Validator Gateway
Enhancing Ethereum Validator Efficiency and APY
Overview
The Validator Gateway is a tool designed to optimize Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for validators. This innovative solution is engineered to streamline validator operations, ensuring higher efficiency, reduced latency, and maximized APY.
Components of the Validator Gateway
BDN Gateway
The BDN Gateway is part of our Blockchain Distribution Network (BDN). Its primary function is to assist nodes in maintaining synchronization and improve the performance (effectiveness) of validators by propagating blocks and transactions faster to their Consensus Layer nodes. This is especially important in lower-performing regions. This is achieved by facilitating better network connectivity and data flow.
Relay-Proxy
The Relay-Proxy connects to bloXroute relays using a gRPC connection. This connection is responsible for handling a range of tasks from registration to 'getHeader' and 'getPayload' requests. The Relay-Proxy is designed to work in tandem with mev-boost with low latency. The gRPC connection helps in reducing latency between the validator and the relay.
Key Features and Benefits
Optimized Proposal Duties
During proposal duties for slots, the MEV relay streams headers to the relay proxy. The Validator Gateway utilizes the time that is allotted for relays to ensure the validator has access to the most profitable header available. By streaming headers to the relay proxy, the headers are available in a low latency location and the validator can decide how long to wait.
With duties like attestations or sync committees, the BDN Gateway will help keep your node in sync with the current head slot. This will increase the effectiveness of your validators attestations and sync committees, along with also increasing the number of high paying attestations your validator can include within the block proposals. The BDN Gateway aims to bring validators as close as possible to 100% effectiveness.
APY Impact
The following table illustrates the increase in APY using various delays for the relay proxy based on historical bid data received by our relays.
| Delay Amount | 300 ms | 500 ms | 1000 ms | 1500 ms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Average Increase | 3.28% | 4.28% | 7.08% | 9.51% |
Maximum Increase | 56.89% | 76.57% | 83.26% | 89.54% |
These figures are based on an average 'getHeader' time of 500ms into a slot and choosing the highest value block after those delays.
Improved 'getPayload' Process
The use of a dedicated gRPC connection and the BDN also improves the 'getPayload' time, helping to prevent missed slots. Future enhancements include streaming 'getPayload' responses to the relay proxy in advance, which would allow validators to make proposals more quickly and minimize missed slots.
Configuration
Relay-Proxy
The Relay-Proxy is designed to limit latency as much as possible without requiring a modified mev-boost or vouch client. The relay proxy acts as a relay to mev-boost or vouch, and fulfills all necessary network requests from these clients.
Add the bloXroute managed Relay-Proxy as an additional relay to the mev-boost -relays argument. To include your company name and auth header value, you can specify the &id=company and &auth=auth_header parameters:
1) id
ex: &id=company
Unique company/entity name
2) auth
ex: &auth=auth_header
Use the auth header value obtained from the bloXroute account portal
For additional customization on the timing, you can add the &sleep=value and &max_sleep=value parameters:
3) sleep
The amount of time in milliseconds that getHeader will wait to get the best header.
ex: &sleep=400
default: 750
4) max_sleep
The maximum amount of time in milliseconds after the slot start to sleep.
ex: &max_sleep=1000
default: 1200
Note: - id & auth params need to be included in every request sent to the Relay-Proxy. - sleep & max_sleep params are only needed for the getHeader request to take effect, they're not necessary for all other requests. - Please remember to add the -debug flag so that we can analyze your logs to improve performance.
In this bloXroute managed solution, bloXroute hosts a Relay-Proxy in close proximity to your validators to minimize latency without requiring overhead on your validator servers. This removes the need to manage another component on your server, and all updates and releases will be managed by the bloXroute team. For validators with complex deployment processes this is the ideal solution.
BDN Gateway
The BDN Gateway is a bloXroute Hosted Gateway designed to simplify the Validator Gateway configuration and keep your validator in sync with the world leading fastest global block propagation. The Validator Gateway should be connected to your Consensus Layer client to access the BDN. Supported clients include Lighthouse, Prysm, Nimbus, and Teku. More on connecting to the Consensus Layer here.
We'll need to collect information about your Consensus Layer node to accept incoming P2P connections. Please complete this form so that our team can configure a Hosted Gateway. If you are using the Lighthouse client, it is recommended to add the bloXroute Peer ID as a trusted peer once the gateway is configured.
Looking Forward
Overall, the Validator Gateway is on track to become an essential part of the most competitive validators in the market, providing streamlined operations of validators by improving latency, ensuring better synchronization, and optimizing the selection of profitable headers.
To get started with implementing the Validator Gateway, sign up for a bloXroute account and then scroll down to the "Add-ons" section of the plans page.
Select the number of Public Keys and months you're interested in purchasing the Validator Gateway add-on for, as shown below.
After purchasing the add-on, simply complete this form and our team will guide you through each step, making the process seamless and straightforward. Please feel free to reach out to support@bloxroute.com if you have any questions.
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