You’ve got to give Everstake this – they know how to validate on PoS and DPoS networks.
The Ukraine-based staking service platform currently runs nodes on 12 PoS-based networks, including Tezos, Cosmos and EOS. It operates on the testnets of several more. “We have a proven track record,” says team member Vit Parkhomenko. Pointing to his team’s safe and secure setup and dedicated team of developers, he says, “We will bring as much value as we can to the network.”
Blockchain fanatics
Everstake was founded in December 2018 by AtticLab, a fintech and blockchain company that, among other things, provides blockchain solutions to Ukrainian banks. According to Parkhomenko, the Everstake team was founded by a bunch of engineers who saw the potential of running nodes on different blockchain and “wanted to get their hands dirty.”
Having been involved in blockchain since the early Bitcoin days, the Everstake team clearly sees the potential of the technology. “Just the other day we were talking with this other team,” says Parkhomenko. “We had to make this transfer. They were from the United States, so it was quite a complicated thing – getting the banks to do it, how long it takes.”
“But using Bitcoin, it took just 10 minutes to get the whole thing done.”
Elegant solutions
Everstake was drawn to ICON’s unique consensus algorithm, the Delegated Proof of Contribution (DPoC). This algorithm represents a bit of a departure from the traditional DPoS, a consensus mechanism Parkhomenko faults for being prone to centralization. “In ICON, we see that problem solved quite elegantly,” he says. “Plus we see a lot of potential in ICONGRESS as a body, as a group of people who can bring up proposals and help the network evolve.”
Everstake would know an elegant solution when they see one. They’ve been running up to a dozen nodes for over half a year now on bare metal servers. They boast the sort of expertise that only experience can bring. Parkhomenko points to Everstake’s lineage as a software development company, too. The team has begun working on two different tools for ICON: a tracking tool for token holders and a benchmarking tool that would help token holders assess P-Reps and allow P-Reps to see what’s going on.
Parkhomenko says, “We try to add value as much as we can by doing the research and seeing what the blockchain lacks and what people need.”
Decentralization over immediate gains
Everstake encourages voters to embrace decentralization in their staking, too. Parkhomenko cautions against voting for a single P-Rep, a practice he calls unreasonable. “The most reasonable thing to do in my opinion would be to spread your vote across 10 or 20 P-Reps or stand-by P-Reps – firstly, to be on the safe side as a voter and, secondly and quite importantly, to decentralize the network.”
He can’t stress that second point enough. “This is quite important, but we have a long way to go to work with the community and bring that idea across,” he says. “Because for now, most regular token holders don’t really think about it in terms of decentralization and decentralizing their own stake and thus helping the network and adding value to it. In the long run, you’re benefiting by splitting your stake. Not many people realize that and go for immediate gains.”
Everstake likes some of the things ICON has done to promote real decentralization. The platform is involving many interested parties in the decision-making process. Recent moves to reduce the power of P-Reps are steps in the right direction, says Parkhomenko. He adds, “One party involved shouldn’t have more power than other parties involved.”
True decentralization, says Parkhomenko, presupposes everyone being up-to-date and invested in the project. It means decisions made by large numbers of people. This takes a lot of time, patience and education. “Stay on top of things,” exhorts Parkhomenko. “Don’t listen to anyone else. Do your own research. Stay updated on the project. Get as educated as you can. After all, you’re investing into it. The community will try to help you, but you have to be on top of things yourself.”
He reminds voters that in blockchain, there are no contributions that are too small.
“One of the important things in crypto is that anyone can contribute,” he says. “Even small things matter in the long run, so don’t think because you’re a regular token holder you can’t do anything, because that’s not true. Anyone can make a contribution that might seem small at the time but might bring huge benefits in the future.”
