Proposal

Harmony will allocate 500 million ONE of treasury funds to a rolling Bootstrap and Education Program.

Benefits

Harmony earns ~9% yield on an otherwise stagnant portion of the treasury, while maintaining liquidity by staggering their bootstrap periods (details below).
Aspiring validators and unelected validators in waiting have a fast-track to initial election
Grow the validator network and decentralization of the network

VDAO develops a “validator bootcamp” that can be completed in 1-2 weeks. Bootcamp will include:

How to set up and run a validator
A fully functioning validator on testnet
Understanding and budgeting costs of operating a validator
How to operate social media effectively as a validator and market oneself
How to provide community support and interact in community channels (talk forum, Reddit, TG, Discord, etc.)
Basic course on the Harmony blockchain, how it works and differs from other chains.

Candidate or unelected validator completes bootcamp with VDAO verifying completion via:

Proof of participation in webinars or self-directed course
Short essay answering open-ended questions demonstrating understanding of course material
Short voice interview with VDAO to verify authenticity and answer any further questions (may need translator).

Once a candidate is a verified graduate of the “VDAO bootcamp”, Harmony will delegate 5 million ONE to candidate’s validator with a strict six-month time limit. Upon the completion of the six month delegation period, Harmony will undelelgate their ONE. If the candidate is unelected as a result, they can re-apply for the Bootcamp in 12 months.

Bootcamp graduates understand they must market themselves and the Harmony blockchain to obtain the necessary ONE delegations to stay elected after the six month period when Harmony undelegates their stake.
Harmony will stagger their stakes by 48 hours (~180 days / 100 5m ONE stakes = 1.8 days/5m ONE) (assuming there is demand) to ensure they have continuous liquidity of the 500 million ONE in 5m increments.
New validators have the option to set fees between 0-5% (0% for 100 epochs) to help pay expenses and/or attract new delegators with lower fees.

Harmony will give up immediate liquidity for a large portion of their treasury that will take 6 months to unwind.
Validators that fail to obtain enough delegations to stay elected after 6 months may feel discouraged. There is likely to be a high failure rate.

Built on a Previous Proposal

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Discussion with SMH