What grant is being renewed?
Rocket Rescue Node - Link to previous renewal
What work from the previous proposal was completed?
Since the previous renewal, the work outlined by the Solo Validator Tech Spec (link) has been completed.
This grant doesn’t cover the development work that went into that. A different, retroactive grant will.
What work from the previous proposal is ongoing or pending?
In the last renewal, this section deprecated two work items and promoted solo validator support, which was completed.
Nothing is ongoing - we are entering a maintenance phase.
We may, in short order, decide to add 0x01 SC wallet support.
What work was not originally planned, but completed, if any?
tl;dr - nothing relevant to this application.
@dmccartney rebuilt our website from the ground up and we added a tighter integration into smartnode. Both of these will be handled in separate applications,
What work is newly slated since the previous proposal?
No new work, outside of ongoing maintenance.
Are the results of this project entirely open source (MIT, GPL, Apache, CC BY license or similar)? If not, which parts are not, and why not?
- AGPLv3
- rescue-proxy
- guarded-beacon-proxy
- rescue-api
- MIT
- rescue-ui
- Closed Source
- infrastructure
- secrets
As a reminder, the infrastructure and secrets libraries are closed source, the former out of an abundance of caution, and the latter as a requirement. We don’t believe either of these to be a hindrance to a third party wishing to modify or run the service themselves.
Benefits - enter N/A where appropriate
What metrics can you share on the success of the project?
As always, our public dashboard is at https://stats.rescuenode.com.
Anecdotally, it seems like the number of operators using the rescue node has grown slightly.
In less specific terms, how has this project improved the Rocket Pool ecosystem or benefited the Ethereum ecosystem?
We continue to deliver on improving the node operator experience and protecting the rETH downside.
Additionally, now that the Rescue Node is available to Solo Stakers, we believe we’ve broadened our impact to the larger ecosystem.
Team
Who has done the work, and have there been any changes to the team?
Original team:
- @ken is our general manager, and a ‘maintainer’
- @poupas is a ‘developer’ and ‘maintainer’
- @Patches is a ‘developer’ and ‘maintainer’
- @hanniabu is a ‘developer’
- @sleety still tolerates our antics, and has contributed to marketing materials pertaining to the rescue node since the original grant.
Additionally,
@dmccartney is a now ‘developer’ and we’re lucky to have him.
- ‘developer’ here means someone who contributed code
- ‘maintainer’ here means someone who has SSH access to the rescue nodes (i.e. a trusted party with regards to mev theft).
How have the individual constituents of the team been compensated?
The retroactive payments and ongoing payments in the previous application are unchanged, but additional payments for bills have gone to @Patches:
- 2023-08-01 $418.90 - 14.14 RPL*
- 2023-09-01 $508.90 - 22.97 RPL
- 2023-10-01 $554.04 - 25.44 RPL
- 2023-11-01 $463.76 - 19.89 RPL*
- 2023-12-01 $ 508.90 - 18.76 RPL
The asterisked values represent months where OVH gave us a credit after overbilling us. They’ve had a couple of software bugs that resulted in double-charging for certain services or applying taxes where they oughtn’t. They always correct their error.
Our monthly cost is $508.90 on the nose, and hasn’t gone up or down over the interval of the last grant, as our leases haven’t changed since the last application.
The balance in our multisig (0x685bD857797306D030d53920C321d4d117aE3137) is 62.14 RPL and 1,524.45 USDC, or $3,282.41 at today’s pricing. This gives us 6 months of runway.
How has maintenance been performed since the delivery of the project?
Sysadmin tasks continue to be performed pro bono. In my last application I said we’d avoid RAs, but I probably lied- I expect to file one on behalf of the people who made solo staker support a reality (which includes myself). It was, I think, more work than originally anticipated.
Payment and Verification
Have the acceptance criteria been met?
The criterion provided by the GMC was “Evidence of upkeep of rescue node”, and we believe we have been extremely transparent. See @rescue_node on twitter for historical insights.
What is the proposed payment schedule for the grant? How much RPL and over what period of time is the applicant requesting? Does this differ from the original approved amount?
Since we’ve built up a healthy runway we can reduce payments (previously $900 RPL a month at $30 RPL).
I’d be comfortable with $700 (25 RPL) a month without recalculating based on price, and stepping down closer to our actual costs in the future, if our multisig balance continues to grow.
Is there a measurable Return on Investment for the project?
Please see the previous grant from some back-of-the-envelope math. We continue to see tens, and at times, hundreds of validators connected, putting the cost savings of the Rescue Node well beyond its liabilities.
What is the breakdown of spending on development for the original grant vs. maintenance?
100% of ongoing funds continue to be put towards reimbursing costs. Development originally cost 250.83 RPL, and maintenance (retroactive and ongoing) has now cost 147.1 RPL (previous application value was 72).
Conflict of Interest
Does the person or persons proposing the grant have any conflicts of interest to disclose? (Please disclose here if you are a member of the GMC or if any member of the GMC would benefit directly financially from the grant).
Ken serves on the GMC. He does not stand to benefit financially from this grant, and has not benefited financially from the rescue node at any point.
Will the recipient of the grant, or any protocol or project in which the recipient has a vested interest (other than Rocket Pool), benefit financially if the grant is successful?
The only other protocol currently benefiting is Ethereum itself 