Delegation Program Improvement Plan – April 2022

For those who are unfamiliar, the Mina Foundation Delegation Program is open to all block producers in the Mina ecosystem and is a way to ensure further decentralization of the Mina Protocol. You can apply for the Mina Foundation Delegation Program here.

As mentioned in the previous Delegation Program Updates, community members had self-organized to gather and submit feedback on the program to the Foundation. A delegation committee was formed to discuss the feedback and ensure the ongoing quality of the program, consisting of Mina Foundation CEO Evan Shapiro, Board Member and Twitter Crypto Lead Tess Rinearson, and Head of Product Brian McKenna. This blog is a follow-up, intended to share more details about the Delegation Program Improvement Plan that will be rolled out over the next months. As part of this process, the Mina Foundation Delegation Program Policy has also been updated. 

The committee kept the following goals in mind when discussing the Improvement Plan:

• Promote decentralization of the network;
• Cultivate motivated and committed Delegation Program members;
• Ensure an equitable and participatory Delegation Program;
• Enhance the quality and diversity of the Delegation Program members; and
• Increase trust, transparency and visibility into the Delegation Program.

To evaluate and prioritize the community-generated feedback on the Delegation Program, the delegation committee also took into consideration recurrence (i.e., how many people shared the same sentiment around a particular piece of feedback), impact, as well as the feasibility of achieving such feedback in the near term. This process generated a list of improvements that will be enacted in the next few months:

New Uptime Tracking System

A new uptime tracking system was a top suggestion to eliminate cheating as a possibility from the sidecar system, and to increase trust in the overall tracking and results of delegations. This is actively being worked on with Mina Protocol ecosystem partner ONTAB, and is currently being tested.

Conduct AML/KYC on Applicants

The purpose of this is to reduce the possibility of bad actors trying to set up multiple accounts to participate and to improve the trust in the system. The Mina Foundation has identified an AML/KYC partner and will be requiring each block producer participating in the Delegation Program to pass its AML/KYC check before receiving staking rewards from the Mina Protocol before the next delegation cycle begins.

Create a Transparency Dashboard

The committee received feedback regarding the need for more clarity around the program. As a result, the committee will create a dashboard in order to give a clear view of timelines, delegations, results and paybacks. 

Increase Number of Delegation from 120 to 240

The goal of this update is to further show the Mina Foundation’s commitment to decentralization. This increase in the number of delegatees will be effective in the next several months.

Sync up ‘Selection Window’ with ‘Delegation Period’

So far, the ‘Selection Window’ has been 60 days while the ‘Delegation Period’ has been 90 days, which has contributed to confusion amongst program participants. To streamline and reduce confusion, we will sync up the two so they are the same number of days. 

Reduce the Criteria for the Maximum Voting Power from 8%

Currently, the maximum voting power a single delegation program recipient is 8%, but to increase decentralization, this limit will be reduced to 5%, effective in the next months.

Thanks to the contributions and feedback from the Mina community, the delegation committee was able to share this list of impactful improvements that will be implemented. As the Delegation Program progresses, the committee continues to welcome any feedback from the community and will regularly discuss and work on other ways to further improve the program.