[Proposal] Stop Meta Pool performance delegation to validators ≥1% stake on NEAR

Ecosystem Meta Pool
,
1

MPIP-XX: Stop Meta Pool performance delegation to validators ≥1% stake on NEAR

Summary

To strengthen decentralization, Meta Pool should exclude validators that already control ≥1.00% of total network stake from receiving performance-based delegation. (DAO-voted delegations remain unchanged.)
Success metric: 0 Meta Pool performance stake among the top-30 validators by total stake (a practical proxy for the ≥1% set).

Motivation

Performance routing that sends stake to already-large validators mechanically reinforces concentration. A neutral, fee-agnostic guardrail—no performance delegation once a validator reaches ≥1% of the network—aligns routing with the goal of preserving or improving the network’s Nakamoto Coefficient (NC) without dictating fees or validator identity.

Current facts

  • On validators ≥1% stake (all MP flows): 1,620,283.819965 NEAR, of which

    • DAO delegation: 939,321.070028 NEAR (unchanged by this proposal)

    • Performance delegation (policy-relevant): 680,962.749937 NEAR ← would be stopped/redistributed by this rule.

Validators ≥1% currently receiving Meta Pool performance delegation (illustrative subset; full amounts in the analysis):
astro-stakers.poolv1.near, zavodil.poolv1.near, liver.pool.near, epic.poolv1.near, stake1.poolv1.near, twinstake.poolv1.near, sofarsonear.poolv1.near, foundry.poolv1.near, aca87218e28c41f5a693dee3dff12238.poolv1.near, nearone.pool.near, here.poolv1.near, marcus.pool.near, p2p-org.poolv1.near, luganodes.pool.near, stakin.poolv1.near, macrodatarefinement.poolv1.near, d1.poolv1.near. (Per-validator performance amounts—for example, 49,964.62 NEAR to astro-stakers.poolv1.near, 52,570.68 NEAR to zavodil.poolv1.near, 63,705.34 NEAR to liver.pool.near, etc.—are detailed in the corrected file.)

Interpretation: the policy impact pool is ~680,962.75 NEAR of performance delegation currently sitting on ≥1% validators; DAO-voted amounts are explicitly out of scope.

Proposal (rules only)

  1. Eligibility cap: Any validator with stake share ≥1.00% of total network stake is ineligible to receive new Meta Pool performance-based delegations.

  2. Scope & neutrality: Rule is fee-agnostic and brand-agnostic; it applies uniformly to all validators.

  3. Governance untouched: DAO-voted delegations remain fully at voters’ discretion.

  4. Success metric: 0 Meta Pool performance stake among the top-30 validators by total stake.

Expected impact & how we’ll measure it

  • Immediate: The ~680,963 NEAR of performance delegation currently on ≥1% validators will no longer be routed to those validators as the algorithm refreshes; new performance flow is directed to the <1% set. (DAO votes remain as is.)

  • Ongoing: Prevents further concentration from Meta Pool’s automated routing and supports a higher (or at least not-lower) NC over time.

  • Reporting: Per-epoch public check that validators in the ≥1% set receive zero Meta Pool performance delegation; monthly snapshot confirming no performance flow among top-30 and summarizing where performance flow lands in the <1% cohort.

Note on community recognition

If the community wants to recognize public-goods work by any ≥1% validator (e.g., education, tooling), do so via DAO votes—not via the performance router—so we preserve the decentralization effect while keeping governance freedom for explicit support.

This topic created to discuss this proposal, feel free to support/reject with comments.

7 Likes
2

Also I did additional analysis for the 1%, 0,75%, 0.5% of total staked and how it will affect with tables.

