First off, this is obviously the result of a massive level of effort. The level of technical detail here is impressive, and moving to native ETH payments is obviously the right play for the long-term survival of the protocol. It solves the accounting headaches and aligns us with how the rest of Ethereum actually works. Kudos to the team for putting this together—it is clearly the smart path forward.
That said, while the overall strategy is sound, I think the business logistics of this transition overlook some brutal realities of our market.
- Forced Migration Breaks Vendor Lock-in
To some extent, this is betting on user loyalty that simply doesn’t exist. In backend infrastructure, the only thing keeping a customer is the friction of switching. By forcing a migration—even a “one-click” one—that inertia is broken. We are effectively firing every customer and asking them to re-hire us a new rate. The moment a user is calculating the new cost to migrate, they are going to start shopping around. Some will look at the list, see the new “bargain basement” entrants, and switch. This creates a “Day 1” free-for-all that punishes established operators who have spent years building stability.
- The “Default Fee” is a Mirage
The proposal relies on a “Default Fee” (0.5%) to reset market pricing. It’s a nice sentiment, but let’s be real: without a structural Minimum Operator Fee, it’s just a suggestion. The moment migration opens, aggressive competitors and new entrants will undercut that default. It is not a possibility; it is a guarantee. We will see an immediate return to the race to the bottom, but this time it happens while established operators are vulnerable during a forced shuffle.
- The Exodus Risk
We have to be honest about why many people use SSV right now: it is cheap and subsidized by incentives. As we transition to a real-yield model, we aren’t just risking churn between operators; we are risking am exodus out of the SSV ecosystem entirely. Some of us might not make it through to the other side.
The Fix: A Structural Floor
If we are going to reset the board, we need a floor. We should implement a protocol-enforced Minimum Operator Fee. This would provide a baseline of sustainability and prevent the migration from turning into a predatory pricing war that wipes out the current operator set. We need to at least try to ensure the people who built this network can actually survive the upgrade.