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Paladin’s Quest for Fair MEV: Evaluating the Bot and the Atomic Arbitrage Market
Evaluation of the Bot and the Atomic Arbs Market
October 24, 2024
5 min read
TL/DR
  • Unaligned MEV is a significant long-term threat to Solana's growth.
  • Efforts are underway to democratize MEV, with Jito being the most well-known solution.
  • A new player, Paladin, an atomic arbitrage bot, has recently emerged.
  • We explain Paladin’s architecture together with its associated token.
  • The atomic arbitrage market is estimated at $42 million, which could boost validator APY by 0.07%.
  • Paladin captured 16% of atomic arbitrages in our slots, adding 0.01% in annualized APY.
  • We project APY could increase to 0.03% if Paladin runs on 50% of validators, assuming market conditions stay the same.

MEV on Solana

Due to the unique architecture of blockchains, block proposers can insert, censor, or sort user transactions in a way that extracts value from each block before it's added to the blockchain.

These manipulations, called MEV or Maximum Extractable Value, come in various forms. The most common are arbitrage¹, liquidations², NFT mints³, and sandwiching⁴. Arbitrage involves exploiting price differences for the same asset across markets. Liquidations occur in lending protocols when a borrower’s collateral drops in value, allowing others to buy it at a discount. NFT mints can be profitable when high-demand NFTs are resold after minting.

Most types of MEV can benefit the ecosystem by helping with price discovery (arbitrage) or preventing lending protocols from accruing bad debt (liquidations). However, sandwiching is different. It involves an attacker front-running a user’s trade on a DEX and selling immediately for a profit. This harms the ecosystem by forcing users to pay a consistently worse price.

Solana’s Characteristics

Solana's MEV landscape differs from Ethereum's due to its high speed, low latency, lack of a public mempool, and unique transaction processing. Without a public mempool for viewing unconfirmed transactions, MEV searchers (actors specializing in finding MEV opportunities⁵) send transactions to RPC nodes directly, which then forward them to validators. This setup enables searchers to work with RPC providers to submit a specifically ordered selection of transactions.

Moreover, the searchers don't know the leader's geographical location, so they send multiple transactions through various RPC nodes to improve their chances of being first. This spams the network as they compete to extract MEV—if you're first, you win.

Jito

A key addition to the Solana MEV landscape is Jito, who released a fork for the Solana Labs client. On a high level, the Jito client enables searchers to tip validators to include a bundle of transactions in the order that extracts the most value for the searcher. The validators can then share the revenue from the tips with their delegators.

These revenues are substantial. Currently, the Jito-Solana client operates on 80% of validators and generates thousands of SOL daily in tips from searchers. However, searchers keep a portion of each tip, so the total tip amounts don’t reveal the full MEV picture. Moreover, the atomic arbitrage market is considerable, and as we’ll explore later, Jito's tips don’t give an accurate estimate of the atomic MEV extracted.

Share of tips paid by searchers to validators and Jito per day. Source: https://dune.com/ilemi/jitosol

Jito⁶ introduced a few new concepts to the Solana MEV landscape:

  • Bundles: a list of transactions searchers create and send to the Block Engine. The bundle is executed sequentially and atomically, with either all transactions being executed or none.
  • Block Engine: receives transactions from relayers and shares them with searchers. Searchers use these transactions to create bundles that extract MEV and then forward the bundles back to Block Engine. The Block Engine simulates these bundles to determine which are the most profitable and then sends those selected bundles to validators.
  • Relayer: receives transactions from RPC nodes, validators, and other sources, filters them, checks signatures, and forwards them to validators and the block engine.

There’s more to the current MEV landscape on Solana, particularly concerning spam transactions, which largely result from unsuccessful arbitrage attempts, and the various mitigation strategies (such as priority fees, stake-weighted quality of service, and co-location of searchers and nodes). However, since these details are not central to the focus of this article, we will set them aside for now.

Enter Paladin

It's still early for Solana MEV, and until recently, Jito was the only major solution focused on boosting rewards for delegators. Following the same open-source principles, the Paladin team introduced a validator-level bot⁷ and an accompanying token that accrues value from the MEV collected by the bot.

