I would like to propose a way for node operators that do not want to hold RPL to not have to, while keeping the 10% extra security for rEth and bringing value accrual to the RPL token.
I propose a seperate RPL Insurance pool that RPL holders can deposit their RPL into. Node operators could ask this pool to lock RPL tokens for their minipool rather then them providing it, in return the RPL insurance pool would get a portion of the minipools commission. Not sure how much of the commission would be fair but I suggest somewhere between 1% and 5%, eg. 1.5% of the minipool rewards might be fair since the pool is providing 10% of the value for the node operator, an additional 1% could also be fair since the pool is providing an insurance service for the node operator, the node operator would be left with a 12.5% commission considering the commission is currently 15%. The RPL Insurance pool would also get all of the RPL rewards for the locked RPL.
Only a portion of the RPL Insurance pool would be locked at any time but all the RPL in the pool would share in the rewards. When people want RPL out of the pool they would request withdrawal and be placed in que if all the RPL in the pool is locked, they would then have to wait for a minipool to stop or someone else to want to deposit to the minipool. There might be a more elegant way to ensure that RPL is held for the active minipools while also being partially withdrawable by the RPL owners, but this was the most straight forward way I could think of.
I am not entirely sure how the rewards should be distributed to the people that provided RPL to the pool but I have a few suggestions:
- The pool could just distribute the Eth and RPL rewards to all the depositors
- The pool could use the Eth to buy RPL and add it to the unlocked portion of the pool so that it is more liquid if RPL providers want to get their RPL out, give the RPL rewards to the RPL depositors.
- The pool could use the Eth to buy RPL and add it to the RPL rewards.
I believe 2 might be the best way to go since it provides buying pressure for RPL while at the same time building up the RPL Insurance pools base RPL stack over time this base RPL stack could forgo its RPL rewards so that the RPL rewards for the depositors increase over time. If the Eth rewards to the pool manages to outpace the RPL issuance then the pool will continue to grab up a larger and larger % of all RPL pushing the price upwards until issuance equals buying pressure from the pool and people that want part of the rewards from the pool.
Over the next Year there will be a massive inflow of capital to liquid staking tokens like rEth and stEth, if rEth cant get enough node operators then people are going to go with stEth which i believe is a negative for the entire Ethereum ecosystem since they are already too large. I believe the RPL requirement is the main thing holding back people from starting more minipools. This is why I believe it is critical that the RPL requirement for minipools is mitigated with a solution like the RPL insurance pool and why I believe it should be a priority.