The Shelley Hybrid Era

On d and alpha

The d parameter represents the proportion of blocks made by stake pool operators (SPOs), not by the OBFT protocol.

When d=1, the network is in a static and federated mode, where the OBFT pools are making all the blocks for no profit or reward.

When d=0, the network is fully decentralized, where the stake pool operators are making all the blocks with rewards.

(1) Moving from d=1 to d=0.5

  • Majority of the blocks are made by OBFT, minority by Praos
  • Increase in SPO participation
  • Increase in active stakes up to ~60%
  • P2P governor to be turned on
(2) Bookend at d=0.5
 
  • Goguen Hardfork Combinator (HFC) event planned when d=0.5 (Native Assets, Plutus Foundation, etc)

(3) Moving from d=0.5 to d=0

  • Majority of blocks are made by Praos, minority by OBFT
  • Disaster recovery in place
(4) Bookend at d=0
  • Voltaire HFC event planned
  •  Replace current update system with dupdate (decentralized update)

Alpha Parameter

Alpha (constant decay) parameter will be explained in more details on 14 August. 

Every epoch, d is decremented, at minimum, by alpha. Hence, knowing alpha will give you the maximum time it takes to get to d=0.

Where alpha=0.025, it will take 200 days for d to decrement to 0. Again, decrements of 0.025 is a minimum, and the actual decrement depends largely on network health.

Hence, 200 days to d=0 is the maximum expectation, and it can be accelerated with strong network health.

Postponement of first d decrement

The first decrement of d has been postponed by one epoch to 13 August.

This is due to two issues:

  • Daedalus bug where 1/3 of stake pools were not showing up on dashboard (resolved)
  • Some exchanges experiencing difficulties in transitioning to Shelley due to their particular infrastructures (ongoing)

KOPI Thoughts

The Cardano project continues to be transparent and Charles’ communication to his followers is exemplary as usual.
 
Whiteboard videos by Charles are wonderfully informative, but as pointed out by others previously, I wish that there is an official single point of communication to all ADA holders. This postponement has real-life monetary consequences, so while SPOs and community members can help to spread the word, official announcements on cardano.org or similar will inspire much more confidence.

Cardano has no CEO. With decentralization, the official channel of Cardano gospels needs to shift away from Charles. ADA holders should not need to sift through Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and reddit just to find the information they need.
 
The postponement of SPO block-making is a little disappointing, since KOPI’s system has been purring along smoothly and raring to go. But we stand by our principle of fairness and community, and re-iterate that the well-being of the Cardano eco-system remains top priority.