Standard Operating Procedures for Managing the Verified Operator List

A proposal to establish standard operating procedures for managing the Verified Operator List

Submitting Tickets to the Operator Committee

SSV Operators can submit tickets to the OC using a ticket bot in the SSV Discord.

The OC bot should be configured to automatically post the following text to new tickets:

Thank you very much for contacting the ssv.network OC. To become a Verified Operator on the ssv.network or if you are a Verified Operator but would like to verify an additional node, please follow the instructions on the Verified Operator Program landing page. Your submitted form will be evaluated by the OC within the next 14 days.

Please note that ONLY tickets related to the following can be addressed by the OC. Tickets on other topics will be closed:

1. Getting the Verified Operator designation for additional nodes managed by existing verified operators;
2. Maintenance, revocation, or expiry of the verified status of a Verified operator or additional verified nodes.
   A response to your ticket might take up to 3 business days.

Workflow for processing tickets

The SSV Foundation or a member of the OC (hereinafter: “Member”) should log in daily to check for new tickets. New tickets in Discord are highlighted in bold white (in the Dark theme).

If there are new tickets, the Member who saw them should verify that they are relevant to the OC.

The ticket is only relevant if a person asks to become a verified operator or wants to verify an additional node. All other support-related tickets should be addressed only after the verification tickets have been cleared and closed.

If the ticket is not from an operator regarding becoming a VO or from a VO regarding their existing or pending VO status, it should be closed. If possible and immediately apparent, such an irrelevant ticket should be directed to the relevant person or channel. Otherwise, it should be closed.

If the submitted form pertains to becoming a verified operator, the Member should check the current version of the framework to become a VO and the corresponding Google Sheet performance metrics. If the applicant fulfills the requirements, the Member must check if the KYC/KYB process was completed.

Monitoring of new applicants via the new Monday table:

• The OC members will monitor the internal Monday table, maintain the data, and update the data saved on Monday for all new and current VOs.

• When a new application is submitted to the Monday table, the assigned OC member will perform the following steps:

  • Verify that KYC/KYB was completed in the Discord DAO-KYC channel by searching for the submitted wallet address. If the data is marked “approved”, react to the message with a check mark and update the Monday table to show the KYC/KYB approval.
  • Check to determine that the claimed operator matches the submitted wallet address.
  • Check that the operator meets the current performance requirements.
    • They must have been operating for at least 90 days since they were assigned their first validator
    • Their 30-Day Average Performance metric must be 98% or greater for each of the last 30 days
  • If both the KYC/KYB and performance check passes for at least one operator, OC votes on the application during the next regular meeting.
    • Up to 10 operators may be approved by the OC for each wallet, provided each approved operator has met the performance requirement independently.
    • If an applicant has more than 10 performance-passing operators at the time of the application, the applicant must indicate which 10 are being requested for approval.
    • If the applicant has more than 1000 validators assigned to the initial 10 approved operators, an additional 10 can be approved.
  • Upon successful vote:
    • Add the verified tick to the approved operator IDs on the SSV Explorer.

• Once approved, the member will communicate to the applicant the following:

  “You were accepted to the verified operator program as you have met the criteria set by the DAO. Please expect the VO badge to appear on your operator within the next 72 hours.

  We would like to ask you to join the VO Discord channel, where you will be notified if you do not meet the required threshold to maintain your Verified Operator badge. Thank you for joining the VO program, and happy staking!”

• If the applicant is not approved, the assigned OC member will communicate the reason for denial to the applicant and will provide any available next steps to the applicant.

Applications to have the VO Designation Applied to Additional Operators:

If the submitted form pertains to the verification of additional operators managed by a person or company that has already been approved for the VO designation:

1. Check to determine that each of the newly-requested operators is assigned at least 1 validator and meets the 98% 10-day performance threshold.
2. See how many validators are currently assigned to Verified Operators managed by the applicant’s wallet
   1. If the applicant currently has fewer than 10 verified operators, then they can be approved for up to 10 regardless of how many validators they have been assigned.
   2. If the applicant is asking for their 11th Verified Operator or higher, they must currently be managing 1000 validators for each additional 10 VO designations. Check that they meet this threshold (e.g., 1000 validators to qualify to have 11-20 verified operators, 2000 validators for 21-30 operators, and so on).
3. Verify that the relevant KYC/KYB is/was completed in the Discord DAO-KYC channel. Match the wallet address of the operator with the KYC/KYB wallet address and set the status of the operator to “verified” on the OC Internal Monday list.
4. Member reports ticket and recommendation to OC at the next regular meeting. OC votes on the recommendation. If the vote is successful:
   1. Notify to add the verified tick to the operator ID in the Explorer.
   2. Reply to the ticket issuer that they were approved and should expect to see the additional badges within 72 hours.

At the beginning of each OC call, the Member will report on the tickets they have addressed.

All OC members will briefly check if there are current open tickets and resolve any unresolved tickets before moving on to the agenda.

Periodic review of additional VO-eligible operators:

• On a quarterly basis, the OC shall review the operator list and determine whether new operators associated with VO-approved wallets are eligible for the VO badge, absent a request from the operator.

Revoking the VO Designation for Poor Performance:

To keep the Verified Operator designation, each operator must meet certain minimum requirements:

• A Verified Operator must keep their 30-day-moving-average performance above 98%.
• Should the 30-day-moving-average fall below 98%, the operator will have 14 days to fix the problem and restore their daily performance above the benchmark.
  • The Operator Committee shall, at its discretion, attempt to notify the Operator directly to resolve a performance issue they identify, but it is ultimately the responsibility of each operator to monitor their performance.
• After the problem is fixed, the operator must attempt to keep their daily performance above 98% for the next 30 days. The 30-day-moving-average may take a full 30 days to return above 98% due to lag in the calculation, but this is a recognized delay and not a cause for concern.
• At the end of the 30-day resolution period, if the 30-day-moving-average performance remains below 98%, the Verified Operator classification will be removed.
  • The OC shall vote on the removal at the next meeting
  • Notify to remove the tick in the explorer