SSV + Lido CSM (WIP)

This guide is used as reference material for in-person workshops with mainly non-technical audiences

Credits

This guide references the ideas and work of one of the Lido Community Staking members, @ivans_music. Check out his original work below!

LogoComprehensive guide to setting up a distributed Lido CSM validator cluster with SSV Network - HackMDHackMD

WIP. DO NOT USE YET

Hardware (Holesky)

Spin up a virtual machine on a cloud service with the following specifications using the reference page below.

  • CPU: 4 cores

  • RAM: 16GB

  • SSD: 250GB

  • OS: Ubuntu 24.04

Practicing on Cloud VMs

Tip: Open these reference pages in a new tab/window so that you can switch between them easily

Installing ETH Docker

Each cluster member will need to spin up an SSV node using ETH Docker. Refer to the page below to install it. Come back to this page right before the ethd config command is run,

ETH Docker
ethd config

Follow along the prompts in the terminal UI (TUI) to:

  • Choose Holešovice Testnet >> SSV node - consensus, execution and ssv-node

  • Select yes for Do you want to participate in DKG ceremonies as an operator?

  • Once you see the screen below, select <Cancel> as we don't have our Operator ID yet.

  • Then copy your SSV node public key from your terminal output and save it on a text editor

ETH Docker TUI Navigation

  • Arrow keys & Tab key: Cycle options

  • Space bar: Select option

  • Enter: Confirm option

  • CTRL+C: Exit individual screen monitoring view

  • ESC: Quit

Register SSV Operator

  1. Go to the SSV webapp, connect your wallet, and set the network to Holesky.

  2. Select Join as Operator >> Register Operator

  3. Paste your SSV node public key into the Operator Public Key field. Make sure there are no whitespaces in your pasted string.

  4. Keep Operator Status to Public

  5. Set the annual fee to 1.5 SSV per validator key, representing ~1.5% staking rewards fee at current $ETH and $SSV prices ($2650 & $23).

  6. Register operator and sign the transaction on your wallet

  7. Your SSV Operator ID will then be generated. Copy it and save it in a text editor file.

Setting your Operator Status to Public allows other stakers to select your SSV node as one of their DV operators, allowing them to pay you for your service. You can also easily net off the fees among your own DVT cluster members if you wish.

Complete ETH Docker Setup

Go back to the terminal of your VM.

ethd config

  1. Choose Holešovice Testnet >> SSV node - consensus, execution and ssv-node

  2. Select yes for Do you want to participate in DKG ceremonies as an operator?

  3. Because you now have your SSV Operator ID, you can paste it in the requested field

  4. Select the consensus and execution client of your choice

  5. Use the provided URL for Checkpoint Sync, select yes for MEV Boost, yes for Grafana dashboards

  6. Set Rewards Address to an ERC-20 wallet address that you control (e.g., Metamask, hardware wallet)

  7. use default Graffiti, yes for generate validator keys

Customise ETH Docker Settings

Open up the ETH Docker .env file for editing.

nano ~/eth-docker/.env

Add all MEV Relays

Add #to the start of the MEV_RELAYS= line.

Copy the string below and paste it in the next line, under the current #MEV_RELAYS= line.

MEV_RELAYS=https://0xafa4c6985aa049fb79dd37010438cfebeb0f2bd42b115b89dd678dab0670c1de38da0c4e9138c9290a398ecd9a0b3110@boost-relay-holesky.flashbots.net,https://0xaa58208899c6105603b74396734a6263cc7d947f444f396a90f7b7d3e65d102aec7e5e5291b27e08d02c50a050825c2f@holesky.titanrelay.xyz,https://0x821f2a65afb70e7f2e820a925a9b4c80a159620582c1766b1b09729fec178b11ea22abb3a51f07b288be815a1a2ff516@bloxroute.holesky.blxrbdn.com,https://0xb1559beef7b5ba3127485bbbb090362d9f497ba64e177ee2c8e7db74746306efad687f2cf8574e38d70067d40ef136dc@relay-stag.ultrasound.money,https://0xab78bf8c781c58078c3beb5710c57940874dd96aef2835e7742c866b4c7c0406754376c2c8285a36c630346aa5c5f833@holesky.aestus.live,http://0x821f2a65afb70e7f2e820a925a9b4c80a159620582c1766b1b09729fec178b11ea22abb3a51f07b288be815a1a2ff516@testnet.relay-proxy.blxrbdn.com:18552,https://0x833b55e20769a8a99549a28588564468423c77724a0ca96cffd58e65f69a39599d877f02dc77a0f6f9cda2a3a4765e56@relay-holesky.beaverbuild.org,https://0xb1d229d9c21298a87846c7022ebeef277dfc321fe674fa45312e20b5b6c400bfde9383f801848d7837ed5fc449083a12@relay-holesky.edennetwork.io,https://0xaa58208899c6105603b74396734a6263cc7d947f444f396a90f7b7d3e65d102aec7e5e5291b27e08d02c50a050825c2f@holesky.titanrelay.xyz

This enables your SSV Node to use all MEV Relays which maximises MEV rewards for stakers using SSV.