1. 1PT (1% Threshold) Analysis

Description:

  • 27 validators excluded (≥1% stake)
  • 677,470 NEAR in performance delegation redistributed
  • 2,110 NEAR per validator (equal distribution) to 321 smaller validators
  • Excludes validators from figment.poolv1.near (6.8%) down to d1.poolv1.near (1.02%)
rank account_id stake_pct stake_near current_mp_delegation performance_delegation_lost
1 figment.poolv1.near 6.799% 38970171 0.00 0.00
2 bisontrails2.poolv1.near 5.348% 30650591 0.00 0.00
3 astro-stakers.poolv1.near 4.701% 26943838 219844.31 49964.62
4 zavodil.poolv1.near 3.898% 22342975 269424.71 52570.68
5 binancenode1.poolv1.near 3.643% 20879966 0.00 0.00
6 bitwise_1.poolv1.near 3.551% 20350844 0.00 0.00
7 ledgerbyfigment.poolv1.near 3.332% 19100404 0.00 0.00
8 kiln-1.poolv1.near 3.172% 18180867 0.00 0.00
9 sumerian.poolv1.near 3.152% 18068477 0.00 0.00
10 liver.pool.near 2.370% 13584563 63705.34 63705.34
11 epic.poolv1.near 2.199% 12603117 52691.65 52691.65
12 stake1.poolv1.near 2.115% 12121575 60157.22 60157.22
13 twinstake.poolv1.near 2.093% 11997360 3506.64 3506.64
14 sofarsonear.poolv1.near 1.854% 10628006 0.00 0.00
15 foundry.poolv1.near 1.832% 10502904 31455.45 31455.45
16 aca87218e28c41f5a693dee3dff12238.poolv1.near 1.589% 9110216 31455.78 31455.78
17 nearone.pool.near 1.460% 8366963 31455.81 31455.81
18 cosmose.poolv1.near 1.418% 8128245 0.00 0.00
19 here.poolv1.near 1.365% 7825976 125295.96 53698.27
20 marcus.pool.near 1.287% 7377337 31455.78 31455.78
21 flipside.pool.near 1.239% 7103175 0.00 0.00
22 p2p-org.poolv1.near 1.189% 6816301 76888.16 37020.23
23 luganodes.pool.near 1.188% 6808496 457830.50 39678.64
24 stakin.poolv1.near 1.123% 6438933 67244.96 63042.15
25 macrodatarefinement.poolv1.near 1.102% 6318230 34949.62 34949.62
26 kiln.poolv1.near 1.055% 6046332 0.00 0.00
27 d1.poolv1.near 1.020% 5847521 59428.98 40661.94

2. HALVEPT (0.5% Threshold) Analysis

Description:

