What is the minimum ENG stake required for Enigma?
, but now finalized, the minimum ENG stake required for a mainnet secret node is 25,000 ENG. This number was selected based on our study of many other networks, internal modeling based on the current distribution of ENG, and balancing our desire for decentralization with network sustainability and having meaningful stakes for node operators. This minimum threshold will however be reduced over the life of the network.
What will block rewards and network fees look like on Enigma?
In return for operating a secret node and staking on Enigma, node operators receive a share of fees paid on the network as well as block rewards.
Block rewards for the Enigma network will begin at 750,000 ENG for the first year the mainnet is in operation and decrease 10% year-over-year thereafter. The total block rewards pool is thus 7.5M ENG and will not be exhausted for the first century the network is in operation. This pool is 1/5th of the total pool reserved for network, community, and ecosystem incentives (37.5M ENG). We visualize this below:
Please keep in mind that the total supply of ENG is fixed at 150M ENG, with 75M ENG already in circulation since 2017 and the vast majority of the remainder not expected to enter circulation within the next few years.
As stated previously, the long term success of Enigma is dependent both on demand-side and supply-side of the network, including the amount of developers building applications and secret contracts, the amount of fees in ENG being paid in the network, and the amount of by end users of applications built on Enigma.
Our long-term aim is for the network to be sustainably supported by fees and not by block rewards, though it is expected in the earliest stages after launch that block rewards will provide the majority of node compensation (as is common with new networks).
In designing Enigma, we considered how to balance this long term focus on sustainability with bootstrapping the network. Secret node operators in the early stages of Enigma need to be able to provide consistent uptime and network support, and they incur the costs associated with this — thus they require adequate incentives. As a result, our design of network economics needed to be competitive.
Members of the may wish to do their own calculations based on the above figures and their own cost projections.
How are nodes selected for computations?
As mentioned in previous posts, nodes are selected for computations based on their ENG stake. To keep things simplistic for the purposes of this post: the more ENG that is staked by a node, the greater the node’s chance of selection. There is no maximum stake for a single node, but again, the minimum stake is 25,000 ENG.
What (and why) is a genesis node?
In the early “bootstrapping” stages of a network, it is important to grow in a decentralized, but still manageable way. Early days of the Enigma network will require hard forks and changes, and being able to effectively coordinate and communicate will be critical. We reiterate: this is in the service of creating a robust, sustainable network that becomes and remains more decentralized, useful, and valuable over the long term. And like any mission , a secure and successful launch is the most critical part.
Therefore, the number of secret nodes available when Discovery is deployed on mainnet will be limited to 50 “genesis nodes”— a number that based on our research and modeling meaningfully decentralizes the network while maintaining its early stability. Below we will outline how genesis nodes are selected and how (and when) this limit can and will be lifted.
How are genesis nodes selected?
One thing was clear in our design: for the purposes of decentralizing Enigma, genesis nodes must be selected in as fair and permissionless a manner as possible. It is also in the best interest of the network to launch with a group of nodes that have demonstrated an honest commitment to upholding the network (uptime, security, etc). Thus the substantial majority of genesis nodes are being selected solely based on their testnet activity — a period we are referring to as the Genesis Game.
Nodes active during Discovery’s testnet phase will be assigned a weighted score calculated based on their total (testnet) ENG staked and their uptime during this period. This “genesis score” is projected to be calculated based on the following formula:
sqrt (avg_staked_amount) * number_of_days_staked * percentage_uptime
Anyone can participate in the Genesis Game during the testnet staking period. The “game” itself is projected to last eight weeks. At the conclusion of this phase, genesis nodes will be selected as follows:
- The top 30 nodes by genesis score are selected as genesis nodes.
- More nodes (up to 10 maximum) will be eligible for whitelisting based on contributions to the Enigma ecosystem, primarily those building supply-side tooling for workers and staking operations.
- Dependent on the size of this whitelist, 10–20 more nodes are chosen based on a lottery system, with weighting in the lottery determined by your genesis score. This means that even if you do not finish in the top 30 by genesis score, you are still eligible for random selection as a genesis node. This will help encourage broader participation in testing the Discovery network.
As mentioned, there will be 50 genesis secret nodes in total when mainnet launches. These nodes will be the only nodes eligible to operate when Discovery launches, and they alone will receive block rewards and network fees until more nodes are added to the network. (In a later section, there are details on how and when secret nodes beyond genesis nodes will be added.)
I want to run a genesis node. What happens now?
In setting our next steps, we wanted to ensure prospective node runners and developers had ample time to become familiar with Enigma’s network, code, documentation, and economics — and to make their own preparations. Here’s our development timeline right at this moment.
