Stakehouse Protocol Deployment Notice

Proposal Discussion
1

Stakehouse Protocol Deployment Notice

Introduction

Stakehouse protocol is the first protocol that Blockswap DAO will bring to Mainnet. It is Blockswap’s flagship product and is the base layer for future Blockswap protocol development.

Stakehouse is designed as a public benefit infrastructure and tooling for Ethereum staking. The mission is to onboard mainstream users safer and faster than current staking methods. The technology is created as a middle layer; As Stakehouse grows, it will become a natural extension of the Ethereum Deposit Contract’s asset provenance for further protocol development and utilization by third parties. Stakehouse will provide the architecture for the next generation of DeFi through state handling. All code used within Stakehouse and periphery contracts are entirely original and unforked. It is imperative for Blockswap DAO that this protocol is launched properly and maintained in a secure way.

Background

Ethereum requires a vast amount of validators and individual participants to secure the network and attain proper decentralization. Stakehouse protocol is designed as a public benefit infrastructure to encourage further Ethereum adoption and decentralization. Blockswap is continually striving for further alignment with Ethereum. Some features include:

  1. Easy to use tooling for staking. Including solo staking an ETH validator in 60 seconds.
  2. Multichain ETH staking derivatives for solo stakers.
  3. Monitoring for ETH staking to provide on-chain visibility and assessment.
  4. Permissionless staking without fees.
  5. The ability to Rage Quit and exit with a validator.

Stakehouse does not have a node dependency. Users have full control over the management of their validator like other forms of solo staking.

Key Milestones

  1. Stakehouse Position Paper (July 2022)
  2. Runtime Verification Mainnet Audit - Mainnet (May - June 22)
  3. Runtime Verification Audit & Formal Verification ( Jan - April 22)
  4. Certora Formal Verification (Mar - June 22)
  5. Stakehouse DevNet (Jan - Ongoing)
  6. Halborn Audit (Nov - Dec 21)
  7. Solidified Audit (Oct - Nov 21)
  8. Stakehouse Communitynet Testnet (July - Oct 21)

Motivation and Specification

The deployment and management of the Stakehouse protocol will be executed by Blockswap’s core contributors (Blockswap Labs); They have intimate knowledge of the protocol. The team has written the code, conducted the formal verification, tested the protocol, and been present during all four audits. The smart contract code has been frozen since the second Runtime Verification Audit.

Testing

The Blockswap Labs team has been developing the Stakehouse protocol since 2020. It started in Communitynet to stress test the core contracts during the largest on-chain testnet amassing over 24,000 ETH validators. This cemented the idea that ETH staking needed an Easy Mode to bring staking rewards to the masses.

After Communitynet came DevNet which was the Stakehouse Mainnet protocol contracts in a sandbox environment on Goerli testnet. This is a way for users and developers to get comfortable with the protocol while the core team can monitor how the protocol works with real active users.

Security

Many precautions were taken when ensuring the safety of the Stakehouse protocol. Stakehouse is audited by Halborn and Solidified, and the core contributors worked with Runtime Verification and Certora on formal verification. Receiving formal proofs from the best-in-class security teams developed confidence that the Stakehouse protocol will function as expected when deployed on Ethereum Mainnet.

Next Steps

  1. The Blockswap DAO community can voice any questions, comments, or concerns with deploying Stakehouse.

  2. The Blockswap Labs team will deploy Stakehouse on behalf of Blockswap DAO. They will deploy the code in Ethereum Mainnet and provide the associated tooling and materials to assist with onboarding users. Some of these actions are clear-cut deployment, while others shall be more reactionary.

Conclusion

Blockswap DAO is a network DAO. Without protocols, Blockswap would not have the need to organize as a DAO. Stakehouse Protocol is audited, tested, and formally verified. Now that there has been a successful Merge, Stakehouse can be deployed to Ethereum Mainnet. The core contributor to Stakehouse Protocol is best suited for this deployment.

6 Likes