Pros:
- Increased capacity: Increasing the external slot may allow for more transactions to be processed per second, potentially improving the overall scalability and performance of the network.
- Improved voting power: Increasing the external voting power may give the network participants more influence over the direction and decisions of the network.
- Aligned with network goals: The increase may align with the network's overall goals and objectives and help the network achieve our desired outcomes.
Cons:
- Reduced internal slot: Reducing the internal slot from 48 to a lower number may limit the network's ability to process internal transactions efficiently.
- Increased centralization: Increasing the external voting power may also increase the centralization of the network, as a smaller number of participants may have more influence over the network's decisions.
- Compatibility issues: The change may introduce compatibility issues with existing systems, requiring additional development work to address.
- Network consensus: The change may not be in line with the consensus of the network participants, potentially leading to disagreements and conflicts within Harmony.
HIP 29v2?
Rather than reducing the slots for each shard, HIP 29v2 proposes to shut down all internal validators of non-shard 0. Since each shard has 5 validator nodes with 5 keys per node, in total each shard has 25 slots. Shutting down the validator nodes of shards 1, 2, and 3 will reduce the internal slots of Harmony from 100 to 25 (49% → 12%).
Internal | External | |
Current | 49% (100) | 51% (900) |
HIP 29v1 | 26% (48) | 74% (952) |
HIP 29v2 | 12% (25) | 88% (975) |
Internal | External | |
Current | 49% (100) | 51% (900) |
1st Stage | 26% (48) | 74% (952) |
2nd Stage | 0% (0) | 100% (1000) |
Blocker
- External leader rotation: Currently, leaders are chosen solely from the internal validators. If we were to completely terminate the internal validator nodes today, the network would not continue as there are no potential leaders. Harmony has not yet developed a feature for external leader rotation. HIP29 v2 would depend on this feature.
Concerns
- Increased centralization: Increasing the external voting power may also increase the centralization of the network, as a smaller number of participants may have more influence over the network's decisions.
- Compatibility issues: The change may introduce compatibility issues with existing systems, requiring additional development work to address.
Specs & Cost for (New / Existing) Externals to Become Leaders