Stakers Union

The home-stakers collective

Empowering individual stakers, preserving decentralization

We are a , organizing because we are passionate about Ethereum and the long-term health of the network. As solo-stakers, we play perhaps the most important role in ensuring the decentralization and durability of the blockchain. The oft-cited goal of being “World War III-resistant” is achieved partly through protocol-level efforts such as client diversity, but a genuinely decentralized validator network requires solo-stakers. Stakers Union members use different clients on different hardware connected to different networks and operated by different people in different jurisdictions. This wonderful heterogeneity is our strength and provides protections against attacks that could compromise the network’s integrity or perceptions of credible neutrality.

Over the past month we have built a truly engaged community of verified members. Our Oath is more than just a signature, it is a genuine vow of our commitment and passion for this mission:

Night gathers, and now my stake begins.
It shall not end until my final block.
I shall hold no memes, bear no greed and claim no fame.
I shall live and die at my node.
I am the validator in the shadows.
I am the watcher on the chains.
I am the shield that guards against corruption, the fire that fuels the network, the light that maintains transparency, the horn that calls to the honest.
I pledge my code and commitment to Ethereum, for this epoch and all the epochs to come.

Supporting the Stakers Union and solo-stakers is the best way to support the health of the Ethereum network!

Solo-stakers are rewarded for their efforts, so why organize? Unfortunately, there are challenging disincentives for solo-stakers - mostly related to liquid staking/restaking derivatives (LSD/LRD). These protocols have gathered a significant proportion of all staked ether and for good reason: staking through these protocols is often a simple transaction with no minimum requirement and most importantly results in a useful liquid token. The experience for a solo-staker involves operating hardware, maintaining software, and locking up increments of 32 ETH without access to a liquid token.

This pattern presents a meaningful risk to Ethereum’s decentralization and a direction that the Stakers Union strongly opposes. As is often the case with Ethereum, new technology and brilliant engineering is helping mitigate some of these risks. For example, Distributed Validator (DV) technology from early Stakers Union partners like the Obol Collective and organizations of node operators like NodeSet who are pioneering methods to reduce and even eliminate node operator bond requirements.

Other interventions include contributing to and otherwise supporting research into protocol improvements (EIP) that preferentially benefit solo-stakers.

The Ethereum community has a history of recognizing and supporting high-priority public goods (ex. Protocol Guild). The Stakers Union considers the activities of solo-stakers among these and is seeking community support for our key objectives:

1. Ensure the decentralization of the Ethereum network by supporting verified solo-stakers through long-term augmented incentives
2. Provide access to our community for ecosystem participants seeking high-performance decentralized node operators
3. Contribute to and promote discussions and research that preferentially benefit solo-stakers
4. Monitor the solo-staking landscape and provide experiential feedback to protocol developers

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