The Bot

The main idea behind Paladin is this:

  • The bot funnels MEV rewards to the token airdropped to validators and stakers.
  • The token accrues value from the extracted MEV.
  • Validators stake the token and, with the risk of slashing, have less incentive to sandwich.

Paladin’s success, therefore, depends on validators choosing honesty over toxic MEV extraction by running the Paladin bot.

Bots like Paladin⁸ operate at the validator level, enabling them to capitalize on opportunities that arise after Jito bundles and other transactions are sent to the validator for inclusion in a block.

In this scenario, once the bot assesses the impact of the transactions and bundles, it inserts its transactions into the block. The bot doesn’t front-run the submitted transactions but leverages the price changes that result after each shred is executed.

Paladin can also extract MEV through DEX-CEX arbitrage and optimize routes for swaps made via DEX aggregators. However, these features are currently not used in practice, so we only briefly mention them. Since the bot is a public good, the community can contribute by adding features like NFT minting or liquidation support in the future.

The Token

The PAL token is where 10% of the value extracted by the bot in SOL gets accumulated. Paladin will go live at TGE, which will airdrop the entire supply of 1 billion PAL in the following proportions:

  • 50% to validators and their delegates.
  • 23% to the Solana ecosystem that contributed to Paladin's development.
  • 20% to the Paladin team.
  • 7% to a fund for Paladin's future development.

At the architecture level, the MEV extracted by the bot is sent to a smart contract, which then distributes it as follows:

The crucial part of the Paladin architecture is slashing. If the validator misbehaves and extracts MEV through sandwiching, staked PAL holders (other validators and their delegators) can vote to slash the rogue validator. The slashing happens if >50% of the majority is reached and stays at this level for a week. The slashed PAL is burned.

Other actions that could lead to slashing include not running Paladin, using closed-source upgrades, or not participating in slashing votes. This isn't an exhaustive list, as PAL stakers can vote to slash for other reasons at their discretion. While sandwiching is easy to spot, other "misbehaviors" may not be as obvious and would require monitoring tools, potentially leading to enforcement issues.

Unstaking PAL is capped at 5%, and a cooldown period of one month before the next withdrawal can be made.

Controversies

There are several controversies about Paladin⁹. Here are common criticisms:

Validators Profit Unfairly

This is not true. Palidators (validators running Paladin) receive 90% of the MEV extracted by the bot, which they can redistribute to their delegators while keeping their standard commission. The remaining 10% goes to the PAL token, with 7.5% each going to validators and their stakers. This setup ensures validators don't take a larger share of MEV profits. If a validator doesn’t share the captured MEV, delegators can switch to one with a healthy long-term track record, like Chorus One.

Run Paladin or Die

Validators must run Paladin and avoid toxic MEV extraction or any actions that could undermine their reputation for honesty. Slashing can also occur if validators run closed-source software on top of Paladin. This doesn't mean market participants can't enhance the bot. On the contrary, they are encouraged to do so and can be rewarded in PAL if their improvements are openly available to others.

No Development Post-TGE

After the PAL airdrop, the Paladin team will no longer develop the bot¹⁰. All maintenance and strategy updates will be the community's responsibility from then on. This includes adding new liquidity pools or tokens to identify emerging MEV opportunities. While a fund has been set aside for future development, it is uncertain how long it will last. Development may stall if the incentives dry up.

Paladin’s Opportunity

With the knowledge of how Paladin works, let’s evaluate its target market and assess its performance based on our collected data.

Atomic Arbitrage Market

We will start by analyzing Jito tips paid for atomic arbitrage and compare them to the overall atomic arb market to see how much of the atomic opportunities have been captured through Jito.

We will use data from mid-August 2024¹¹ onward, when the share of Jito tips related to atomic arbitrage rose significantly. We exclude earlier data to avoid bias. Interestingly, this spike happened despite the drop in the total MEV extracted through atomic arbs, indicating increased competition among searchers now willing to share more Jito tips.

Source

Even though tips from atomic arbs have increased compared to the total arb MEV market, they still make up only a small percentage of the total Jito tips paid.