Change SSV DKG Port

Change the SSV_DKG_PORT= to 443 (from 3030).

CTRL+O, ENTER, CTRL+X to save and exit.

Configure DKG endpoint

Find the external IP address of your VM on your Google Cloud account >> Console >> Compute Engine >> Look under "External IP".

Your DKG endpoint will be <EXTERNAL_IP_ADDRESS>:443,without the pointy brackets. Note that down and save it in a text editor file.

Configure DKG endpoint (for non-VMs)

On your laptop, create a Tailscale VPN account at https://login.tailscale.com.

On your VM, install Tailscale and run it.

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Copy the URL and paste it into a browser on your laptop to authenticate your VM. Sign-in and click Connect when prompted.

On your VM, after successfully authenticating,

sudo tailscale funnel --bg https+insecure://localhost:3030

The highlighted part of the output is your DKG endpoint. Copy it and save it in your text editor.

Verify that your DKG endpoint is accessible from external sources.

cd ~/eth-docker
docker compose run --rm ssv-dkg ping --ip <DKG_ENDPOINT>

Expected output:

Start ETH Docker

ethd up

Complete SSV Operator Metadata

Go back to the SSV webapp >> Connect your wallet >> Switch to Holesky network >> go to My Account and click on your SSV Operator.

Select the ... drop down at the top right >> Edit Details

Select all options under MEV Relays.

The MEV Relays are actually set in your ETH Docker config and this is just to signal the relays that you are using.

All cluster members must use the same relays to avoid missing block proposals due to a lack of consensus!

Input your DKG endpoint and append :443 at the end if you are using a Tailscale funnel.

The other fields are optional but fill them up to attract stakers to select your SSV Operator!

Create a Safe Multi-Sig Wallet

Cluster leader collects the wallet addresses of all cluster members to assign each of them as signers of this multi-sig wallet

Next, create a Safe multi-sig wallet on Holesky for your cluster here: https://holesky-safe.protofire.io/

  • Connect your wallet >> Input your cluster name & select Holesky network

  • Add all wallet addresses of your cluster as signers. Choose any name for each signer. Select your signing threshold.

The recommended signing thresholds are 3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 5/7, 6/8, 7/9, & 7/10.

Create Splitter Contract

Create a Splitter contract for your cluster here: https://app.splits.org/

  • Connect your wallet >> Create new contract >> Set the network to Holesky (you might need to zoom out on your browser to see testnets) >> Choose Split

  • Add each cluster member's wallet address and set their respective percentage splits

  • Set Controller to None (immutable), Distribution bounty to Off, & choose whether you want to sponsor the maintainer of Splits

  • Optionally, set the name of your Splitter contract

Create your SSV Cluster

After all cluster members have registered their operators one of the cluster members opens the SSV webapp and connects the cluster Safe wallet.

  • Choose WalletConnect as the method (not Metamask or Coinbase Wallet)

  • Open the WalletConnect modal >> Copy the link (look for the "Copy" icon)

  • Go to you cluster's Safe multi-sig account and click on the WalletConnect icon >> Paste the copied link from the SSV Webapp here

  • Go back to the SSV Webapp >> Distribute Validator >> Generate new key shares

  • Select cluster size and the SSV Operators in your cluster >> Select Offline as your preferred DKG method

  • Select DKG - Generate from New Key, number of keys you want to generate, & set the withdrawal address to 0xF0179dEC45a37423EAD4FaD5fCb136197872EAd9 (Lido TESTNET withdrawal vault)

    • Select Linux (and WSL) and copy the DKG command that will be generated for you

Initiating the DKG Ceremony

Make sure all cluster members have confirmed that their DKG service is running and reachable.

Run cd, then run the generated DKG command on your VM and you should see "DKG ceremony completed" if the DKG ceremony completes successfully.

Back up all DKG output files located in $HOME/ceremony* folder.

#run on your laptop
scp -r $USER@<EXTERNAL_IP_ADDRESS>:$HOME/ceremony* $HOME

Save this folder onto a USB drive and delete the copy on your laptop.

#run on your laptop
sudo rm -r $HOME/ceremony*

Return to the SSV Webapp and acknowledge Step 2: Deposit Validator (although this is not yet done at this point), then go to Step 3 and click on Register Validator.

Create CSM Operator

Exiting CSM-SSV validators

PreviousSSVNextSSV Operator

Last updated