Provide a Consolodated Reference Location for Node Operator Income Streams

Node Operator Experience
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I think there should be a canonical place on the new Node Operator landing page, Overview section, or Guide that clearly sets forth the three basic income streams a NO receives and precisely how they are calculated.

By the 3 sources I mean:

  1. ETH staking rewards on your 16 ETH,
  2. ETH commission on the 16 ETH from the staking pool, and
  3. RPL staking rewards from RPL collateral.

Some prospective NOs appear confused about commission rates vs total APY vs RPL rewards and how that all comes together, and right now there’s not a single place to direct them that lays out how the income streams come together as a holistic package and their relative proportions.

I am aware of rocketpooltool.com, which is very useful but abstracts some of the details, as well as the RPIT 2.0 and the background series on Medium. The RPL rewards section of the Guide is very good, but is separated from the other income streams and therefore not comprehensive or succinct as an overview.

None of the current, official RP sources put things together in a consolidated, concise way and in a single easy-to-access location.

In the #Node Operators Discord thread, @Marceau suggested that “a pie chart showing breakdown + a sliding scale for variable commission would make it really clear.” I think some kind of visual, interactive display could be very helpful.

Some prospective NOs seem to think that they’re going to earn total APY on their investment based on the minipool commission rate. However, as @a35u noted in the Discord, the “commission rate * .5 + .5 = your overall share of pool rewards. so 10% = .55, 15% = .575, and 20% = .6” and that “at the current apr ~5% the difference between a 10% and 20% pool over a year would be .08 ETH.” This underlies what @jcrtp reminds people when they get hung up on minipool commission rates vs other factors like gas fees.

I think a single place that sets forth NO income streams, how they are calculated, how they are paid out (RPL vs ETH), and how they are claimed would be a valuable resource and helpful in educating prospective NOs.

4 Likes
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Hi @patz3r, thank you for the post!

Totally agree! The new node operator landing page, breaks down each of the income streams and has interactive sliders, so that prospective node operators can play with the numbers to reflect their own situation.

We haven’t included a pie chart but we have made it extremely simple to see the returns. Once we have it out I am happy to take some further feedback.

@nickdoherty has made fantastic progress on the landing page so we hope to have it out very soon.

5 Likes
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Excellent — this is great news and should be a fantastic reference for prospective NOs!