Technical Working Group: Node Providers

I would like to add that the NPs who join the working group care VERY MUCH about the success of the IC and are equally concerned about bad NPs getting in and ruining what they are investing in the success of.

I hope that all those who care about the IC can acknowledge several facts that exist simultaneously:

  1. There do exist NPs who are willing to do anything to ensure the security and success of the IC.
  2. There is a valid risk of bad NPs who could get in and mess things up.
  3. There are probably also NPs who see it purely as a financial investment and therefore care about bottom line and ease of hosting more than either #1 or #2.

I believe that, in order to find an effective path forward, we must acknowledge the existence of all three groups. Any argument that assumes that #2 doesn’t exist is a security risk. Any argument that assumes that #1 doesn’t exist does not give credit to all of the work that many NPs have been and are still doing and demonstrating. Common sense sells us that #3 exists as well and will exert an influence in various ways.

That said, NPs know the extremely strict rules that data centers have, the NDAs that every single DC makes them sign, NDAs which are standard across the industry, the security risks to their nodes of letting anyone in to see the servers, the logistics of keeping their nodes secure, and many of the other roadblocks and concerns that would have to be bridged in order to achieve various ideas that have been addressed so far. This is the purpose of the working group, to find solutions for this and other issues (Penalties for underperforming nodes has been dominating discussions lately, as NPs who are working hard to keep their nodes live don’t like that NPs who don’t aren’t getting penalized yet.)

Thank you for considering.

6 Likes