I've been solo staking for a while. This is only for tech savvy users and it takes a while to setup. Non-technical users should use liquid staking. Just buy some rETH or whatever and forget about it. The APY doesn't really justify the risk or cost of solo staking. Companies with thousands of machines can make a profit at these low APYs using economy of scale. Solo staking only makes sense for hobbyists, enthusiasts, and researchers.
I don't stake for the APY. I stake because I want to see firsthand whether or not Ethereum is a viable blockchain. All the blockchains make various claims about decentralization. For example, try running your own Solana node. (hint: you can't). Running the blockchain node moves my knowledge about Ethereum from speculation to experience. I'll be able to see for myself if they make some change that makes Ethereum fail to live up to its promises.
Anyway, after the setup, my solo staking node is very low maintenance. The main maintenance task is that I subscribe to the github release notifications for the execution and consensus clients and install the software updates. I highly recommend the monitoring service and app at https://beaconcha.in/mobile
I mentioned allnodes.com in the past, and it seems their service fits perfectly in the staking as a service category. And with their advanced plan you pay $10 per month and get MEV boost (where you have a few different options). So not sure if I'm missing something, but seems like a much better deal then the services you mentioned, as you state that they take about a 10% cut. Allnodes' fees is about the same as running your own node with $120 per year. (or $60 if you don't want MEV boost and some other features).
Do you have an opinion on the Grid+ Lattice1? They claim they will open source their firmware in q3.
The messages go through wifi which increases the attack surface and gives me pause. By default they route messages through their servers, but they have an open source proxy to run locally. https://github.com/GridPlus/lattice-connect-v2
“Rather than trust any third party infrastructure provider, we deny them information about us and our transactions. This includes rotating IP addresses, avoiding browser fingerprinting, and using separate ‘seed phrases’ or bunches of private keys (JBOK) to avoid linking all accounts under a master seed phrase.”
Apologies but I have problems interpreting “and using separate ‘seed phrases’ or bunches of private keys (JBOK)”.
Could you kindly explain how you manage a bunch of seed phrases and private keys that you use with your MetaMask setups over TOR (and I suppose that will be in Firefox)?
What does JBOK means?
Do you recommend using Trezor’s passphrase feature to manage a bunch of new ETH addresses instead of generating and managing a bunch of BIP39 seed phrases? I figured that it could be more secure and convenient this way than writing down a bunch seed mnemonics and trying to keep them safe from theft or fire.
I've been solo staking for a while. This is only for tech savvy users and it takes a while to setup. Non-technical users should use liquid staking. Just buy some rETH or whatever and forget about it. The APY doesn't really justify the risk or cost of solo staking. Companies with thousands of machines can make a profit at these low APYs using economy of scale. Solo staking only makes sense for hobbyists, enthusiasts, and researchers.
I don't stake for the APY. I stake because I want to see firsthand whether or not Ethereum is a viable blockchain. All the blockchains make various claims about decentralization. For example, try running your own Solana node. (hint: you can't). Running the blockchain node moves my knowledge about Ethereum from speculation to experience. I'll be able to see for myself if they make some change that makes Ethereum fail to live up to its promises.
Anyway, after the setup, my solo staking node is very low maintenance. The main maintenance task is that I subscribe to the github release notifications for the execution and consensus clients and install the software updates. I highly recommend the monitoring service and app at https://beaconcha.in/mobile
Good article, thanks for the overview.
I mentioned allnodes.com in the past, and it seems their service fits perfectly in the staking as a service category. And with their advanced plan you pay $10 per month and get MEV boost (where you have a few different options). So not sure if I'm missing something, but seems like a much better deal then the services you mentioned, as you state that they take about a 10% cut. Allnodes' fees is about the same as running your own node with $120 per year. (or $60 if you don't want MEV boost and some other features).
Any thoughts on other hardware wallets like keystone coldcard or ellipal titan? or do you think Trezor the safest choice for now?
Do you have an opinion on the Grid+ Lattice1? They claim they will open source their firmware in q3.
The messages go through wifi which increases the attack surface and gives me pause. By default they route messages through their servers, but they have an open source proxy to run locally. https://github.com/GridPlus/lattice-connect-v2
I’ve been using the Bitbox02 as a hardwallet... open source software, yet now I hesitate as you all have not mentioned it... once.
Have I been using a secret scam, or an underground gem?
“Rather than trust any third party infrastructure provider, we deny them information about us and our transactions. This includes rotating IP addresses, avoiding browser fingerprinting, and using separate ‘seed phrases’ or bunches of private keys (JBOK) to avoid linking all accounts under a master seed phrase.”
Apologies but I have problems interpreting “and using separate ‘seed phrases’ or bunches of private keys (JBOK)”.
Could you kindly explain how you manage a bunch of seed phrases and private keys that you use with your MetaMask setups over TOR (and I suppose that will be in Firefox)?
What does JBOK means?
Do you recommend using Trezor’s passphrase feature to manage a bunch of new ETH addresses instead of generating and managing a bunch of BIP39 seed phrases? I figured that it could be more secure and convenient this way than writing down a bunch seed mnemonics and trying to keep them safe from theft or fire.