Source

Only 4.25% of the tips searchers paid during the sampled period were from atomic arbs (SOL 10,316 out of SOL 242,754). At a SOL price of $150, this is $1,547,400, while the total atomic MEV extraction reached $6,567,554.

Source

So, only about 23% of the total atomic arbitrage opportunities were shared through Jito! Some striking examples include:

  • From September 25 to September 29, this bot extracted $24k using Jupiter aggregator but tipped only 0.1 SOL to Jito.
  • Over the same period, another bot extracted $24.2k using the Jupiter aggregator without tipping anything.

This shows that most on-chain arbitrage MEV is being captured outside of Jito. Unfortunately, this also leads to a high number of failed transactions.

During one of the measured five-day periods, over 1 million arbitrage transactions were made, with 519k of them submitted through the Jupiter aggregator [source]. This led to a significant number of failed transactions because:

  • Searchers are flooding transactions to the leader.
  • Jupiter tries routing through all possible paths, causing unsuccessful paths to end as failed transactions.
Source

The above data shows that Paladin can tap into a sizable on-chain arbitrage market by finding opportunities more efficiently and avoiding failed transactions. This approach would benefit validators by filling blocks with successful transactions and improving the ecosystem by reducing congestion.

Bot’s Performance

The annual atomic arbitrage market is around $42.4 million. With 392 million SOL staked [source] ($58.9 billion at $150 per SOL), this could add about 0.07% APY to validator performance.

Let's dive deeper into the data to see how much market the bot can take.

Distribution and Dataset

The distribution of atomic arb MEV in USD per slot for the data collection period (15 August to 10 October 2024) looks as follows:

The median value is $0.00105 per slot, with atomic arbitrage opportunities occurring in 51.6% of slots.

Paladin operated on our main validator with a 1.15m SOL stake for a week between 4 October and 11 October. Let’s see the atomic arbitrage market opportunities during the bot's operation period:

The median value is $0.00898 per slot, and the chance of atomic arbs is present in 59.47% of slots.

The KS test shows inconsistencies in both datasets, with a positive shift in the distribution, indicating higher values in the second dataset. Therefore, Paladin operated in a more favorable environment, with more significant and more frequent MEV extraction opportunities than the broader measurement period. This is especially clear when you look at the size of Jito tips during our timeframe.

Source

Now, let's look at how Paladin performed in these circumstances.

The median arb profit is $0 per slot, with opportunities taken only in 29.64% of slots.

Here’s a more detailed summary of all three distributions:

As we can see, Paladin underperformed, capturing significantly less MEV and earning less per slot. The bot only managed to capture 15.84% of the total available atomic arbitrage opportunities.

In some of the most striking examples, the bot extracted only 0.00004 SOL (here and here), while the actual extractable value was $127.59, as seen in Tx1, Tx2, Tx3, Tx4, and Tx5.

The reason for failing to extract MEV from the opportunities in the linked transactions is that  Paladin doesn’t support the traded token ($MODENG). This is a problem since memecoins are currently driving network activity and will likely contribute the largest share of MEV. These tokens emerge rapidly, requiring frequent updates to routing. One of Paladin's top priorities should be quickly adapting to capture MEV from new memecoins as they arise, and the lack of team involvement in the process is problematic in this context.

Estimated Returns

Now, let’s run a simulation to estimate the returns under different scenarios based on a stake share of 0.3% (Chorus One's share), 1%, and 10%. The returns are capped at 15.8%, which is the portion of opportunities Paladin captured in our data.

The median value for 0.3% of the total stake is around $20k, which matches the annualized value of what Chorus One earned. This increases to about $65k for a validator with 1% of the total stake and exceeds $700k for a hypothetical validator with 10%.

We also ran a simulation to estimate how much Paladin’s performance could improve if it captured 80% of available opportunities for a validator the size of Chorus One across different adoption levels—1%, 10%, 25%, and 50% of total stake using Paladin. At an estimated 1% adoption, our validator earns an additional 0.01% APY from the bot, while the total potential atomic arbitrage could generate 0.07% of the total stake.

