Consensus Delegate Handbook
Connecting The Physical World Block By Block
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Consensus Delegate Handbook
• Consensus Delegate Overview
• Minimum Requirements
• Benefits & Rewards
• Profit Projections
• Campaigning for Votes
• Node Setup & Operation
• IoTeX Mainnet Roadmap
• Appendix:
- IoTeX Guiding Principles
- Staking, Voting, Ranking, & Rewards
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Consensus Delegate Overview
IoTeX is a digital democracy where token holders elect
Delegates to maintain and grow the network.
The top 36 voted Delegates are Consensus Delegates that
manage consensus on behalf of the entire IoTeX network:
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What is a Consensus Delegate? How to become a Consensus Delegate?
Creating and Validating Blocks
Maintaining Servers and Network
Processing Smart Contracts and Transactions
Minimum Requirements
Self-stake 1,200,000 IOTX and receive
2,000,000 total votes to become eligible.
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Minimum Stake & Votes
• Server: primary server and backup server
running IoTeX software (both with firewall)
• Memory: 16 GB of RAM (32 GB preferred)
• Local Storage: 1 TB SSD
• CPU: 64-bit
• Processor: 8 cores (2.4 GHz each)
• Network: 100 Mb/sec
Hardware
Software
• Node monitoring and on-call support
• 99.9% server uptime, with failover and
data backup across geolocations
• Preventative measures for security
• Support frequent software updates
Operations
• Linux: Debian Stretch
• Go-lang: 1.11.x
• Tools: Monitoring and alerting tools
(can be developed in-house)
• Support Docker image deployment
Estimated Hardware
Expenses (first year)
Delegates may use their own HW or
a Cloud provider – a sample AWS
estimate is shown below:
Total HW Costs (with AWS):
Less than $6,000 per year
• Server: EC2 c5.2xlarge(~$3,000/year)
• Memory: EB5 st1 (~$1,100/year)
• Storage: EBS gp2 (~$1,200/year)
• Bandwidth: Varied rates(~$600/year)
Benefits & Rewards
Consensus Delegates enjoy a broad set of exclusive benefits:
• Early Access to new IoTeX features, tools, and DApps
• High Visibility & Impact on the development of IoTeX
• Consensus Delegates receive the most rewards:
▻ Fixed reward of 16 IOTX for every mined block1
▻ Extra 2,880 IOTX per epoch from IoTeX Foundation2
▻ Epoch bonus reward proportional to % of total votes3
• Estimated 30-50% Return on Investment (ROI)
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What are the benefits of being a Consensus Delegate?
1. 24/36 Consensus Delegates selected to mine will receive 5,760 IOTX each per epoch, assuming no missed blocks. Average = 1,401,600 IOTX per year, assuming top 36 ranking.2. Provided by IoTeX Foundation to the top 36 Delegates for the first year. 1,051,200 IOTX for first year, assuming top 36 ranking. Includes top 36 Delegates not selected to mine.3. Epoch bonus varies throughout 2019 (see “Mainnet Roadmap” slide); if a Delegate has X% of total votes, they receive X% of the epoch bonus every epoch.
Fixed Reward for every mined block
16 IOTX per block1
5,760 IOTX per epoch
Extra Bonus from IoTeX Foundation
2,880 IOTX per epoch2
Shared Epoch Bonus Reward
Rewards Vary across Mainnet Phases 1, 2, 33
IoTeX Delegate Rewards Pool
Consensus Delegates selected to mine
Top 36 Delegates (not mining)
Top 100
Profit Projections
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You can use the profit calculators provided by our
Delegates to estimate profit during the first year.
Profit Calculator ToolRewards & Profit Scenarios
Note: estimates from these tools are based on
assumptions – please do your own analysis.
Average Rewards Per Epoch
Total VotesFixed Block
Reward1
Bonus from IoTeX Fdn.2
Epoch Bonus Reward3
Est. total IOTXper year
25 million(5% of total)
3,840 IOTX 2,880 IOTX 22,500 IOTX 10,665,300 IOTX
10 million(2% of total)
3,840 IOTX 2,880 IOTX 9,000 IOTX 5,737,800 IOTX
2 million(0.4% of total)
N/A4 N/A4 1,800 IOTX 657,000 IOTX
The rewards estimates in the table below are based on an assumption of 500 million total votes (i.e., the Mainnet bootstrapping requirement):
1. Annual average for Top 36, as 24 of 36 Consensus Delegates are selected to mine every epoch.2. Extra 2,880 IOTX per epoch from IoTeX Foundation provided to Top 36 Delegates for 1st year.3. Share of epoch bonus is proportional to a Delegate’s weighted votes. Ex: a Delegate with 2% of
total votes (i.e., 10 million / 500 million) will receive 2% of the epoch bonus reward every epoch.4. A Delegate with the minimum 2 million votes will likely not be a Consensus Delegate (i.e., top 36)
https://iotexlab.io/calculator
Campaigning for Votes (1/2)
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Delegate Campaign Website
All Consensus Delegates should create their
own campaign website with the following:
• Name: pick a unique name for your Delegate node
• Logo: create an attractive and differentiating logo
• Social Media: create your own social media & SNS
channels to keep your voters updated
• Mission Statement: what is your mission as an
IoTeX Consensus Delegate?
