SLP Boost Validator List proposal - 😈 Blockdaemon 😈 (EDITED)

Blockdaemon Validator Boost List Proposal

Name of node provider: Blockdaemon Ltd

Brief Description on node provider: Blockdaemon connects businesses to blockchain with one integration and is the largest most trusted independent blockchain node infrastructure provider in the world. Blockdaemon currently supports over 50 blockchain networks and protocols while operating insured nodes at over 99.9% uptime. In addition, Blockdaemon leverages its infrastructure to develop scalable products for exchanges, custodians, crypto platforms, financial institutions and developers. Key products include node infrastructure, unified data APIs, crypto payments solutions, and institutional-grade liquid staking.

Number of nodes that want to join the Validator Boost List: (See below):
Protocol(s) - Number of Validators

• Kusama - 5
• Polkadot - 6
• Moonbeam - 1
• Moonriver - 1

The address of the node that wants to join the Validator Boost List and which network (Non-exhaustive):

Protocol(s) - Address
Kusama
Etij9aH36W1NjjWbR7wB5j41CmfpqAx8D4V4HCJhUydSH9Y
Cs1jHXYHxZyWKsGPvYY1BknhLdpNa1iXGja4Kn8hQZs7BsH
GqpApQStgzzGxYa1XQZQUq9L3aXhukxDWABccbeHEh7zPYR
FB2aVGBy59U23F4RXtNcV48bQ8dhJsdghdyxu8wg3MVVzBS
GhLoa4kotmUH4J6rq4kuDQHZZMyXHBh8yKdyCCunbNfRrmt

Polkadot
12jjUEmaKuwC1SxQHe8eXpcv6AzdWiXdvf55VvP1y8bf548b
123VugBRFMqUEFviSYrG3ewdZ46ZmqxjmRaGY6BvakfdPVaG
12doHFjPjPngNvZCWX4WeF4rkLFJ5LmmEyDvPGQ2C1aPppwy
148Ta5cWD3wekK3C6EbdDhYrdxC5e71VTKQCjmHUjE1DCG31
16ckko2BU17AZ6WDH7Nf3uDuQUoQky97A3tx4RxUzpAowK8U
12F6vXGkoZoFNeVUNhr7MymX79EaSga8YsbZh5hufNhv9VQZ

Moonbeam
0x19A33caD2d311830550B41165d5faBf578347f3A

Moonriver
0x015f0E320A1Be51264dd9B9FA8271C18d49E54BB

Liquidity Contribution by VBL Applicant :
● Token amount provided to minting vToken: NA
● Plan to provide vToken liquidity
○ Single token farming : NA
○ vToken - Token LP : NA

If not, please specify why this is currently not possible:
Blockdaemon currently does not hold any collateral tokens, hence we are unable to contribute to the liquidity pool, or to provide single token farming. Blockdaemon is not an investment firm, and assets delegated to our Validators belong to our Institutional Clients which are not able to contribute to the Liquidity pool.
However, we are open to sharing BiFrost’s Liquid staking options to our institutional customers in our collaboration efforts.

Marketing - Informational support/contribution by VBL Applicant :

● Quantitative overview on Blockdaemon’s community (number of users / Geographical focus) :
○ Brief breakdown of Blockdaemon’s Social Media channels:
■ Twitter: 13,039 followers
■ LinkedIn: 12,028 followers
■ Telegram: 4,489 members
■ Discord: 488 members
■ Youtube: 466 subscribers / 36,353 total views

Provide details around form of marketing and promotion initiatives that can be provided to Bifrost SLP (Blog articles, newsletter, Twitter threads, AMA, community announcements etc):

 ○	Case Studies between Blockdaemon and Bifrost to provide educational content between initiatives and advantages of Bifrost Validators to the wider community through Blockdaemon Social Media channels
 ○	Blockdaemon monthly newsletter to showcase developments between validator and rewards that users may obtain from participating in Bifrost’s Validator pool
 ○	Event outreach (Post-conferences) in APAC region, Blockdaemon actively reaches out to our community and hosts events in the Web3 space to gain community support
 ○	Twitter posts for hype-building and to create awareness of the Bifrost <> Blockdaemon partnership as well as developments in future deals and successes.
 ○	Host AMAs and monthly events regarding Bifrost and services provided, allowing us to provide wider initiatives and services to institutional users.
 ○	Any other initiatives that will be carried out and of interest for Bifrost will be posted in this discussion or referendum discussion on bifrost.subsquare.io

Blockdaemon hopes that this partnership between Bifrost and us will provide greater involvement and outreach to Bifrost’s community to empower the development of the Blockchain industry.