The simulation assumes:

  • The MEV landscape remains constant.
  • The bot will catch more opportunities as adoption grows, but the APY is capped at 0.035% in the 50% adoption scenario.

And in a more tangible form:

As we see, Paladin could generate a median of additional 0.29% in APY for a validator with 0.03% of the total stake once adoption reaches 50%.

We've been in touch with the Paladin team, who confirmed that a new version of the bot, P3, is in the works. This version will pivot from focusing on the atomic arbitrage market, which they no longer see as substantial enough to prioritize.

Maintenance

The bot has been stable without major issues, but Paladin requires patches to update strategies and fix smaller bugs. Maintaining the bot is also time-consuming for the engineering team, as each patch requires a restart and the process is more complex than anticipated, adding extra overhead.This is a similar problem we faced with our Breaking Bots—maintenance and strategy update costs were high. Eventually, we concluded that the effort was not exactly worth it. With Paladin, however, a whole community could tackle this problem, so things may look different.

Conclusion

Paladin has great potential to boost earnings for validators and stakers by tapping into new opportunities, but it's still in the early stages of development. While our analysis shows that Paladin currently captures only around 15.84% of available atomic arbitrage opportunities, this will likely improve as the bot becomes more optimized and widely adopted. The upside is promising—the total atomic arbitrage market could add 0.07% to a validator’s APY. While capturing all of it is unlikely, even a share of this can lead to solid gains.

That said, there are challenges to address. The bot’s development will shift to the community after the token TGE, raising questions about whether there will be enough resources and motivation for continuous updates. Additionally, maintaining the bot on the validator side can be tricky, as each patch requires a restart, making it time-consuming for validators to run.

Chorus One’s Perspective

At Chorus One, we believe that the long-term health of the Solana ecosystem is paramount. Paladin builds on the same core principles as Jito—to mitigate the toxic MEV and democratize good MEV.

We developed Breaking Bots with these ideas in mind, and we see Paladin as an extension of our efforts. Two solutions are better than one, and Paladin offers an interesting alternative to what exists today. Supporting multiple approaches is a cornerstone of decentralized systems, and we welcome new ideas that build resilience.

While we don't agree with all of Paladin's choices, especially regarding the team's lack of future bot development, we believe its success will benefit the entire ecosystem, and that's why we support it.

That being said, if the core principles Paladin is built on change, or the maintenance costs outweigh the benefits in the mid-term, we will reevaluate our position.

References:

1 You can find an interesting overview of arbitrage MEV here.

2 A detailed analysis of liquidations in DeFi is available in this paper.

3 More about the NFT MEV here.

4 Chorus One also provided an analysis on Solana sandwiching in here.

5 An in-depth write-up on searchers by Blockworks is here.

6 Information based on Jito documentation.

7 At Chorus One, in our “Breaking Bots” paper, we proposed a similar solution. The implementation details are available on GitHub.

8 Information based on series blogposts by the Paladin team.

9 Some of the examples available here, here,

10 Per the blogpost: We’re not a Foundation or Labs — we don’t run any part of Paladin, we don’t develop it, we don’t maintain it…

11 The data used in this section is available here and can be retrieved using these queries.

About Chorus One

Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry, offering easy-to-use, enterprise-grade staking solutions, conducting industry-leading research, and investing in innovative protocols through Chorus One Ventures. As an ISO 27001 certified provider, Chorus One also offers slashing and double-signing insurance to its institutional clients. For more information, visit chorus.one or follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.

Why APR Is a Misleading Metric for Evaluating Node Operator Performance
We explain why APR is not the best metric for measuring node operator performance and suggest better suited alternatives
October 21, 2024
5 min read

In the context of Ethereum and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is often presented as a clear and accessible measure of validator performance. As a summary statistic, APR seeks to answer a straightforward question: If I stake 32 ETH today, how much can I expect to have after one year?

However, APR is fundamentally an oversimplification of a highly complex system. Its role as both a measure of past returns and a forecasting tool obscures the intricate dynamics that govern validator rewards on Ethereum.

For example, using APR to predict future returns is like:

- > Using a small sample of stocks from the S&P 500 to estimate the average yearly return —similar to how APR behaves for small validators.

