Accounts

A user’s account is created when registering an operator or validator to the network and is the center point for all administrative functions. This means that the address that initiated the transaction is the owner of the account, and everything registered from the same address is aggregated to that account.

Balance

With the SSV token serving as the payment layer of the network, the cash flow between stakers and operators is facilitated by maintaining an SSV balance in the account.

Account balance consists of two essential parts: liquidation collateral and operational runway:

Account balance

Liquidation Collateral

An account must contain collateral to ensure users would always have sufficient balance to cover their operational costs (see liquidations). If the balance is withdrawn and eats into an account's collateral, that account becomes eligible for liquidation. This threshold can also be hit when operational costs have been depleted - due to ongoing payments made to operators - and the account falls below the threshold.

• To calculate how much funding is needed as collateral for each validator:

$$Liquidation\;Collateral = (O1_{fee}+O2_{fee}+O3_{fee}+O4_{fee}+N_{fee}) * LTP$$

• Legend

  • $O1\dots4_{fee}$ - operator fee ($SSV per block)

  • $N_{fee}$ - network fee ($SSV per block)

  • $LTP$ - liquidation threshold period (blocks)

Operational Runway

The operational runway is any additional funds added to the account balance that prolongs the operation of a validator. This means that all extra funds added to the account balance after the required collateral will increase a validator’s operational runway.

• To calculate how much funding is needed to run each validator:

$$Operational\;Runway = (O1_{fee}+O2_{fee}+O3_{fee}+O4_{fee}+N_{fee})*Period$$

• Legend

  • $O1\dots4_{fee}$ - operator fee ($SSV per block)

  • $N_{fee}$ - network fee ($SSV per block)

  • $Period$ - operation period (blocks)

Please note that since operator and network fees are dynamic, the required liquidation collateral and operational runway could vary according to network dynamics.

The account balance needs to be kept in check to ensure the continued operation of a user’s validator(s). To manage balances, users can deposit or withdraw funds at will.

Deposits

Deposits can be made to the account to ensure a user avoids liquidation and to extend their operational runway.

Withdrawals

Withdrawals allow users to remove any excess balance they have for capital efficiency or to take earnings (in case they serve as an operator in the network). The restriction, however, is that a user can not withdraw their liquidation collateral. The collateral is returned only when off-boarding the network (remove validator). This means that in order to maintain a validator’s operation, a user can only withdraw in the range of their runway.

• To calculate the effects of deposits and withdrawals on your account’s operational runway:

$$Runway\;Change = \frac{Amount}{Burn\;Rate}$$

• Legend

  • $Amount$ - deposited or withdrawn $SSV amount

  • $Burn\;Rate$ - the rate at which an account spends $SSV per block (see calculation)