On December 15, 2023, the dYdX Foundation (the “Foundation") announced its initial DYDX delegations to 10 dYdX Chain validators, followed by a further delegation to an additional 15 validators on June 20, 2024. Today, we're pleased to share that 5 more validators have been selected to receive DYDX delegations from the dYdX Foundation. With this latest update, the Foundation’s total delegation now stands at 14,177,694 DYDX across 30 dYdX Chain validators. 

Existing Foundation Delegation Recipients

• Ledger by Meria
• Kingnodes 
• Crosnest
• Coinage x DAIC
• Coinbase
• CryptoCrew X Defi Dojo
• OKX Earn
• ECO Stake 
• Meria
• Validation Cloud
• Cosmostation
• Polkachu
• Enigma
• Lavender.Five Nodes
• Stakecito
• Strangelove
• Informal Systems
• Silk Nodes
• Dora Factory
• Nansen (FKA StakeWithUs)
• Nodes.Guru
• Blockdaemon
• Crypto Learning Club
• Imperator
• Allnodes

New Foundation Delegation Recipients 

• Provalidator
• TTT VN
• Staked
• Citadel.one
• DragonStake

Selection Criteria 

The previous selection criteria laid out in this blog are still applicable. Adhering to the “Stake Delegation Principles”, which was inspired by the categories outlined in "A Take on Good Practices for dYdX Chain Validators and Stakers”, the key selection criteria are as follows:

1. Active Set: Only dYdX Chain validators in the active set at the time of the delegation were considered. 
2. Orderbook Discrepancy/MEV: Although orderbook discrepancy is not necessarily indicative that a validator is engaging in MEV, any validators with high orderbook discrepancy can negatively impact the user experience on the dYdX Chain. As such, any validators flagged by the dYdX MEV Committee (Links: Proposal, December Report, January Report) were excluded from the pool of validators eligible for a Foundation delegation.
3. Potential Conflict of Interests: Given potential conflicts of interests, including MEV, any validators associated with market makers and/or professional trading firms were excluded. dYdX Chain Validators should disclose any conflicts of interests or potential biases that may impact their operations to delegators and the community. 
4. Commission Rate: Only validators with healthy and sustainable commission rates were considered. For example, this does not include validators that, via opaque and/or off-protocol practices, charge a commission that is lower than the minimum commission prescribed by the protocol (currently set at 5%).
5. ‍Validator Performance: The performance of validators in terms of block production, uptime, sign rate, adherence to network rules, and following the MEV Committee - Validator Guidelines were also taken into consideration. Validators with a strong performance record help ensure the smooth operation and security of the dYdX Chain. 
6. Ecosystem and Governance Contributions: Validators who actively contribute to the development of the ecosystem and participate in governance play a vital role in the long-term success and sustainability of the network. Their contributions help drive innovation and community engagement.

In adherence to the Stake Delegation Principles and any other regulations applicable to the Foundation, the Foundation will regularly review and adjust its stake delegations to ensure compliance and alignment. These evaluations will take place at least quarterly, reflecting our commitment to maintaining a robust and dynamic staking ecosystem.

Legitimacy and Disclaimer

The dYdX Foundation’s purpose is to support the current implementation and any future implementations of the dYdX protocol and to foster community-driven growth in the dYdX ecosystem.

It’s important to note that the above delegation decisions are being made public in the interest of transparency and are not binding for the dYdX Foundation.  The Foundation retains full and absolute discretion with regard to analyzing whether to delegate all or part of its DYDX stake to dYdX Chain Validators, Validator selection and/or delegation amounts, and the frequency of rebalancing of delegations, among other things. The dYdX Foundation maintains full and absolute discretion in connection with any stake delegation and other decisions to be made by it and, for the avoidance of doubt, shall at all times prioritize strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations over compliance with any principles or good practices communicated publicly.  The dYdX Foundation may reverse or modify any of the delegation decisions referred to in this post at any time and at its sole discretion and assumes no obligation to publicly disclose any such reversal or modification. 

Nothing in this post should be used or considered as legal, financial, tax, or any other advice, nor as an instruction or invitation to act by anyone.  DYDX token holders shall conduct their own research and due diligence before making any delegation decisions.  The dYdX Foundation may alter or update any information in this post in the future at its sole discretion and assumes no obligation to publicly disclose any such change. This post is solely based on the information available to the dYdX Foundation at the time it was published and should only be read and taken into consideration at the time it was published and on the basis of the circumstances that surrounded it. The dYdX Foundation makes no guarantees of future performance and is under no obligation to undertake any of the activities contemplated herein.

The dYdX Chain software is open-source software to be used or implemented by any party in accordance with the applicable license. At no time should the dYdX Chain and/or its software or related components be deemed to be a product or service provided or made available in any way by the dYdX Foundation. Interactions with the dYdX Chain software or any implementation thereof are permissionless and disintermediated, subject to the terms of the applicable licenses and code. Users who interact with the dYdX Chain software (or any implementations thereof) will not be interacting with the dYdX Foundation in any way whatsoever. The dYdX Foundation does not make any representations, warranties or covenants in connection with the dYdX Chain software (or any implementations and/or components thereof), including (without limitation) with regard to their technical properties or performance, as well as their actual or potential usefulness or suitability for any particular purpose, and users agree to rely on the dYdX Chain software (or any implementations and/or components thereof) “AS IS, WHERE IS”.

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