-> Using just 1-2 years of S&P 500 data to forecast long-term returns —similar to relying on short-term APR data like 7-day or 30-day rates.

This article aims to unpack the underlying biases of APR, explore the stochastic nature of validator rewards, and propose alternative metrics that offer a more accurate assessment of node operator performance—metrics which align more closely with operational realities. Finally, we will examine how Chorus One’s approach, incorporating our proprietary MEV-boost fork, Adagio, captures a more refined understanding of Ethereum staking dynamics. By optimizing the interaction with Ethereum’s proposer-builder separation, Adagio allows us to consistently improve validator efficiency, resulting in tangible improvements in performance without relying on the variability of APR metrics.

How is APR Calculated?

Ethereum validators are compensated through two primary reward streams:

  1. Consensus Layer (CL) Rewards: These rewards arise from the validator's core duties—validating transactions and, in some cases, proposing new blocks. The most deterministic of these duties is attestation, which every validator performs at regular intervals (every epoch). However, other rewards such as block proposals and sync committee participation are assigned randomly.
  2. Execution Layer (EL) Rewards: EL rewards derive from transaction fees and, notably, Maximal Extractable Value (MEV), which is only accessible to validators selected to propose a block. (read: Execution Layer Rewards = non-deterministic = random).

While the attestation process is deterministic, rewards from block proposals and MEV are inherently probabilistic. This variability introduces a fundamental challenge: APR assumes a uniform distribution of rewards across validators, which is far from reality. The skewed nature of the reward distribution makes APR a poor proxy for expected returns, especially over shorter time horizons.

The Role of Randomness in Validator Rewards

The central flaw in using APR as a measure of validator performance lies in its failure to account for the randomness that defines much of the reward structure. To illustrate this, consider the following:

  • Proposer Selection: The likelihood of being chosen to propose a block is distributed randomly across the validator set. Block proposals, when they occur, result in substantial rewards, especially when considering MEV opportunities. However, given that the probability of selection is low for any individual validator, APR for smaller operators can be heavily skewed by the randomness of proposal selection.
  • Sync Committee Participation: Sync committees are another source of rewards assigned randomly. Like block proposals, this can cause significant variability in rewards over time, particularly for validators operating on a smaller scale.

As these rewards are driven by skewed distributions, their mean value—a key input for APR—becomes a biased estimator. Skewness is a measure of how asymmetrically data is distributed , see e.g. here. In probability theory, the mean of a skewed distribution is a poor representation of the typical outcome. Validators who are fortunate enough to receive multiple block proposals or sync committee assignments will see a disproportionately higher APR compared to validators who, through no fault of their own, are assigned fewer opportunities.

The Impact of Validator Set Size

To further understand how randomness impacts APR, it is useful to visualize the reward distribution for validators operating at different scales.

The plot above shows how reward skewness changes based on the number of validators controlled. Precisely, higher is the skewness, longer is the upper tail, indicating that the overall distribution is asymmetric on the right. The consequence is that the mean is higher than the median. MEV rewards are the most skewed (bottom-right), meaning they vary the most between validators. Sync committee selection also has a significant impact (top-left), while block proposals have the least skew (bottom-left).

What’s clear is that as the number of validators increases, the skewness in rewards drops significantly. This means larger validator sets see more consistent rewards, while smaller sets face more variability due to randomness. The same holds true even by accounting for only a smaller time period instead of the whole year data.

-> This highlights why APR, when viewed in isolation, is not a reliable measure of performance, particularly for node operators running fewer validators.

This plot shows the distribution of simulated APR assuming different number of validators controlled. It is evident how the APR becomes reliable only when the number of controlled validators is high compared with the number of active validators (purple and cyan histograms). This is because, as we saw earlier, when more validators are controlled, the skewness in rewards decreases, making APR more reliable.

It is worth noting that, the aggregate APR of an entity controlling more validators is not the APR of a single customer, usually holding a lower number of validators. In this case, the APR of the small subset is affected by higher variance as in the case of low number of validators controlled.

