We have been running nodes across the Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystem since early 2019. We have production nodes across >20+ protocols, and also run software for indexers (subgraphs), bridges (connext bridge) and relayers (for IBC). We also run a non-custodial yield aggregator called Unagii that allows users to connect their web3 wallet, and earn yield (and vote on governance issues) on selected crypto assets via our vaults and staking products. We are also the only staking infrastructure provider in the world to be backed by a governmental fund (SGinnovate).
dYdX has always been one of the core DeFi primitives within the Ethereum ecosystem that has found good product market fit. After the fall of FTX, it became evident that DEXs will play an ever increasing important role for crypto traders who wants transparency. We were very excited when we heard that the team has decided on shifting to become an appchain of its own using the cosmos stack. We will love to partake as a validator on dYdX v4 and hope that the community can support us!
P.S, we recently co-hosted a Cosmos DeFi and Governance panel together with @Cliff - Cliffton is really insightful and provided new perspectives to the audience, especially regarding governance minimization. Hope that we can do more of this in the future and nice to meet everyone.
@maigoh appreciate you taking the initiative and posting the very first validator profile on the dYdX forum!
As announced by dYdX Trading in this blog, in dYdX v4, validators will run full nodes to which users submit transactions, and will participate in consensus by broadcasting votes signed by each validator’s private keys.
Validators will be new governance stakeholders in dYdX v4, and it’s important for the community to know who the potential validators will be. Definitely encourage other potential validators to do the same!
Separately, it’d be helpful if you could fill in your details and answer the relevant questions listed in the Validator Introduction Framework.
Please note that using the above intro format is encouraged but optional. We view this as an effective way for community members to evaluate the potential validators of dYdX v4 using a consistent, standardized framework. Many thanks!
Entity name and location:
Our headquarter is in Singapore, but we have employees from Japan and Vietnam too.
Infrastructure location
Physical servers are in 2x Tier 3 datacenters in Singapore.
What kind of hardware do you run? Baremetal, cloud-based…? In what geographic regions?
We do a mix of physical (baremetal) and cloud based nodes → typically split between US, EU and SG (different availability zones if available too).
Technical make-up of team (elaborate on no. of dev ops engineers, experience, etc.)
Our infra lead has >20+ years in cloud infrastructure/devops - we have 1 other full time dev ops engineer and the remaining of our dev team (4 other devs) can also hop on for node infrastructure work if required.
Years of experience
We have been live since early 2019.
What other networks are you running validators for?
For a full list of public facing networks we support, visit https://app.unagii.com/explore. We also run bridge software, indexers and subgraphs. We also run whitelabel staking for institutions/funds.
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?
Proper communication channels are key - validator specific discord announcements, emails, telegram announcement channels all works well.
Do you have a validator voting framework and process?
Even though we have no formal voting framework, we go through all proposals internally and vote it in the best interest of the ecosystem.
Are you planning to play any additional roles in the dYdX ecosystem (e.g. market maker, trader, indexer, front-end, other)?
Likely as an indexer, and also provide staking + governance voting frontend on unagii.
Are there other products or services you want to highlight that could be relevant for dYdX?
Staking + governance frontend on unagii, our non-custodial yield generation platform.
Any notable contributions in other ecosystems that you would like to highlight for the community?
We run a community meetup group called Cosmos Singapore. You can see our past event here: Cosmos Singapore (Singapore, Singapore) | Meetup