Meson Labs, a subsidiary of the Neutron Foundation, is seeking quotations from qualified vendors for the implementation and operation of Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Relayers for the Neutron network, a Cosmos SDK-based blockchain.
The successful vendor will not only have extensive experience with blockchain technology, specifically with Cosmos SDK and the IBC protocol, but also demonstrate a strong track record in the operation of IBC relayers.
2. Background
To function to the best of its ability, Neutron requires reliable IBC relayers operating on all of its main connections. Poor relayer service affects user experience and increases risks for cross-chain protocols.
Unfortunately, the current economics of relaying does not sustainably support permissionless relaying. Mid-long term solutions to refund/incentivize relayers are currently being worked on with ICS-29, Protocol-Guild-Like solutions etc, but are not ready/widely adopted in production yet.
This proposal aims to ensure a high degree of service on crucial channels while better solutions are being developed.
3. Project Description and Requirements
The selected vendor will be responsible for implementing and operating IBC relayers for Neutron. The requirements for this project include:
Detailed understanding of Cosmos SDK, IBC protocol, and the operation of IBC relayers such as Hermes, the Go relayer and Neutron’s ICQ relayer.
Experience with Neutron and its features, including Interchain Security (ICS), Interchain Queries (ICQ) and Interchain Accounts (ICA).
Appropriate hardware and software to facilitate the relaying of packets between blockchains as per the IBC protocol.
The capacity and resources needed to operate reliable IBC relayers between Neutron and the majority of significant appchains within the broader IBC ecosystem.
Continuous monitoring of the relayer operation, as well as the state of the blockchains being relayed between.
Incident management procedures in the event of a failure or error.
Ability to meet project deadlines and work within budget constraints.
Support for all packet types used by IBC and Neutron’s custom ICA and ICQ modules.
Required supported chains: Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Axelar, Stride, Stargaze, Noble. Support for additional chain is expected.
4. Proposal Guidelines
Proposals should include the following sections:
Vendor Qualifications and Experience: Detail your team’s experience and qualifications, particularly with operating IBC relayers. Include any relevant certifications, past projects, and references, as well as a small introduction of your team.
Proposed Solution and Approach: Describe your proposed solution for implementing and operating IBC relayers for Neutron. This should include details on the hardware and software you plan to use, your strategies for monitoring the state of the blockchains, and your incident management procedures. Also, explain how your solution aligns with Neutron’s needs and goals.
Networks Serviced by Your Operation: Provide a list of networks (mainnets) for which your operation can establish and operate IBC relayers in conjunction with Neutron. This will help us understand your reach within the IBC ecosystem.
Project Timeline: Offer a detailed timeline for the project, including key milestones and their estimated completion dates. Also, describe your team’s availability and capacity to meet these deadlines.
Detailed Budget: Provide a detailed budget for the project, broken down by task or phase. This should include costs for hardware, software, labor, and any other expenses. Also, explain your payment terms and conditions.
5. Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Vendor’s experience and qualifications, particularly with Neutron, the Cosmos SDK, and IBC relayers.
Quality and feasibility of the proposed solution, including the proposed hardware and software, monitoring strategies, and incident management procedures.
Understanding of project requirements
Proposed cost
6. Proposal Timeline
The RFQ is intended as an opportunity for relaying firms to compete for a package deal to be ratified by the Neutron DAO via an on-chain, executable, multi-choice proposal.
This is probably the best thing to happen in the IBC space. I applaud Neutron team for opening up relayer service contract for a public on-chain bid. It will be a great net positive for the IBC space.
Today, many teams have private contracts with specialized IBC relayer providers. These contracts are opaque in nature and often favor the incumbents.
In the meantime, many aspiring IBC operators struggle to find a viable business model while they cannot compete for such private contracts due to the lack of brand and connections.
By opening up IBC relayer contract in a public bid, we make the terms transparent, encourage competitions by attracting new entrances, and speed up the business model innovation in the space.
Love this. WhisperNode will be submitting an application. As @Polkachu said above this is a great initiative, and gives relayers like us a better shot as sustainable operations. Cheers.
Should proposals be submitted as text in this thread?
Quick update: multi-choice proposals are not available due to the current lack of supporting UI for them. As a result, I propose to keep things simple: Meson Labs will review the proposals, make a recommendation here for feedback, then, assuming feedback is positive, submit a proposal to the DAO for approval/rejection.
CryptoCrew Validators’ Proposal for Neutron IBC-Relayer Services
About the Team
“We power the interchain”
CryptoCrew Validators is a reputable blockchain infrastructure provider, validator and IBC relayer, based and registered in Austria (EU). The company is committed to upholding the highest standards of transparency, integrity, and security. With a global network of decentralized bare metal servers, the team utilizes advanced security and monitoring systems, all overseen by a dedicated 24/7 on-call team. In the past year, CryptoCrew Validators has been instrumental in securing more than 30 interchain networks and facilitating well over 5 million IBC transactions, solidifying its position as a key player in the Interchain ecosystem.
