Polkadot - Gradual increase of active validator set to 372 validators
Dear Polkadot community,
I am creating this post to initiate a discussion on a proposal focused on the future expansion of Polkadot active validator set. This proposal outlines a one-year strategy to increase the number of validators on our network incrementally.
You can find all the specifics, including the detailed roadmap, proposed timeline, and in-depth analysis of the potential impacts, in the Full proposal document.
The proposed rate of increase is adding one new validator every three days. This gradual increment of validators is designed to improve the decentralization of the Polkadot network and provide a longer time frame for the rebalancing and optimization of nominator stakes on elected validators. In addition, this proposal includes an enactment delay of around 3 months in order to meet the time schedule of other upgrades required before the increase can commence such as an increase in the number of paravalidators as it already happening on Kusama with the proposal to Increase Parachain Validators to 250
Implementing a year-long roadmap into an on-chain scheduler significantly showcases OpenGov capabilities. It promotes transparent collaboration between Parity Core Developers and the Community and encourages cooperative execution of network expansion plans.
This proposal builds upon two previous referenda which failed to pass due to concerns over network security, stability, and dependencies on specific GitHub issues. A substantial one-off increase in active validators might expose the network to heightened security risks and potential instability. The timeline proposed in the previous gradual increase proposal was considered too brief, and there were concerns that the same number of paravalidators spread across more validators might weaken network security.
A clear timeline is set out to ensure the structured and timely implementation of this proposal. We aim to launch the proposal on-chain on July 15, 2023, with the enactment approximately one month later. Subsequent months will be spent monitoring changes in the Kusama network and identifying potential issues. This delay is also aimed to provide a substantial time buffer for the launch of the Polkadot OpenGov proposal to expand the paravalidator set to 250 as described in the Network scalability roadmap. After an additional two-week buffer for final checks, the expansion of the Polkadot validator set will commence on December 1, 2023. The planned increase is expected to be completed by July 13, 2024.
The proposal addresses:
- The minimum required number of paravalidators.
- The economic impact on validator and nominator earnings.
- The influence of the validator set increases on the average stake amount.
- Alignment with the network scalability roadmap.
(Source: wpank Validator scaling Dashboard)
Pre-image with extrinsic proposing a 105 day (1,512,000 blocks) delay with 1 validator increase every 3 days (43,200 blocks) can be checked here:
The number of days/blocks will be fine-tuned to closely match the described timeline before onchain launch. This proposal will be launched under the staking_admin OpenGov track.
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts, opinions, and feedback on this proposal.
Thank you!
CS
Comments (3)
Dear CoinStudio,
I am in agreement with the expansion in principle but based on previous feedback I suggest that we wait for milestones to be completed and verified before a referendum is committed to the scheduler.
The proposal not only seeks to increase the number of active validators but to be successful also requires an increase the number of para-validators. This is fairly still new to Kusama and there's also a PR that should be deployed and tested with the increase.
In theme with Polkadot's conservative and stability focused principles it would be wise to stay at a position of safety instead of planned reliance on remedial action. A roll-back is also not good publicity.
I appreciate the eagerness, I would like to see the set expand as well but let us just wait the few weeks or months and do this right. With each negative vote we lose community support, third time **might **be the charm but it may also hamper a fourth.
Thank you for your consideration, be responsible.
Hi CoinStudio, I don't know enough about this (what has previously happened on Kusama, etc) so I have a question. After the expansion of the Validator set, would that also mean, slightly increased staking rewards due to more distribution or would they remain the same? Also, as per your comment here which gives some assurance, I wonder which milestones need to be verified before, that Paradox is referring to in order to reduce the chance of a rollback? "Subsequent months will be spent monitoring changes in the Kusama network and identifying potential issues. This delay is also aimed to provide a substantial time buffer for the launch of the Polkadot OpenGov proposal to expand the paravalidator set to 250" Thanks, Claudio (KryptosChain)