However, when rewards are pooled—such as in solutions like Chorus One’s ETH staking vault on Stakewise —this variance is minimized. By pooling rewards across many validators, customers gain exposure to the performance of top-tier node operators while benefiting from a more consistent and stable APR.

Reliable Metrics for Measuring Validator Performance

In light of these insights, what should we look at when evaluating a validator’s true performance? A more reliable framework involves focusing on the operational aspects that are within the control of the validator:

  1. Effectiveness: A validator’s effectiveness in performing assigned duties is a far more accurate reflection of performance than APR. This includes attestation success rates, proposal success rates, and participation in sync committees when selected.
  2. Uptime and Availability: Validators with high uptime are well-positioned to maximize their performance, even if they are not selected for block proposals frequently. Ensuring near-perfect uptime guarantees that a validator will never miss an opportunity when one arises.
  3. Frequency of Fulfilled Duties: Tracking how often a validator fulfills its core responsibilities, particularly in terms of attestation and proposal accuracy, is key. Validators with higher frequencies of fulfilled duties demonstrate operational excellence, independent of the randomness associated with reward assignment.

These metrics provide a far more grounded understanding of validator performance than APR, which often serves more as a reflection of stochastic luck than actual skill or operational consistency.

Understanding Chorus One’s ETH Validator Performance

At Chorus One, we approach Ethereum staking with a deep commitment to performance optimization. While APR figures may fluctuate due to the randomness of block proposals, we have developed sophisticated tools to maximize validator returns and minimize variance.

Central to this approach is Adagio, our internally optimized MEV-boost client. Adagio improves Execution Layer rewards by optimizing the way we interact with block builders. Specifically, we have introduced latency parameters that allow us to extract higher MEV rewards without compromising slot accuracy. This gives our validators a distinct advantage in capturing Execution Layer rewards, effectively smoothing out the variability that undermines traditional APR metrics.

Moreover, our focus on uptime and effectiveness ensures that our validators consistently outperform industry benchmarks. By maintaining near-perfect operational performance and leveraging cutting-edge tools like Adagio, Chorus One is able to deliver superior returns over the long term, irrespective of the randomness that defines APR calculations.

Source: Ethereum Network

Source: Chorus One

Over the past 30 days, Adagio has delivered an 8.45% increase in MEV rewards compared to a standard configuration without Adagio.

For real-time tracking of Adagio's MEV rewards and to explore its performance further, visit our live dashboard: Adagio Dashboard.

Final Word: The Truth About APR

APR, while often used as a shorthand for node operator performance, is a fundamentally flawed metric. Its reliance on skewed distributions and random events, such as block proposals and sync committee participation, makes it a biased estimator for expected returns. Instead of focusing on APR, a more reliable approach to evaluating validator performance involves analyzing metrics like effectiveness, uptime, and frequency of fulfilled duties.

At Chorus One, our focus on operational precision and technical advancement allows us to consistently deliver reliable performance. With solutions like Adagio, we enhance reward optimization, offering staking outcomes that navigate the inherent volatility and randomness of APR-based assessments.

Staking ETH with Chorus One is effortless—just a few clicks, and you’re on your way to earning rewards. No hassle, just seamless staking.

Start staking today: https://opus.chorus.one/pool/stake/

Or, speak to our team to learn more.

Learn more about MEV and Ethereum node operator performance:
MEV:Metrics that Matter

Timing Games and Implications on MEV extraction

Check out all our research reports

About Chorus One

Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry, offering easy-to-use, enterprise-grade staking solutions, conducting industry-leading research, and investing in innovative protocols through Chorus One Ventures. As an ISO 27001 certified provider, Chorus One also offers slashing and double-signing insurance to its institutional clients. For more information, visit chorus.one or follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.

Introducing Pectra Series: Ethereum's Next Evolutionary Leap (Part 1)
An introduction to Ethereum's Pectra upgrade, and the decision to split Pectra into two phases
October 16, 2024
5 min read

Ethereum’s continuous drive for innovation has brought us through various transformative upgrades over the years. From the transition to Proof of Stake with The Merge to the improved fee structures of the London hard fork, Ethereum has proven time and again that it can adapt, scale, and evolve. Now, the Ethereum community is on the cusp of something even more significant: the Pectra upgrade—Ethereum’s most ambitious overhaul yet.

