TL;DR: Radix Tokens (Jersey) Limited (RTJL), a subsidiary of the Radix Foundation, currently operates 8 validator nodes in the top 100, as detailed here. Thanks to the support and consistent reliability of the Radix node-runner community, we feel confident in reducing our node count to 4 on February 22nd, 2022 as part of our ongoing commitment to further decentralizing the Radix network infrastructure.
Today we are excited to share that RTJL is reducing the number of validator nodes it operates. This move is possible because of the tremendous strength and growth of the node runner community, which has conclusively demonstrated its robustness and vigor over the last 6 months.
With strong support from the Radix node-runner community during the beta phase of the Olympia release, it looked likely that Radix token holders would have a wide choice of high-quality validator nodes to delegate stake with.
However, as the Radix Public Network was still in an early phase, and the Radix node-running process was all new, RTJL chose to operate 24 nodes across 4 geographical regions to provide a backbone of reliable nodes operated by the team that developed it. RTJL staked its own XRD to these nodes to give them sufficient weight in consensus to provide that backbone. More details about RTJL’s policy on operating nodes can be found here.
In the months since Olympia, we have seen rapid growth in the Radix validator community. It has been fantastic to see so many high-quality, diverse, and engaged community validator node-runners get involved and to see the positive response from XRD token holders to these node runners. Staking levels and diversity of staking are very high compared to many proof-of-stake networks. As a result, 16 of the 24 nodes operated by RTJL naturally fell out of the top 100 validator nodes that participate in consensus as RTJL’s stake to those nodes was exceeded by community staking to community nodes.
Due to having a large community of established, high-quality node runners, RTJL no longer believes it is necessary to operate and delegate stake to all 8 of its remaining nodes. Therefore, on February 22nd, 2022, RTJL will unstake from 4 of the 8 nodes leaving 1 active node in each region and reduce by half the current RTJL stake.
We are confident that the 4 slots within the Top 100 nodes created by this unstaking will be filled by additional high-quality community nodes, which will further help to decentralize the Radix Public Network.
By announcing February 22nd as the date we will unstake today, Radix token holders will have time to evaluate potential nodes that may enter the top 100, and have time to unstake and restake as they deem necessary to support those they believe will continue to provide reliable, performant service as validator nodes.
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