How Blockdaemon can Share liquid staking solutions to our institutional customers:
a) We can share the liquid staking platform to our institutional partners through dedicated and targeted e-mailers as well as a blurb in our newsletter
b) Social posts - We can commit to re-tweet posts from Bifrosts and create new posts as we deem fit
c) AMAs and twitter spaces - we can host AMA with Bifrost and Blockdaemon team (Blockdaemon's Head of Protocol Research, Developer Relations, etc). please see (https://twitter.com/BlockdaemonHQ/status/1623320871652798466?s=20)
d) Side events when Bifrost team is in Singapore - Side events are a great way to reach out to institutional clients (We have organised Several Side events in APAC over the past 1 year, with a 1.5X to 2X oversubscription rate)

To add on, Blockdaemon can commit to the following:

● 3X Twitter posts:
○ Post 1 - Announcement of VBL with Bifrost
○ Post 2 - Liquid Staking on Dot and Parachain
○ Post 3 - Podcast with Bifrost
● 1x Podcast - A podcast is better than a blog post for this instance:
○ Podcast on Parachains or liquid staking, Views of Bifrost regarding trends, adoption and more. The podcast will be shared via Twitter and posted on our Youtube Site

Other

● Monthly Periodic node run report: Blockdaemon can provide monthly updates and reports on network traffic bandwidth, node uptime. Blockdaemon also provides 99.9% uptime of nodes (during each 30 day rolling period) in-line with our clients’ Service Level Agreement and 24/7 Customer support to our Institutional Clients.
● Blockdaemon provides quality assurance and testing of subsystems (monitoring, logging and balancing)
● Blockdaemon utilizes enterprise Monitoring and SIEM tools such as Sumo Logic and Grafana to log, monitor, and review event data. Controls are in place in accordance with our ISO27001 certified ISMS.
The standard across all supported protocols is to monitor system metrics (CPU, Memory, etc.), the protocol client software and key metrics like peer count, sync status and block height. The block height in particular allows us to detect chain reorgs, forks (e.g. caused by 51% attacks) among other problems by comparing against an internal reference block height.
○ Depending on the particular protocol, we have additional monitoring for validator activity (signed blocks, validator rewards, etc.), unusual blockchain behavior and API requests.
○ Additionally we have close relationships with the protocol teams to get early alerts on security critical bugs, exploits and upgrades. We monitor the protocol alert channels, as well as their github/gitlab repositories for announcements, bugs and releases. We are active in the respective communities.
● As blockchains evolve, Blockdaemon ensure each of our nodes on every network we manage are updated in line with all protocol changes. Only official updates published by the protocol’s network / foundation are actioned. These network upgrade procedures take two approaches:
○ **Routine Protocol Updates: Standard protocol updates are applied to a node within one week of the update release, or sooner based on the requirements of the upgrade. For example, if required completion is mandated by a date or by block, we will make sure the node remains active in the network.
○ Security / Urgent Protocol Updates: **For critical upgrades relating to security, we prioritize these to be applied within one working day, but are usually applied within the same day of release.
● Prior to the update being applied to a customer’s node, it is tested on Blockdaemon’s spare infrastructure to ensure there is no disruption of service prior to being applied to production nodes. Full hardware and software maintenance and servicing upgrades and deployments within 24 hours as part of the SLA.
● Should Bifrost require any other technical support, Blockdaemon would be happy to discuss this and to arrange any support if it is within our provision capacity

Blockdaemon is thankful for the opportunity to provide this service for Bifrost, which would provide additional liquidity onto the chains above. As the largest independent Node Provider in the Blockchain industry, we have experience running Validators successfully on other protocols and would hope to endeavor in this partnership with Bifrost. This would allow successful growth of the Web3 and Blockchain industry, while providing a deeply-rooted partnership between both parties.