We are excited to announce our partnership as Mainnet Alpha operators with Obol Network!
In April of this year, the Obol Network achieved a significant milestone with the launch of its Alpha phase, which witnessed the deployment of the first Mainnet Distributed Validators (DV) by the staking community. The foundation for this initiative was laid by the core team in December 2022 when they deployed the very first Mainnet DV. Since then, more than 45 organizations have joined in, running Distributed Validators on the Ethereum Mainnet in either solo or multi-org clusters.
In a nutshell, Obol Network is an ecosystem designed for trust-minimized staking, enabling anyone to create, test, operate, and coordinate distributed validators, with a primary focus on Ethereum staking solutions.
Presently, there is no way to operate validators in a high-availability environment without introducing the risk of slashing. Each validator operates as a single entity with its private key, and the high barriers to entry for running validators can naturally lead to stake centralization within the ecosystem.
This is where Obol steps in.
The Obol Labs takes the lead in addressing these challenges, particularly working to address stake centralization by improving the scalability and resiliency of Ethereum consensus. Obol has developed Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) to enable multiple nodes to function collectively as a single validator on Ethereum. Through Obol’s distributed validator client, ‘Charon’, multiple nodes work together by combining their partial signatures into a full signature for the distributed validator and coming to consensus.
DVT ensures fault tolerance as long as a specific threshold of active nodes is met (e.g., 3 out of 4, 5 out of 7, 7 out of 10, etc.). This approach enhances security, offers near-perfect performance, and eliminates the vulnerability of a single point of failure in validator nodes by distributing responsibilities across multiple nodes. Additionally, each node within a DV cluster can be run by different individuals or groups, thereby improving byzantine fault tolerance. As a result, DVs strengthen resilience while reducing security risks. In addition, this approach also reduces the risk of stake centralization by lowering entry barriers, enabling a broader participation in running validators effectively.
As we approach the full Ethereum mainnet deployment of Obol, Chorus One, alongside other players, have launched an Obol DV on Mainnet in their Alpha Phase. We are also continuing to test DVs on the Görli testnet to ensure support for varying node counts and the expansion of clusters to accommodate a growing number of validators. Within this comprehensive evaluation, we are closely examining crucial metrics such as the efficiency of validator duties, occurrences of missed duties, and inclusion distances, among other vital aspects, including the potential impact of MEV-boost on these configurations.
Our shared dedication to gathering this essential data is geared towards empowering stakeholders to confidently deploy distributed validators on the Ethereum mainnet. Furthermore, through our collaborative efforts, we aim to cultivate a deeper appreciation for the significance of DVT within the broader ecosystem. Together, we are committed to spearheading the adoption of decentralized staking, propelling Ethereum staking to new heights and ensuring it's more efficient, secure, and scalable than ever before.
About Chorus One
Chorus One is one of the biggest institutional staking providers globally operating infrastructure for 40+ Proof-of-Stake networks including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and Near amongst others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry and now offer easy enterprise-grade staking solutions, industry-leading research, and also invest in some of the most cutting-edge protocols through Chorus Ventures.
