Stereum Integration

[stefa2k.eth]

Stereum formally requests a grant from the Blox community to fund our efforts to integrate and maintain the Blox SSV implementation in the next 6 months.

Stereum’s features include (incomplete list, for more information visit stereum.net):

• UI to lessen the technical burden & quickly install and configure an Ethereum node, being able to choose from 4 beacon chain clients (lodestar will rejoin soon as 5th)
• UI to handle the configuration of said node, including monitoring (Grafana + dashboards), basic OS maintainance and config import/export (encrypted)
• Supports use of multiple beacon nodes & failover eth1 functionality (use multiple ETH1 node urls, organize by priority)
• OpenSource - on github.com. Additionally, Stereum’s launcher & underlying software just finished a security audit by sba-research and important vulnerabilities fixed at the time of writing
• A mobile app is in it’s final stage before release to enable remote notifications (e. g. Grafana alerts pop up on your smart phone) at the time of writing
• Short release cycle of 2 weeks (critical fixes get released faster of course)

Stereum offers to Blox SSV community:

• Make Blox SSV a selectable option for all supported client setups. Setup process of eth1, eth2 & SSV operator node within Stereum with UI Wizard & UI Control Center
• Adapting to new versions & features of Blox SSV
• Add Grafana dashboards to view metrics of SSV service
• Blox SSV service focused setup (no validator service of client teams, optional geth)
• Advanced ssv key management:
  • Automated generation of operator keys
  • Including operator keys in config import/export process
  • Migrate operator keys to new node
  • Registar operator & validators (also including changing operator name, operator keys, operator fees):
    • Using Stereum app & MetaMask (interacting with smart contract)
    • Using official ssv.network website
• Overview of validator keys staking on this operator with various information (depending on availability of API)
• Support on Discord to Stereum users running Blox SSV
• Support of testnet(s) of Blox SSV
• Benefits of future Stereum features

The requested grant amount totals EUR 42k - for 6 months of development, testing, server cost & bug reporting. Payment 1/3 upfront, 1/3 after 3 months, 1/3 at the end of 6th month.

[alonmuroch]

Great initiative! I think this can greatly reduce setup complexity for new operators

[NHWMJ]

I’ve used Stereum in the past and I think it’s a great initiative. However, I can’t help but think that the grant FIAT amount is inflated.

I think it could be interesting to partially fund grants with the native SSV token to:

1. Incentivize contributors to work on top of SSV and develop its financial ecosystem.
2. Discourage parties from draining dollar-pegged DAO funds, and what I mean by this is: it’s still early days and SSV will see a lot of grant requests. I believe Stereum means well, but that will not always be the case.

[Adamefr]

Thanks for your comments. 1. for sure, priority number one 2. I think that the DAO can handle 42K EUR for such significant added value executed by a great team. But, open to discuss. What do you think this project should cost?

[stefa2k.eth]

Please use our address 0x81D30BF2047cC5Ee5f903CC00594edC8D5018D31 for payouts, thank you!

[BenAffleck]

Just for the records: The grant was successfully voted on by the DAO.

[daGscheid]

The ones that follow our work will already know, but we thought we would deliver a dedicated update to the SSV Network DAO as well.

First of all, we thank you all for your trust. We were one of the first grants recipients of the SSV Network DAO and when we set out, SSV was as new to us as it was probably to many. Now a few months later, it already reveals itself to be a key piece in the future of Ethereum. We are glad that the Blox team had taken initiative more than one year ago to reach out us for their testnet and we are happy that we took the decision to take on the work to implement a SSV Node Operator Setup into Stereum

So where are we?

[STEREUM IS STILL IN BETA DEVELOPMENT]

The current implementation off SSV Network in Stereum is mostly completed. There are some bugs and QoL changes we would still like to make, but you can now – if you have the server capacities to run an Ethereum Node - download Stereum on your home machine and set up a Shifu SSV testnet Node operator on an Ubuntu server in a couple of minutes.

While Syncing times are still a topic we are currently tackling with SyncLink, the initial set up time becomes a quick endeavor with our One Click Installation option.
When you first you log into your server & have no node installed, you will be greeted with this screen, presenting you with a network selection which features different one-click presets for your node setup.

If you select SSV, you continue onwards to the installation module.

Here you can see a short summary of your network selection, can define an installation path on your server, change your client selection and choose how you would like to sync your clients (currently: GENESIS or CHECKPOINT).

Clicking “Next” leads you to a summary of the installed plug-ins & their chosen installation path. Press install to start the installation.

After a few minutes, the components you have to chosen will appear.

With the installation being done, your SSV Node is nearly ready. The clients while need time to sync (how long depends on your choice for synchronization mode). After the installation is done & while waiting for synchronization, you can register a new node operator with the SSV network. During the setup Stereum automatically generates a new public / secret key for your SSV network node operator. You can copy and use this key to set up a node or generate your old node operator prior used secret key.

By confirming that you saved your public / secret key, you are able to continue to the Navigation module. Clicking it should also open up the SSV Network app webpage in your default browser.

Currently there is still a bug with the module not being able to discern of you already run a node operator or are in need of setting up a new one. However, usually you should, after having signed up a node operator with SSV Network, be able to enter the navigation module whenever you like. Here you can copy your public node operator key, visit your node operator page (after you have signed up) or open the SSV Network Grafana Dashboard

After integrating V1 testnet into Stereum 1.0, we made it our goal to also support SSV for the full release of Stereum 2.0. I think we achieved that! We hope to refine the setup & management process more as development on SSV further matures, but nonetheless, it you want to support the current Shifu testnet of SSV - Stereum is your tool to do that!