HIP 71: Scaling the Helium Network - Transparently

Author(s): @leogaggl, @gregscullard, @pathornteng, @jamesmeikle, @tonysmith55
Start Date: 2022-09-12
Category: Technical, Economic, Meta-Governance
Original HIP PR: #480
Tracking Issue: #486
Status: In Discussion

Summary

This HIP which builds on the excellent work done by the creators of HIP-70, is focussed on delivering important structural changes to the Helium network as proposed in HIP-70. However, it aims to improve on some of the shortcomings, such as further centralization (rather than decentralization) of network activities. It also aims to introduce more formal governance structures, which have been absent from prior proposals and will allow more predictable operation, which is critical for enterprise adoption of the utility-scale network we are all aiming to build.

Another difference to the original Helium Scaling Proposal is using an enterprise distributed ledger technology (DLT) as an alternative example. It is important to note that, unlike the original HIP-70, this is more of an example of how this technology can be used. This HIP proposes a formal evaluation and comparison phase (and some evaluation criteria) to ensure the best tool is eventually chosen (see Governance section).

This focus on governance has to be more than just superficial. By including representatives of all stakeholder groups - most importantly, hotspot owners and operators that have put up their time and money to build this network - it will ensure a stable and sustainable network for all.

In this HIP, we propose an alternative architecture for the Helium network to use the Hedera network as a layer 1. The new architecture is built to meet the number of requirements that we believe are critical to the network’s success. Our new design goals include network scalability, strong network governance, transparency in data reporting and rewards distribution, and decentralization.

As per HIP-70, we also acknowledge that this change removes the need for staked validators operating block production and challenge creation as they do today. However, we would expect (some) validators to be ideal candidates for operators of decentralized oracles.

That said, we expect that HNT stakers will migrate their positions towards securing current and/or future subDAOs and participating in governance through the vote-escrow token-based system proposed in HIP-51. Removal of the staked validator reward also returns the full 6.85% of HNT emissions back to the rewards pool, benefitting Hotspot owners on all subDAOs. In the first year alone, this is estimated to be over 2 million more HNT rewarded.

Similar to the HIP-70 proposal, these changes are complementary to the changes proposed in HIP-51 and a necessary set of changes to more easily implement some of the redemption and governance mechanisms proposed in HIP-51, HIP-52, and HIP-53. We also expect that more protocols will be attracted to participate in the Helium ecosystem because of the move to a more widely used Layer 1 blockchain.

Rendered View

https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/main/0071-scaling-with-governance-hedera.md