• Team: who are the people that run your node?
• Tech Setup: what HW/SW does your node run on?
• Campaign Details: what do you offer to the IoTeX
network and why should voters vote for you?Example campaign website from IoTeX LAB (iotexlab.io), a Consensus Delegate candidate
Campaigning for Votes (2/2)
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IoTeX Website Profile
On the official IoTeX voting website,
all Delegates will have their own
profile page with a direct link to vote
and the following details:
• Delegate name and logo
• Country (if applicable)
• Custom banner
• Website & Social media
• Introduction
• Team
• Tech Setup
• Community Plan
• Reward Distribution Plan
Node Setup & Operation (1/2)
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Delegate Address(Must hold 1.2mm IOTX)
Operator Address(Can hold 0 IOTX)
Beneficiary Address(Receives IOTX rewards)
Voter Addresses(Holds other IOTX)
Separation of duties
• We provide multi-address node setup options, where each address has a unique purpose and public/private key:
! Delegate: voter-facing master address holding min. stake; owner can define operator / beneficiary addresses
! Operator: address assigned to run HW (especially relevant for Delegates that utilize a technical partner); it can hold 0 tokens so if HW is compromised, no tokens are lost
! Beneficiary: address that receives all Delegate rewards; can be used to isolate minimum stake / rewards tokens
! Voters: any address that votes for Delegates; can be used to isolate a Delegate’s min. stake from other tokens
• Note: these are options to provide flexibility – you may also use the Delegate address as both Operator and Beneficiary
Node Setup Options
Assign
Vote
UniquePub & Private
Key
UniquePub & Private
Key
UniquePub & Private
Key
UniquePub & Private
Key
Node Setup & Operation (2/2)
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• Consensus Delegate node operation responsibilities:
! Consensus Delegates must maintain servers and support iotex-core software updates to produce blocks accurately and on time
! All Consensus Delegates should be familiar with how to run, monitor and explore a full node and interact with the IoTeX blockchain
! All technical documentation can be found at docs.iotex.io
• Distribution of rewards to voters and other addresses:
! IoTeX will provide a daily report of addresses that voted for you, how many times they voted, and corresponding rewards to pay out
! Delegates are responsible for re-distributing rewards based on their unique plan (we are working on tools to simplify the process)
Node Operation
Don’t have time or the necessary
experience to run your node?
Consider using one of our experienced
technical partners:
• Airfoil: [email protected]
• CapitalMu: [email protected]
• EON: [email protected]
• Infinity Stones:
• Metanyx: [email protected]
• Staked: [email protected]
Technical Partners
IoTeX Mainnet Roadmap
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A Bright Future Requires a Strong Foundation.
Let’s Build the IoTeX Mainnet Together!
BootstrappingThe total amount of staked
IOTX must be at least 20% of
the total circulating supply
to securely bootstrap the
IoTeX Mainnet.
Mainnet Phase I*Consensus is run by 12 elected
Delegates & 24 Robo-Delegates.
• Block reward = 16 IOTX / block
• Top 36 bonus = 2,880 IOTX / epoch
• Epoch bonus = 300,000 IOTX
Mainnet Phase II*Consensus is run by 24 elected
Delegates & 12 Robo-Delegates.
• Block reward = 16 IOTX / block
• Top 36 bonus = 2,880 IOTX / epoch
• Epoch bonus = 350,000 IOTX
Mainnet Phase IIIConsensus is run by 36 elected
Delegates (no Robo-Delegates).
• Block reward = 16 IOTX / block
• Top 36 bonus = 2,880 IOTX / epoch
• Epoch bonus = 450,000 IOTX
* Algorithmically-driven “Robo-Delegates” are used to ramp up the IoTeX Mainnet. They will not get epoch bonus rewards and will gradually be replaced with elected Delegates.