The Pectra upgrade, poised to begin its roll out in early 2025, promises to push the boundaries of Ethereum's scalability, security, and efficiency, each focusing on different aspects of Ethereum’s architecture.  These enhancements will ensure Ethereum is equipped to handle the next phase of decentralized applications and economic activity.

This introductory article will give you a comprehensive overview of Pectra, explain the rationale behind splitting the upgrade into two phases, and provide a sneak peek into the key staking oriented Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that will shape the network’s future. In subsequent articles, we will dive deeper into each major EIP, exploring their implications for both developers and users.

Why Split Pectra into Two?

The decision to split Pectra into two phases—Pectra A and Pectra B—was driven by the growing complexity of the planned upgrades. To manage this scope without introducing bugs or security risks, Ethereum developers opted for a phased approach, with Pectra A launching in early 2025 and Pectra B following later in the year. This approach allows for a smoother, more controlled rollout, giving developers the time to test and refine each change thoroughly.

Pectra A focuses on critical improvements such as reducing node data storage through Verkle Trees, which will lessen the load on validators, as well as introducing "smart account" features and other staking changes, like MAX-EB.

Pectra B, while not yet finalized, is expected to include PeerDAS, a feature aimed at enhancing Layer 2 scalability, along with changes to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

A Glimpse at the Key EIPs in Pectra

Each phase of Pectra comes with its own set of EIPs, aimed at enhancing Ethereum’s performance, security, and developer experience. Some key staking-related EIPs confirmed for the first phase include:

  • EIP-6110: This proposal reduces the delay between staking on the Ethereum execution layer and processing on the Beacon Chain, streamlining staking operations and speeding up consensus.
  • EIP-7002: This EIP enables staking pool protocols to directly initiate withdrawals to create more secure staking models; opening the door for permissionless, automated ETH staking pools.
  • EIP-7251: Known as the "MAX-EB" EIP, this change increases the effective balance for validators, allowing larger stakes and consolidating validators to improve network efficiency.

For the full list of Pectra-related EIPs, visit this link.

What Pectra Means for Ethereum’s Future

The Pectra upgrade is more than just a technical enhancement—it represents the future of Ethereum. By addressing critical issues such as scalability, transaction costs, and decentralization, Pectra prepares the network to handle the demands of tomorrow’s decentralized applications.

In the following articles, we'll explore these EIPs in greater detail. From streamlining staking operations to the benefits of "MAX-EB," we’ll examine how these changes will impact the ecosystem, particularly in the realm of staking, and why they’re crucial to Ethereum's continued growth.

Stay tuned as we unpack each EIP and see how Pectra will redefine Ethereum for the years to come.

About Chorus One

Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry, offering easy-to-use, enterprise-grade staking solutions, conducting industry-leading research, and investing in innovative protocols through Chorus One Ventures. As an ISO 27001 certified provider, Chorus One also offers slashing and double-signing insurance to its institutional clients. For more information, visit chorus.one or follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.

September 2024 Crypto Ecosystem Recap: A Shift Toward Maturity and Growth
A recap of September 2024: Market and Network highlights (Eithereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Restaking & beyond)
October 15, 2024
5 min read

The cryptocurrency ecosystem experienced a remarkable month in September 2024, marked by market resilience, major network developments, and high-profile events, such as Token2049. Key networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos made significant strides, and institutional momentum surged. With a blend of market performance, regulatory clarity, and network advancements, the month underscored the growing maturity and interconnectedness of the crypto landscape.

Market Highlights: Bitcoin Shines Amid Institutional Revival

Bitcoin (BTC) defied its typical September slump, recording its best monthly performance in over a decade with a 7.3% gain and closing just above $63K. This historic uptrend pushed Bitcoin’s market cap beyond $1.2 trillion, with daily trading volumes averaging $32.4 billion. This surge in Bitcoin’s value reflects increased institutional demand, aided by global monetary easing and a weaker U.S. dollar, which created favorable market conditions.

