🧪SSV Holesky Setup

To participate in an SSV cluster you'll need to first create an SSV Operator. After that you'll be able run an SSV node as part of our testnet clusters.

Step 1: Create an SSV Operator

Go to the SSV webapp, connect the wallet you want to use and select Holesky.

Then click on Register Operator.

The next screen will ask you for an Operator public key.

You need to generate this on your machine. The first step is to create a file called password with a secure password in it.

Open your terminal.

Pick anything you like or generate a password with ssl (OPTIONAL):

openssl rand -hex 32

Copy the value and navigate to the directory where you want to create your SSV operator keys. Run this command with your password pasted in:

echo "<MY_OPERATOR_PASSWORD>" >> password

Make sure Docker is running to run the next command.

docker run --name ssv-node-key-generation -v ./password:/password -it "bloxstaking/ssv-node:latest" /go/bin/ssvnode generate-operator-keys --password-file=password && docker cp ssv-node-key-generation:/encrypted_private_key.json ./encrypted_private_key.json && docker rm ssv-node-key-generation

This command will pull a docker image to create your keys. It may fail for some reason. In that case just read the error description to solve it as it is usually descriptive enough.

If successful, your key file should be created now. Open it in any way you prefer, for example with VSCode and read the contents. They should have this structure (example from SSV):

{
  "checksum": {
    "function": "sha256",
    "message": "affa5deb755d8ad13a039117dc6850d2a25ad62a870a1e1f8d4ef...",
    "params": {}
  },
  "cipher": {
    "function": "aes-128-ctr",
    "message": "3022f3b5043b77eda7f336dd0218e6b7e633a3f42f7ae92ed9...",
    "params": { "iv": "12e787716b0e3c30f2d68ed05464c16f" }
  },
  "kdf": {
    "function": "pbkdf2",
    "message": "",
    "params": {
      "c": 262144,
      "dklen": 32,
      "prf": "hmac-sha256",
      "salt": "bc71d3213fe17f15879e6bc468b30eeeb2d0969176491d87f9b00a37bf314a4c"
    }
  },
  "pubKey": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0EgUFVCTElDIEtFWS0tLS0tCk1JSUJJak..."
}

Copy the value of the pubKey and go back to the SSV webapp. Enter the pubkey in the form:

Make sure you set the operator to private.

On the next screen, set your operator fee to 0 and click on Next:

Finish the setup on the next page with clicking on Register Operator and signing the transaction. If succesful, the page should look like this:

You are almost there! You successfully created your SSV Operator.

Step 2: Authorize Etherfi to add your Operator

Click on Manage Operators now. Click on the operator you just created:

In the next screen, click on the menu on the top right and then on permission settings:

Click on Authorized Addresses and "Add Authorized Address".

We use this address for the Holesky testnet clusters:

0x052F66698F0f23B6d568311b130a827729b57C5d

Add it in the field, click on "Add and Save" and sign the transaction.

That's it! You registered your SSV Operator and authorized Etherfi to add you to a cluster on Holesky!