- We will open-source our Discovery code at the end of March. Our development team has been working hard for the past months to develop our protocol essentially from scratch. Enigma is not an Ethereum fork or dApp — it’s a complex protocol for allowing secure computation over encrypted data. We are proud to show the results of this hard work to the Enigma community.
- Once all the code has been open sourced, we will continue our protocol development with further internal reviews, coverage for “rainy day scenarios”, and testing the network. We will welcome contributions from the community and we will continue to support our launch partners in developing the first decentralized secret contracts to be run on the Enigma network.
- Finally, we will deploy Discovery on an Ethereum testnet. At that time, the Enigma team and Ambassadors will help support node operators and produce materials aimed at helping them launch their secret nodes on testnet, using testnet ENG tokens. We want this to be as simple as possible.
The timeline for node runners is thus as follows:
- In order to operate a testnet node, you will need testnet ENG tokens. To ensure operators stake above the minimum threshold, we will be distributing testnet ENG tokens based on mainnet holdings of ENG.
- This next part is very important: to receive this distribution of testnet tokens, you will need to hold your ENG in an address that you control. That means if you are currently holding mainnet ENG tokens on an exchange and plan to run a testnet node, you will need to withdraw these tokens in order to receive your testnet ENG. If you hold your tokens in MEW, MyCrypto, or a hardware , you do not need to take any action.
- In an upcoming post, we’ll announce the date on which we will take a snapshot of mainnet ENG holdings. On this date, the number of testnet tokens you will receive is determined based on how much ENG is held in your mainnet address. We will announce the snapshot date at least two weeks in advance, giving you time to move tokens if needed. However, if you already know you wish to run a testnet node and become a genesis node, we advise that you take this action as soon as possible to be safe.
- After the snapshot is taken, we will distribute testnet ENG. As mentioned above, after deploying Discovery on testnet you will then be able to set up and begin operating a secret node. Again, we intend to provide significant support to node runners in the form of documentation and videos, and we expect that our partners, community, Ambassadors, and Genesis Game participants will also create helpful materials.
- After a short setup period following testnet deployment, the Genesis Game will begin. As described earlier, genesis nodes will then be selected based on uptime and testnet token staking.
In subsequent posts, this general timeline will be replaced with specific dates and contain much more specific instructions. There are obviously a lot of dependencies, and again, security and sustainability of the Enigma network is of the utmost importance. Thank you to everyone who has contributed their feedback and shown us patience throughout the development process.
How will secret nodes be added over time?
As mentioned before, the network is limited at launch to 50 genesis nodes to help ensure stability during its early stages. We considered a few different models for safely adding secret nodes to the network, including a staged approach or additional staking “games”. Our aim was to minimize complexity, maintain security and stability, and maximize decentralization. Because our aim is for Enigma to remain decentralized and permissionless from inception, we could not introduce elements to our model that would require centralized control to be held by any single party.
The model we settled on is as follows: after a future anticipated hard fork, any node that meets the minimum staking requirement and hardware requirements will be allowed to join the network. By limiting the network to genesis nodes until after the hard fork occurs, Enigma provides an exclusive period for genesis node operators who supported the network during its testnet phase while helping to ensure there are no disruptions from an early fork. But by then opening up the network to all participants, we preserve the permissionless nature of Enigma and expand the network rapidly once its operations have been secured. This also keeps things relatively simple: no more complex games or competitions, no new requirements.
We do not have a date for this hard fork at this time, as again there are too many unknowns. However, we will communicate frequently and transparently over the next months to ensure every member of the community is well-informed about Enigma’s path forward and its growth.
Will there be stake slashing in Discovery?
This has been a common question in our community from node operators concerned about losing their stake in the early stages of the network due to losing their connections, for example. The answer is simple: no, there will not be stake slashing when Discovery launches.
What are hardware and software requirements?
, specialized hardware requirements for Discovery are not substantial. However, running a secret node will require access to an SGX-enabled computer or an SGX-enabled cloud operator. Any 6th Generation Intel Processor (Skylake) after Q3 of 2015 should have this capability. However, this may or may not be enabled by the BIOS — for example, SGX in Mac computers is not and cannot be enabled. Currently IBM and Alibaba Cloud do enable SGX instances. For a detailed list of SGX enabled hardware and cloud options, please visit . Additionally, we require the use of Linux as an operating system as Windows is not expected to be supported in Discovery.
You can reference and post any questions you may have about supported machines and devices as well as recommended software. This topic will also likely be revisited during our .
Published at Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:08:00 +0000
