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Thousand Validators Programme

The Thousand Validators Programme is an initiative by Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies to use the funds held by both organizations to nominate validators in the community.

It serves two major purposes:

  1. Give validators a structured on-ramp to join the active set of validators on Kusama and Polkadot
  2. Further decentralize the validator active set.

How it Works​

The nominating backend will routinely change its nominations at every era (four eras on Kusama). The backend does this by short-listing candidates by validity and then sorts validators by their weighted score in descending order.

  • Validators with a higher weighted score are selected for any possible slots. As validators are nominated and actively validate, their weighted scores decrease allowing other validators to be selected in subsequent rounds of assessment.

  • If a validator is active during a single nomination period (the time after a new nomination and before the next one) and does not break any of the requirements, it will have its rank increased by 1. Validators with higher rank have performed well within the program for a longer period of time.

The backend nominates as many validators as it reasonably can in such a manner to allow each nominee an opportunity to be elected into the active set.

Setting up a Validator​

Please see the guide on how to set up a validator as well as additional information on how to secure a validator.

How to Apply​

Entrance to the Polkadot program requires a rank of 100 or higher in the Kusama program. Attaining a rank of 100 usually takes around two months. The leaderboard is available here. In order to apply to the Polkadot 1KV programme, set up your Polkadot node to adhere to the requirements below and fill in the application form. You will hear back from the team shortly.

1KV on Kusama

In order to apply to the Kusama 1KV programme, set up your node to adhere to the requirements below and fill in the application form. The process of review and addition is a manual one; you'll be invited to the 1KV Kusama channel and added to the leaderboard, if accepted.

Requirements​

  • Verified identity (see here for instructions)
  • Connect to dedicated telemetry (use --telemetry-url 'wss://telemetry-backend.w3f.community/submit 1' when starting the node)
  • Minimum of 5_000 DOTs self stake on Polkadot and 10 KSM on Kusama
  • No more than 5% commission on Polkadot and 15% commission on Kusama
  • Have a staking proxy set up
  • Must be on the latest release
  • Maximum one node per applicant on Polkadot and two nodes (under same sub/super identity) on Kusama
  • Validators must operate nodes themselves. They may not be operated by third parties or staking providers.

Nominators​

The below addresses are the stash / staking proxy pairs for the primary nominators involved in the Thousand Validators programme. They are formatted like "stash / staking proxy".

  • 14Ns6kKbCoka3MS4Hn6b7oRw9fFejG8RH5rq5j63cWUfpPDJ / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg
  • 12RYJb5gG4hfoWPK3owEYtmWoko8G6zwYpvDYTyXFVSfJr8Y / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg
  • 16GMHo9HZv8CcJy4WLoMaU9qusgzx2wxKDLbXStEBvt5274B / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg
  • 13yk62yQYctYsRPXDFvC5WzBtanAsHDasenooLAxKvf5bNkK / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg
  • 13SkL2uACPqBzpKBh3d2n5msYNFB2QapA5vEDeKeLjG2LS3Y / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg
  • 12WLDL2AXoH3MHr1xj8K4m9rCcRKSWKTUz8A4mX3ah5khJBn / 12iz6aJ75KdqVZLGyvFJmgc5k74Pdokgy9UGTgWtnt67RNTg

A time delay proxy is used as the interaction method for some of these accounts.

Within the Kusama program, there are several other nominator accounts that can exhaustively be determined by parsing data found here.

Since approximately early January 2021, the nominators will select an automatic number of validators to nominate based on the lowest amount staked for a validator and the amount of funds it holds. This can be anywhere from a few validators receiving nomination from a single nominator, to the max of nominators.

Selection​

On-chain parameters assess each candidate to produce a weighted score. It is a changing system in which new endpoints or scores are sometimes introduced. Below are some of the original weights.

Weights​

Inclusion​

The inclusion weight accounts for 40 points. It is assessed by an evaluation of the validator's inclusion in the active set over the past 84 eras. A candidate can be assured of full score if there were no stints of active validation in 84 eras.

Span Inclusion *​

The span inclusion weight accounts for 40 points. It is assessed by an evaluation of the validator's inclusion in the active set over the past 28 eras. A candidate can be assured of full score if there were no stints of active validation in 28 eras.