  • 44 validators excluded (≥0.5% stake)
  • 1,252,172 NEAR in performance delegation redistributed
  • 4,119 NEAR per validator (equal distribution) to 304 smaller validators
  • Excludes validators from figment.poolv1.near (6.8%) down to aurora.pool.near (0.54%)
rank account_id stake_pct stake_near current_mp_delegation performance_delegation_lost
1 figment.poolv1.near 6.799% 38970171 0.00 0.00
2 bisontrails2.poolv1.near 5.348% 30650591 0.00 0.00
3 astro-stakers.poolv1.near 4.701% 26943838 219844.31 49964.62
4 zavodil.poolv1.near 3.898% 22342975 269424.71 52570.68
5 binancenode1.poolv1.near 3.643% 20879966 0.00 0.00
6 bitwise_1.poolv1.near 3.551% 20350844 0.00 0.00
7 ledgerbyfigment.poolv1.near 3.332% 19100404 0.00 0.00
8 kiln-1.poolv1.near 3.172% 18180867 0.00 0.00
9 sumerian.poolv1.near 3.152% 18068477 0.00 0.00
10 liver.pool.near 2.370% 13584563 63705.34 63705.34
11 epic.poolv1.near 2.199% 12603117 52691.65 52691.65
12 stake1.poolv1.near 2.115% 12121575 60157.22 60157.22
13 twinstake.poolv1.near 2.093% 11997360 3506.64 3506.64
14 sofarsonear.poolv1.near 1.854% 10628006 0.00 0.00
15 foundry.poolv1.near 1.832% 10502904 31455.45 31455.45
16 aca87218e28c41f5a693dee3dff12238.poolv1.near 1.589% 9110216 31455.78 31455.78
17 nearone.pool.near 1.460% 8366963 31455.81 31455.81
18 cosmose.poolv1.near 1.418% 8128245 0.00 0.00
19 here.poolv1.near 1.365% 7825976 125295.96 53698.27
20 marcus.pool.near 1.287% 7377337 31455.78 31455.78
21 flipside.pool.near 1.239% 7103175 0.00 0.00
22 p2p-org.poolv1.near 1.189% 6816301 76888.16 37020.23
23 luganodes.pool.near 1.188% 6808496 457830.50 39678.64
24 stakin.poolv1.near 1.123% 6438933 67244.96 63042.15
25 macrodatarefinement.poolv1.near 1.102% 6318230 34949.62 34949.62
26 kiln.poolv1.near 1.055% 6046332 0.00 0.00
27 d1.poolv1.near 1.020% 5847521 59428.98 40661.94
28 rekt.poolv1.near 0.976% 5593920 85075.71 58006.16
29 falcon.pool.near 0.930% 5329988 99040.51 64591.64
30 sweat_validator.poolv1.near 0.896% 5136896 4502601.50 92801.71
31 nansen.poolv1.near 0.882% 5056143 34949.18 34949.18
32 dragonfly.poolv1.near 0.870% 4985547 370494.32 39478.90
33 pandora.poolv1.near 0.844% 4835588 0.00 0.00
34 republic.poolv1.near 0.813% 4660252 31455.45 31455.45
35 northernlights.poolv1.near 0.802% 4599546 34948.69 34948.69
36 x.poolv1.near 0.800% 4584079 0.00 0.00
37 everstake.poolv1.near 0.790% 4528542 34949.63 34949.63
38 bisontrails.poolv1.near 0.780% 4470566 31455.82 31455.82
39 solsticestaking.poolv1.near 0.761% 4361829 34952.54 34952.54
40 allnodes.poolv1.near 0.714% 4090035 67921.00 47249.39
41 nearfans.poolv1.near 0.697% 3996194 34913.57 34913.57
42 okx-earn.poolv1.near 0.650% 3727240 0.00 0.00
43 bodhiventures.poolv1.near 0.585% 3351513 34949.18 34949.18
44 aurora.pool.near 0.540% 3092375 0.00 0.00

3. THREEQUARTERPT (0.75% Threshold) Analysis

Files: threequarterpt_excluded_validators.csv, threequarterpt_recipient_analysis.csv, threequarterpt_summary.txt

Description:

  • 39 validators excluded (≥0.75% stake)
  • 1,135,060 NEAR in performance delegation redistributed
  • 3,673 NEAR per validator (equal distribution) to 309 smaller validators
  • Recommended balanced approach - 85% of 0.5% benefit with better policy stability
  • Excludes validators from figment.poolv1.near (6.8%) down to solsticestaking.poolv1.near (0.76%)

Each package includes:

