Incentivized Delegations

Utilizing EVM Extensions on Evmos testnet to leverage DeFi contracts to encourage network decentralization through incentivization.

Project Summary

• Demo Link
• Dev Branch Demo Link (Likely unstable)
• Deployment Address: 0x9A8c92273dC58f7F6Ebb20Aadac94D1bCd5784b4

This project takes on the critical challenge of deteriorating decentralization within Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) and similar blockchains in which disapproprotionate amounts of power can be gained by a select few. We have been observing an alarming accumulation of power at an accelerated rate on most Cosmos chains - while not necessarily malicious, a network should have tools at disposal to protect its decentralized nature. With compounding rewards, the disparity only continues to grow.

This project is a novel proof of concept that seeks to reverse this trend by incentivizing users to re-delegate from top-tier validators to mid-tier and lower-tier validators. This re-distribution of power is not only healthy for the network but is also beneficial and encouraging for the validators in the lower tiers to continue to validate the network and contribute.

At the heart of the project is a smart contract that amalgamates the effective principles of time-vested reward contracts, popular within Ethereum DeFi, and the forthcoming "EVM Extensions" currently live on Evmos testnet. The smart contract operates by maintaining a pool of tokens which are distributed as rewards to users in accordance with the size and duration of their re-delegations.

For management of contract features such as period lengths and reward amounts, the contract is designed to ideally be owned by a multisig wallet like Gnosis Safe. This PoC may one day serve a real purpose in the Evmos governance initiatives.

The project represents a practical and viable approach to address the pressing issue of growing centralization in PoS and DPoS blockchains. Through incentivized re-delegation, the project aims to uphold the original spirit of blockchain: decentralization.

Contracts Overview

Warning: Unaudited contract not meant for production use nor written with security in mind.

Full view of contract and documentation of contract available here.

SimlpeStaking.sol Improvements

Added Functions:

• redelegateTokensMultiple: proof of concept to show capability of expanding provided example functions to accept arrays
• isUserApproved: added mapping to keep track of users that have already approved the contract

To-Do

• Add logic to check that the destination validator is indeed in a lower ranking
• Add logic to allow users to re-delegate only a portion of existing delegations
• Add logic for re-delegation distribution weights (currently divided evenly)
• UI: Show existing ongoing re-delegations and time remaining
• UI: Improve TX status reports
• UI: Improve redelegation screen and visual cues
• UI: fix delegation review page
• Misc: use more cache

Live WIP

Ongoing updates are being made in the dev branch | (deployment preview). Testnet RPC is acting up for me at the moment, will merge when back to normal and tested.

Administrative Guide

Extended Hackathon Deadline

Long story short, the first round of incentivized redelegations ended; I was busy with all the ETH Seoul and didn't notice till later. "Round two" has been initiated, and while I did record a video of the process, the audio got nuked somehow. Will try to re-upload with the audio re-recorded if time permits.