🤖Obol DVT Explained
Ok, so what is DVT...?
Distributed Validator Technology. In a traditional solo staking setup, if a single validator node goes offline due to technical issues or maintenance, it immediately stops performing its validator duties (attestations, block proposals, etc.).
This can lead to missed rewards and penalties for the staker. However, with DVT, a group of stakers works together as a single unit. If one of the stakers within the group experiences downtime, the remaining stakers continue to perform the validator duties collectively.
This ensures that the staking process remains uninterrupted, maintaining network stability and allowing the group to continue earning rewards while minimizing the risks associated with individual node failures.
With a standard solo validator, without DVT, the setup looks like this:
What are the parts of an Ethereum Validator Node?
EC = Execution Client (e.g. Geth, Besu, etc.)
BN = Beacon Node (e.g. Lighthouse, Teku, etc.)
VC = Validator Client (e.g. Lighthouse, Teku, etc.)
As you can see, a standard solo validator holds the entire validator signing key. This is the key that is used to perform validator duties such as proposing blocks and attesting (voting).
DVT is a technology that allows a single key to be split into multiple parts, called keyshares, and through some cryptographic magic, those keyshares can be used to perform validator duties when combined!
How does Obol DVT work?
Obol is a company that has been building a DVT solution using their Charon (pronounced Karon) client. This is a piece of software that sits in between your Beacon Node and Validator Client.
Charon is also the software that will be used by Ether.fi to split the validator key into keyshares.
Once those keyshares have been generated, they will be distributed to each of the solo stakers, who are collectively called a cluster.
Each solo staker in the cluster is given one keyshare. The cluster will be configured with a 3/4 threshold which means that if at least 3 of the 4 operators are online, the cluster will be able to perform its validator duties.
The important points you need to be aware of are:
Ether.fi will be generating the validator key and keyshares, so don't worry, you don't need to know the details about how that works (unless you'd like to learn more from the Obol docs).
You will be given one keyshare that you will upload to your staking machine.
How do you upload the keyshare to your staking machine? Just follow the instructions for your specific machine:
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