?

The evaluation period is open now, so it’s for anyone to try whether they were doing it previously or not.

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This error means that your ‘cluster’ data is abnormal and does not match the chain. Any subsequent actions will be wrong. Everything is built on the correct ‘cluster’.

okay… so anything i can do? my node is synced… i have 1 successful liquidation, but 12 times execution reverted…
0x8183B79BaF4eC8f9f11B9E8b462DC6593d0afF4b

Perhaps the event scan was late or an error occurred. If the event scan is correct, the ‘cluster’ data should be correct.

Okay i am creating transactions. But i see a little problem here. We have around 10 bots participating here and competing for liquidations:

5 Bots are using gas-price=high ( 1.4 Gwei )
4 Bots are using Standard i guess ( 1.2 Gwei )
but one Bot is using 3.5 -4 Gwei and so farming more than others:

@BenAffleck Should we worry about this and increase our own gas? ( how? not documented in bloxapp ssv-liquidator ). Or is it sufficient to provide testnet liquidations , although they are not “successful” ?

@Hackworth Could you please stop your bot as you already have 2 liquidations and enable some for other people? or tell us how to increase gas?

I’m currently traveling but I should be able to turn mine off tonight.

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It’s open for everyone, regardless of if you have run a bot before.

You’re free to increase the GAS_PRICE as you wish, but you must make minor modifications to the source code.

Here’s the corresponding section. For instance, you could add a custom clause with a very high multiplier or a fixed value.

I hope this helps.

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No matter what language the bot is written in, gasPrice can be increased and configured. By the way, since only one transaction can be successfully liquidated, gas or mev will become the focus of competition, and on the mainnet, this competition will be even more intense.

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My two liquidations:

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I did notice that the bot will post multiple liquidation txns that seem to be trying to liquidate the same cluster sometimes. If anybody has advice on how to load this into a debugger to examine, would be appreciated.

my two liquidations:

Thank you @Hackworth @BenAffleck

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If I’m selected, I’d like to report my first mainnet liquidation following the evaluation period:

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Hello Liquidators,

Thank you very much for your submissions. The grants committee has reviewed all of them and is currently voting on them. We’ll report back within 7 days and announce the selected grantees.

Thank you very much! :handshake:
—Ben

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