An interesting proposal, but the way NEAR operates to date so far is based on “quality” and “sustainability” not decentralization, so if we want something like this to work, then we’ll have to pay proper homage.
So, both the UBI and the Centralization Tax must have the requirement to have the validator fee set at exactly 10% – no more, no less – to be eligible to receive both. This will prevent the ongoing race to the bottom in validator fees, especially with the new Chunk Producers, that benefits no one except the existing Validator kleptocracy. It also aligns with the requirement for the Liquid Staking Pools to delegate.
Using the Namakoto Coefficient is a superior metric to base the UBI/Centralization Tax upon vs some kind of stake-based weighting. But it also needs to be dynamic (percentage-based) so the market value of NEAR doesn’t render it overexpensive or underexpensive in the future and requiring revisiting the issue.
TL;DR Requiring or encouraging Validators to set higher minimum fees but Chunk Producers lower minimum fees is patently stupid from a quality, sustainability and decentralization standpoint. Decentralization at all costs is what the failed & validator-egalitarian Harmony blockchain looks like – a race to the bottom in fees, a lack of validator differentiation, trashy low cost validators en masse, temporary foundation delegations not based on quality, as much ongoing employee turnover as NEAR/NF has and… no traction. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of others.
Also, please get real, people! Chunk Producers are not going to take away any meaningful amount of market-share delegation from the Validator kleptocracy, regardless of fees. Delegators care about security and that is conveyed through simplistic jingoism, appearances, sizzle and incentives all helped tremendously by having a huge marketing and customer support warchest enabled by humungous NF delegations and 100% fees.