Appendix
Connecting The Physical World Block By Block
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IoTeX Guiding Principles
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• IoTeX uses Roll-DPoS, a democratic consensus mechanism where token holders elect Delegates to produce new blocks
• The IoTeX network is a digital democracy – network governance consists of the following processes:
– Staking: the process of staking IOTX tokens for a defined duration to vote for Delegates
– Voting: token holders vote for the Delegates of their choice
– Ranking: Delegates are rank-ordered based on total votes and updated in real-time
– Rewarding: Delegates receive rewards for running consensus, and may share these rewards with voters
• IoTeX uses the following guiding principles (PEGS) in the design of Delegate requirements and governance:
– Participation and inclusivity: power is not centralized to a few “big player” Delegates, and collusion and the formation of
“cartels” is prevented
– Evolution driven by all stakeholders: Delegates, token holders, and network participants cooperate in network governance
to ensure IoTeX evolves sustainably
– Growth as a form of stake: Delegates consist of diverse stakeholders that contribute to network growth in various ways:
investors, tech providers, developers, community, and more
– Sustainability in all circumstances: rewards to Delegates are fairly distributed and can sufficiently cover operating costs,
regardless of the market environment
Staking
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Staking IOTX to generate voting power Staking Bonus Curve
• Token holders stake IOTX tokens to participate in the voting process:
1 IOTX = 1 Vote
• Staking IOTX for a specific stake duration (number of epochs1)
generates bonus votes:
⏤ Token holders may choose any 7-epoch interval (7, 14, 21 … 350)
as their stake duration
⏤ Increasing bonus votes for longer durations
• After stake duration expires, token holders can un-stake their tokens
and withdraw the originally staked IOTX to their wallet after 3 epochs
Example: stake 1,000 IOTX with different durations
• No stake duration: 1,000 IOTX = 1,000 Votes
• 14 days (14.5% bonus): 1,000 IOTX = 1,145 Votes
• 350 days (32.1% bonus): 1,000 IOTX = 1,321 Votes
1. An epoch in the IoTeX network is currently defined as 1 day (8,640 blocks)
Voting
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Voting for Delegates
• To vote for a Delegate, token holders use a voting smart contract:
• With one wallet address, token holders can vote for multiple
Delegates or transfer votes to a trustee to vote on their behalf:
• Votes can be redirected to a new Delegate and stake duration can
be extended at any time
Example: different voting portfolios
• Each voter has 1,000 IOTX and votes for Delegates
using different token amounts / stake durations
• Difference in total votes across voters is due to bonus
votes from staking for different durations.
* To become a Delegate, token holders must “self-stake” at least 1.2 million IOTX
Node address # of IOTX Duration # of Votes
io1…e93xgd6w 1,000 14 epochs 1,145
Ranking
• All Delegates are rank-ordered in real-time based on their total votes.
• A Delegate’s total votes includes votes for oneself and votes from other token holders.
• The top 36 voted Delegates are the Consensus Delegates for the current epoch.
• Of these 36 Consensus Delegates, 24 are randomly selected to mine blocks for the current epoch.
• All Consensus Delegates must maintain a productivity ratio (mined blocks / total) of at least 90% to remain eligible.
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IoTeX Delegate Rankings Epoch #1 Epoch #2
Top 36 = Consensus Delegates
24/36 are randomly selected toproduce blocks for epoch #1
Top 36 = Consensus Delegates
New random 24 are selected toproduce blocks for epoch #2
How are Delegates ranked?
Rewarding
• Delegates are rewarded in IOTX every epoch
• Rewards are distributed from the IoTeX Delegates Rewards Pool, consisting of:
⏤ Reserved mining tokens: 1.2 billion IOTX (12% of total supply) reserved
⏤ Transaction fees: all gas fees from transactions in the IoTeX network
⏤ Other contributions: donations from IoTeX Foundation and others
• Delegate rewards consist of fixed block rewards and epoch bonus rewards:
⏤ Block reward (fixed): Consensus Delegates receive 16 IOTX per mined
block. 138,240 IOTX are issued every epoch (8,640 blocks).
⏤ Extra bonus reward: in the first year, the IoTeX Foundation will provide
2,880 IOTX per epoch to the top 36 Delegates.
⏤ Epoch bonus reward: the top 100 Delegates will share 300,000 - 450,000
IOTX per epoch (varies by Mainnet Phase) based on their weighted votes
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How are Delegates rewarded?
Fixed Reward for every mined block
16 IOTX per block5,760 IOTX per epoch
Extra Bonus from IoTeX Foundation
2,880 IOTX per epoch
Shared Epoch Bonus Reward
Rewards Vary across Mainnet Phases 1, 2, 3
IoTeX Delegate Rewards Pool
Reserved Mining Tokens
Other Contributions
Gas Fees from Transactions
Staking & Voting - Example
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This flow diagram is an illustrative example of the progression of a token holder’s votes over time.
It includes initial staking / voting, vote changing, stake duration expiry, un-staking, and withdrawing processes.