Validator Introduction - A41

Validators
1

  • Entity name and location

    • A41, based in Seoul, is a blockchain infrastructure provider established in 2022.

  • Infrastructure location & hardware type

    • Our team has been utilizing bare metal servers, and two data centers are located in Seoul with Tier 3 and 4 certification. We have built a 24/7 monitoring alert system, a failover strategy, and a key management system to successfully manage our nodes, ensuring zero slashings.

  • Technical make-up of team (elaborate on no. of dev ops engineers, experience, etc.)

    • Our infrastructure team comprises four senior full-time DevOps engineers. The team leader, formerly an engineer at Samsung Electronics, now leads DevOps engineers and researchers in A41. Each member has a technical expertise in cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and blockchain engineering.

  • Years of experience

    • A41 plays a vital role as an ecosystem contributor and strategic partner for the networks it validates. With an aim to become the industry-leading APAC validator, A41 started its journey in 2021, entered the Proof of Concept phase in January 2022, and was incorporated in May 2022. Currently, A41’s expertise is demonstrated through its +$300M of total staked assets and proven history of joining multiple ecosystems, highlighting the strength of its ecosystem, community, and governance participation.

  • What other networks are you running validators for?

    • We are currently active on 20 mainnet chains, including Solana, Ethereum, Polygon, Sei, Aptos, Sui, Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Juno, Stargaze, Kyve, Stride, Tenet, Finschia, Archway, Neutron, Haqq, Noble, Flare, and Aura.

  • Based on your participation in any previous testnets, mainnets, are there any best practices to be aware of? What are some things that made previous testnets, mainnet launches successful and/or things to avoid that have gone poorly?

    Best Practices

    Based on our experience, successful mainnets and testnets had the following traits.

    • Clear roadmap/timeline of how they are going to launch testnet and mainnet
    • Clear communication with ecosystem participants regarding any kind of updates
    • A program that continuously engages players in the ecosystem whether it is regarding GTM, rewards, technical and etc.

  • Do you have a validator voting framework and process?

    Governance Implementation Process:

    • A41 demonstrated high participation and provided industry-leading opinions through a systematic governance implementation process. We allocated researchers among different chains, labeled by their area of expertise, automated proposal alerts, and executed votes based on the internal governance framework.

    For example, in the Cosmos ecosystem, we classified the voting areas into the following categories and executed voting with a deep understanding of how the protocol works

    • Incentive:
      • Understanding the market situation of tokenomics
      • Voted after analyzing interests, benefits, and risks of incentive policies
    • Funds:
      • Voted after comprehensively understanding the ecosystem and analyzing risks
    • GovOps:
      • Voted after analyzing the impact of parameter changes on the chain
      • Voted after analyzing alignment with the characteristics and philosophy of protocol
    • TechOps:
      • Voted after understanding the network security and performance.

  • Are there other products or services you want to highlight that could be relevant for dYdX?

    • Multi-Chain-Staking Platform
      • We are developing our Multi-Chain Staking platform, allowing users to stake directly with us and eventually enabling the dYdX staking ecosystem.
    • White-Labeling Solution
      • We provide white-label solutions customized for clients who want to join the ecosystem. We effectively deliver the solution by allowing clients to leverage our technical expertise when entering the ecosystem.

  • Any notable contributions in other ecosystems that you would like to highlight for the community?

    • A41 is actively participating in multiple ecosystems, demonstrating expertise in content creation, technical research, and governance participation.

[Marketing / Social media samples]

[Research series reference - Polygon]

[Governance series reference]