  • CSV of excluded validators with their stake and performance delegation lost
  • CSV of recipient analysis showing redistribution amounts
  • Summary report with key metrics and top recipients
rank account_id stake_pct stake_near current_mp_delegation performance_delegation_lost
1 figment.poolv1.near 6.799% 38970171 0.00 0.00
2 bisontrails2.poolv1.near 5.348% 30650591 0.00 0.00
3 astro-stakers.poolv1.near 4.701% 26943838 219844.31 49964.62
4 zavodil.poolv1.near 3.898% 22342975 269424.71 52570.68
5 binancenode1.poolv1.near 3.643% 20879966 0.00 0.00
6 bitwise_1.poolv1.near 3.551% 20350844 0.00 0.00
7 ledgerbyfigment.poolv1.near 3.332% 19100404 0.00 0.00
8 kiln-1.poolv1.near 3.172% 18180867 0.00 0.00
9 sumerian.poolv1.near 3.152% 18068477 0.00 0.00
10 liver.pool.near 2.370% 13584563 63705.34 63705.34
11 epic.poolv1.near 2.199% 12603117 52691.65 52691.65
12 stake1.poolv1.near 2.115% 12121575 60157.22 60157.22
13 twinstake.poolv1.near 2.093% 11997360 3506.64 3506.64
14 sofarsonear.poolv1.near 1.854% 10628006 0.00 0.00
15 foundry.poolv1.near 1.832% 10502904 31455.45 31455.45
16 aca87218e28c41f5a693dee3dff12238.poolv1.near 1.589% 9110216 31455.78 31455.78
17 nearone.pool.near 1.460% 8366963 31455.81 31455.81
18 cosmose.poolv1.near 1.418% 8128245 0.00 0.00
19 here.poolv1.near 1.365% 7825976 125295.96 53698.27
20 marcus.pool.near 1.287% 7377337 31455.78 31455.78
21 flipside.pool.near 1.239% 7103175 0.00 0.00
22 p2p-org.poolv1.near 1.189% 6816301 76888.16 37020.23
23 luganodes.pool.near 1.188% 6808496 457830.50 39678.64
24 stakin.poolv1.near 1.123% 6438933 67244.96 63042.15
25 macrodatarefinement.poolv1.near 1.102% 6318230 34949.62 34949.62
26 kiln.poolv1.near 1.055% 6046332 0.00 0.00
27 d1.poolv1.near 1.020% 5847521 59428.98 40661.94
28 rekt.poolv1.near 0.976% 5593920 85075.71 58006.16
29 falcon.pool.near 0.930% 5329988 99040.51 64591.64
30 sweat_validator.poolv1.near 0.896% 5136896 4502601.50 92801.71
31 nansen.poolv1.near 0.882% 5056143 34949.18 34949.18
32 dragonfly.poolv1.near 0.870% 4985547 370494.32 39478.90
33 pandora.poolv1.near 0.844% 4835588 0.00 0.00
34 republic.poolv1.near 0.813% 4660252 31455.45 31455.45
35 northernlights.poolv1.near 0.802% 4599546 34948.69 34948.69
36 x.poolv1.near 0.800% 4584079 0.00 0.00
37 everstake.poolv1.near 0.790% 4528542 34949.63 34949.63
38 bisontrails.poolv1.near 0.780% 4470566 31455.82 31455.82
39 solsticestaking.poolv1.near 0.761% 4361829 34952.54 34952.54

Bottom line: 0.75% threshold provides the best balance of decentralization impact (1.14M NEAR redistributed) while maintaining policy stability and fairness.**
**
Also for dev perspective we need to think of flap rules to prevent infinity loop of staking/unstaking if the MP doesnt have something like that already**:
Anti-flap rule:** To avoid oscillations around the 1% line, eligibility uses hysteresis and cooldowns. Validators become ineligible for Meta Pool performance delegation when their stake share is ≥1.00% at an epoch boundary. They regain eligibility only after remaining ≤0.97% for 2 consecutive epochs, and after a 3-epoch cooldown from the time of ineligibility. Meta Pool will also rate-limit rebalancing to ≤10% of performance stake per epoch. (Optional: eligibility may be computed on a 3-epoch EMA of stake share for additional stability.)

2 Likes
3

Small poll to understand what is more fair from people side

  • 0.5
  • 0.75
  • 1
0 voters
4

Hi Kiskesis, great proposal!

Just a few points to help enhance the conversation and better understand why things are “as is” for the moment — not meaning that they couldn’t be improved:

  • Validators above the Nakamoto coefficient and with no 1% fee are not considered by Meta Pool’s automatic bot.

  • Large validators have a slight advantage over smaller ones in terms of performance. A large validator is very unlikely to experience downtime.

  • Based on the above, the percentage of rewards distributed by these large validators helps stabilize the stNEAR APY, as they tend to provide better rewards.

  • Most large validators have a low fee (around 1%), which also contributes to APY stability.

  • We’ve seen some successful community cases, such as Zavodil’s nodes, which received strong community support and rose to the top.

Beyond that, I like the idea of enhancing decentralization and will wait for more community comments before providing additional feedback.

1 Like
5

But out of 44 considered validators (0.5% centralization) only 8 has <1% fees, others has 3-10% and they still have validation 40-60 thouthands. Why it is happening?