Obol - Distributed Validator Technology

    Q1. Explain what Distributed Validator Technology (DSV) through the Obol network is and why it might help with decentralization on Ethereum 2.0 or other Proof-of-Stake chains.

    Introduction

    Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) is a novel architecture concept that allows a validator key to be distributed between multiple independently operating validator instances, allowing for Active Active redundancy across Eth2 infrastructure deployments.

    DKG ensures that a validator's whole private key is never stored anywhere and is only emulated between a number of instances, each carrying a subset of the key.

    Consider a world where, thanks to applied cryptography, validator key theft is almost impossible.

    This is an iteration in validator set-up resiliency, allowing your validator to function as a multi-sig, removing single points of technical failure such as Availability Failure and Validating Key Compromise. Threshold signature approaches are utilized, which allow a percentage of the instances to be offline, improving fault tolerance over current validator setups. Consider a scenario in which the majority of validators on the Ethereum network agree to complete the chain. Staking pools, DAO treasuries, financial institutions, large-scale validator operators, and notably at-home validators can all benefit from the DVT primitive. We've been establishing a community of strategic supporters throughout the blockchain technology stack at Obol Network in order to allow more durable and distributed staking infrastructure on public blockchain networks through DVT.

    What is Distributed Validator Technology on the Obol network?

    The biggest worry with Proof of Stake consensus is that it might quickly become a centralized network. Because one's ETH holdings are proportionate to one's ability to arrange transactions and produce new blocks. Although becoming a validator costs as little as 32 ETH, whales can set up a large number of validators to control a large section of the network, leading to centralization. The network will be jeopardized due to the validation architecture's vulnerability.

    In my opinion, the original PoS architecture may be considered a consensus system backed up by lines. Grids can also use the Obol Network to back up the consensus system. Obol's distributed validator technology adds a second degree of safety to the original concept, which only provides one layer of decentralisation.

    What exactly is the issue?

    Running a validator's backup system in a safe manner is currently very tough. The concept of having two independent validator systems that share the same private key and run at different times is known as active/passive redundancy.

    If you're a lone node operator, you can't expect to be on call 24/7/365 if your validator failover technique is human rather than automated. On the other side, large operators must decide how many on-call engineers they need. If one machine goes down during a shift, it's not a big deal; but if 100 nodes go down, can one engineer failover all of them safely and quickly without any of them coming back to life and causing a slashing?

    This will not suffice. We believe that by removing points of technological failure in validator nodes, we can open up new design possibilities for network validation and staking structures.

    Why may it be useful for decentralization on Ethereum 2.0 or other Proof-of-Stake networks?

    In general, a collaborative infrastructure architecture that protects against the absence of a few network operators can make Ethereum more resilient. DVT can help with this by allowing a collection of network operators to work together as a single validator, which we call a multi-operator validator. Staking products and validators of various sizes will be able to simply construct their set-ups with a diverse and anti-fragile design in a mature context, thanks to Obol Network. Obol will allow the next generation of staking businesses to scale without jeopardizing Ethereum's decentralization or diversification.

    Obol will lay the groundwork for a Distributed Validator Technology architecture. DVT has developed a new sort of validator that can execute on multiple machines and clients at the same time while appearing to the network as a single validator. This is referred to as Active/Active fault tolerance, and it allows your validator to remain operational even if some of the computers fail.

    The goal of Obol is to make it easier for people to share network administration tasks. If your machine in a distributed validator cluster dies over night, the other operators in your cluster will assist you. You'll cover for them if their node goes out of sync while they're on vacation for a week. If we can share the responsibility of running nodes, we can open up a new frontier of decentralisation.

    Validators who work alone have the option of having a backup. Companies that stake might split the risk and profit. The amount of staked ether can be increased via DeFi procedures. Major institutions can limit the risks connected with cloud providers. Everyone benefits from developing fault-tolerant, distributed validator technology.

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