Despite geopolitical uncertainties, Bitcoin maintained a solid position above $60K, signaling strong market confidence as investors anticipate a continued rally in “Uptober.”

In contrast, Ethereum (ETH) underperformed relative to Bitcoin, with the ETH/BTC pair hitting a three-and-a-half-year low. Still, the broader market momentum remained intact, driven by regulatory developments:

Ethereum: Layer 2 Growth, Restaking, and Scaling Plans

Ethereum’s ecosystem made strides in scalability and infrastructure development, though it faced challenges in price performance. Notable developments included:

  1. Layer 2 Rollouts: Odyssey Testnet: A developer-centric testnet launched by Ithaca, combining Reth and OP Stack for experimentation without staking.
  2. Restaking via EigenLayer: EigenLayer expanded its validator set and rolled out programmatic incentives v1, driving yield opportunities for ETH stakers and operators. This move underscored the growing importance of restaking as a value layer in Ethereum’s security architecture.
  3. Scaling via Pectra: Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade was split into two phases, with key features scheduled for Q1 2025 and additional enhancements, including PeerDAS, targeted for H2 2025.
Solana: Governance, MEV Optimization, and Validator Opportunities
  1. Validator PartnershipsChorus One partnered with Solayer, a restaking platform promising high yields. Start restaking with Solayer here: https://app.solayer.org/invite/CHORUS

Bitcoin Staking: Babylon and LRT Collaborations

September was an active month for Bitcoin staking initiatives. Babylon Labs raised its second deposit cap, opening the door for increased staking participation. With nearly 23889.62550726 BTC deposited (~$1.5B), Babylon has now claimed the spot as the third largest restaking protocol by TVL, right behind EigenLayer and Symbiotic.  

Cosmos: SDK v2 and Cross-Chain Innovation

The Cosmos ecosystem introduced major upgrades and partnerships:

  1. Cosmos SDK v2
    • The release of SDK v2 split the Cosmos SDK into two components—Server Layer for consensus and State Transition Function for transaction processing—giving developers more flexibility. This modular framework is expected to accelerate innovation across Cosmos chains.
  2. dYdX Expansion
    • With Antonio Juliano returning as CEO, dYdX expanded into perpetual prediction markets, including novel markets such as political outcomes. This strategic move positions dYdX at the forefront of decentralized derivatives innovation.
Ecosystem Momentum: Regulatory Developments and Restaking Expansion

Institutional momentum and regulatory clarity played a crucial role in September’s market performance. Alongside Bitcoin’s success, Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos made significant progress in staking infrastructure and interoperability. The introduction of EigenLayer incentives and Solayer partnerships highlighted the importance of restaking for both network security and validator rewards.

With the UK clarifying digital asset ownership, Nigeria issuing exchange licenses, and Kazakhstan approving Binance’s operations, the global crypto landscape continues to evolve toward greater regulatory clarity and acceptance.

Looking Ahead: A Strong Foundation for Q4 and Beyond

September 2024 marked a significant shift toward market maturity, with key networks delivering on governance, scaling, and restaking initiatives. As Bitcoin continues to trade above $60K, and Ethereum advances with Layer 2 and restaking solutions, the market is well-positioned for further growth in Q4 2024.

The market’s ability to weather geopolitical uncertainty while embracing new technologies and regulatory frameworks reflects its resilience and readiness for wider institutional adoption. The combination of network upgrades, governance innovations, and cross-chain interoperability suggests a promising future for the decentralized economy.

As we move into Q4, the focus remains on sustaining market momentum, and unlocking the full potential of (re)staking infrastructure—setting the stage for another transformative phase in the blockchain industry.

About Chorus One

Chorus One is one of the largest institutional staking providers globally, operating infrastructure for over 60 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, including Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and others. Since 2018, we have been at the forefront of the PoS industry, offering easy-to-use, enterprise-grade staking solutions, conducting industry-leading research, and investing in innovative protocols through Chorus One Ventures. As an ISO 27001 certified provider, Chorus One also offers slashing and double-signing insurance to its institutional clients. For more information, visit chorus.one or follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Telegram.

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