Gm Avail community,
Excited to announce that Avail Mainnet has now reached 105 Active Validators!
A great milestone, congratulations to everyone who has worked so diligently since mainnet launch to reach this stage.
As we reach this stage, there are a few updates to be shared with the community in regards to how the network will expand and grow from here on out.
The expansions in the active set will be paused for some time as the Avail ecosystem grows in the coming months.
With Nexus getting closer to launch and multiple larger partners launching with Avail DA integrated, the mainnet active set will stay here whilst we monitor the expansions effect on the network.
What does this mean for the Nomination Program?
Great question!
The nomination program continues, applications are open, the committee continues to review applications and nominations are still ongoing.
As we have pushed to grow the network quite rapidly recently, you may notice additions to the nomination program take a different cadence for this next period.
What does this mean for the active set?
With nominations being provided, but the active set numbers staying more or less the same, Phragmen will start to cycle through more of the waitlist, thus creating more competition for those daily active set slots.
The by product of this, is increased motivation for all operators to go out and increase their stake via retail!
For example: Lets say in a couple months time there’s 105 active set, and 120 nominated.
Phragmen will start to cycle through those 120 for each days selection of 105.
Validators that accrue more stake in any given period have more change of being selected, validators who were in the active set, but get cycled out, mean their stake was eclipsed by another waitlisted operator, and thus incentivizes working to grow their community.
Does this mean the active set wont go beyond 105 at all for some time?
No, whilst we are not planning expansions, there may be small expansions over the next months if deemed necessary. However, as mentioned, for some time, this cadence of 5-10 active set increase per 2 weeks as we have seen over the last 6 months will be paused.
What other factors are contributors?
Turing currently sits at 80 participants, Mainnet at 105.
Keeping testnet and mainnet close together means that our testing environment for rollouts of upgrades are tested in an environment that *as best as it can, mirrors mainnet.
When will the network continue its expansion out to 150 - 200+ operators as described in the early roadmap?
These decisions will be made on a week to week, month to month basis.
Avail mainnet is moving toward a much larger validator set, and the trajectory remains the same.
Thank you to everyone who continues to work so diligently in making Avail Mainnet so successful, we have a big year coming up, and we are excited to see it unfold together!
- Jackson
Validator Engagement Team.