Discovered *​

The discovered weight accounts for 5 points. It is determined by comparing the candidates tenure in the program relative to other candidates. A candidate that is in the program for a longer duration relative to the entire group of validators allows for a higher score.

Nominated *​

The nominated weight accounts for 10 points, and it is assessed based on when the candidate was last nominated relative to the other candidates in the program.

Rank *​

The rank weight accounts for 5 points and is assessed relative to the ranks of other candidates within the program.

Unclaimed​

The unclaimed weight relates to the number of payouts outstanding for greater than four eras on Polkadot and sixteen on Kusama. Each payout that exceeds this threshold would attribute a negative score of 10 points.

Bonded *​

Candidates with a bond size that is relatively higher than others would receive a score of 50 points.

Faults *​

A fault is attained when a candidate has an offline event when actively validating. A legitimate fault is irrevocable. Faults account for 5 points in the system and are relative to others in the program.

Offline time​

Candidates who have accumulated < 200 minutes offline time during the weekly period will receive 2 points in the system. Offline time is judged by a candidate's connection to the W3F Telemetry and is reset on Sundays.

Location *​

The system allocates a score of 40 points for candidates who host their validators in uniquely located data centres. A candidate's location is determined from Telemetry and is relative to the number of other candidates located at the same data centre.

Council​

Candidates will receive a score of up to 50 points for voting for council members. Candidates may back as few as one candidate; to attain a full score of 50 points, the 1KV candidate should allocate > 75% of their bond to the respective council members.

Democracy​

Candidates will receive 10 * 1KV points for each referendum they have voted on (Aye/Nay) to a limit of 100 points. Scores are based on votes for referendum 49 on Polkadot (163 on Kusama) and beyond.

* Scores that are based on their relative position against others are assessed as follows:

  • The respective weight is assigned high and low percentiles. Any scores lower than the score at the low percentile and higher than the score at the high percentile are removed.
  • The weighted score is then obtained by ((candidate_value - low_threshold) / (high_threshold - low_threshold)) * weight.
  • The default low and high percentiles are 10 and 90%, respectively.
  • Inclusion and Span Inclusions are measured against low and high percentiles of 20 and 75%, respectively.
  • Bonded is measured against low and high percentiles of 5 and 85%, respectively.
  • Finally, location is measured against low and high percentiles of 10 and 95%, respectively.

Frequently asked questions​

  • How do I apply? See here.
  • How long does it take for the application to process? Usually a few weeks. Sometimes a little longer. You can inspect the candidate files here and see if your info shows up. Also, you will get invited to a dedicated matrix room after being accepted.
  • I'm in the program and am getting nominated but don't get active? The system optimizes the nominations to maximize the stake on active validators and minimize the stake variance across them. Also keep in mind that getting nominated does not mean all the nominations are with you. Nominators can choose up to 16 validators.
  • My scoring doesn't update, I haven't been elected for a while? Sometimes it’s best to give things time to resolve; if they don't, leave a message in the dedicated matrix room or open an issue on GitHub.
  • The 1000 validators website is not up to date? See these resources for more up-to-date information.

Resources​

To extract and display the 1KV Programme scores there are various tools listed below.

ResourceGithub sourceInfo
SubVT telegram bot for polkadot and kusamagithubTelegram bot with overviews and alerts for various polkadot and kusama related events, including 1KV events.
SubVT ios and android appgithubSubVT app version for mobile phones.
Validator earnings overviewgithubOverview of validators' earnings.
Math Crypto's Insightsgithub1KV-oriented scoring overview of Kusama and Polkadot.
One-T for polkadot and kusamagithubA performance report bot for the Polkadot and Kusama network with special focus on the 1KV programme.
One-T parachains overviewgithubOne-T's parachain overview.
Metaspan's 1KV overviewgithubOverview of 1KV programme, including the newly introduced endpoints, see here for available endpoints.
Decentradot's 1KV overviewgithubOverview of the 1KV programme, including the newly introduced endpoints.
Hirish 1KV overviewgithub?Overview of the 1KV Programme.