CryptoCrew Validators serves as a core contributor to various Cosmos chains, including the Persistence and Comdex networks, while maintaining close collaborations with other prominent projects, such as Osmosis Labs, Juno Core, Injective Labs, and Secret Labs, among others.
Recently emerging victorious in the “Game of Chains” Interchain Security incentivized testnet, CryptoCrew is well-positioned for the expansion of the AEZ. Eager to propel Interchain adoption, the team is expanding its presence within the Cosmos ecosystem and embarking on multiple new projects in 2023.
Team:
Clemens Scarpatetti (CEO & CTO): Experienced Linux sysadmin and DevOps, network administration (higher technical college graduate), JS, C#, Grafana, Matlab, event-marketing & social media marketing, audio editing. Specialist in PR & presentation.
Sonja Gstättner (CMO, Management): Former freelance graphic designer, former art director (Freyzein Urban Outerwear GmbH), Bachelor of Arts in Arts & Design, Entrepreneurship Exam (certificate), College for Industrial Design (diploma), Victorinox (Swiss Pocket Knives) Special Edition 2021 Designer.
Paul Leonhard (Blockchain Developer): Interchain-Academy certified Cosmos-Appchain Developer, Linux DevOps, Python, C, C++, C#, Java, Cisco certified Network engineer
Simon Rose (DevOps): Windows-Admin, Linux-Admin, MacOS-Admin. Former consultant, web-developer and technical employee (R&R Computerservice Germany), former PR consultant (Cryptogroup Graz & Berlin, freelancer).
The implementation and operation of an Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) relayer is a crucial step towards enhancing the interoperability of any blockchain within the Cosmos ecosystem. Through this proposal, we aim to provide a reliable and efficient IBC Relayer Service for the Neutron ecosystem.
Proposal
Our services will include:
IBC path creation (clients, connections, ports, channels) for up to 50 counterparty chains.
IBC relaying (persistent relaying service) for any channels on Neutron pointing to any chain we service (and vice versa). IBC relayer software in production: at least 2 sovereign/redundant instances of hermes (ibc-rust relayer; Informal Systems), Neutron ICQ relayer.
Persistent (24/7) IBC metrics monitoring and on-call devops team.
Private shared Grafana dashboards and communication / coordination channels for both collaborating teams.
We are excited about the opportunity to bring our professional IBC relayer services to Neutron. Our goal is to integrate Neutron with every chain that we are currently supporting, as well as every new chain we’ll support in the future, thereby enhancing Neutron’s interoperability within the Cosmos ecosystem. We operate IBC relayers for over 40 mainnets in the Interchain.
We are currently maintaining private relaying infrastructure for the following mainnets:
We are committed to align and scale our operation with Neutron’s needs. Should developer teams building on Neutron request new connections, we are fully prepared to expand our infrastructure to accommodate these requirements.
Our extensive experience with the Cosmos SDK, IBC protocol, and the operation of IBC relayers, coupled with our familiarity with Neutron and its features, positions us uniquely for this project. At CryptoCrew we are fully equipped with the necessary hardware, software resources, and a dedicated team for continuous operation, monitoring and incident management.
Our relayer operation has already shown a strong global track record overall, but particularly at the Neutron spawn event, when our team played a key role in clearing the backlog of over 30,000 VSC (validator set change) packets which had accumulated on the ccv-consumer channel. Furthermore, we recently helped to uncover a bug in specific versions of the PFM (packet forward middleware), which will lead to minor version upgrades on Neutron and other chains. This is made possible by extensive metrics monitoring using custom exporters.
Some IBC metrics collected since the Neutron spawn event:
We are confident that our collaboration will contribute significantly to the stability, growth and success of the Neutron ecosystem.
Project Goals & Success Metrics:
Project Goals:
Seamless Integration: Our primary goal is to seamlessly integrate Neutron with the wider Cosmos ecosystem through the implementation and operation of IBC relayers, thereby enhancing interoperability of the Neutron chain.
Reliable Operation: We are committed to ensure the reliable operation of existing IBC channels and the creation and persistent service of new ones. Operational reliability is key to providing a smooth and uninterrupted experience for developers and users interacting with Neutron and its counterparty chains.
Continuous Monitoring and Incident Management: We will provide continuous monitoring of the relayer operation and the state of the blockchains being relayed between. Quick and effective resolution of any issues or failures, through our established incident management procedures, will ensure a consistent and dependable experience for all users.
Increased Reach: We aim to increase Neutron’s reach and influence within the Cosmos ecosystem by operating IBC relayers between Neutron and the majority of significant appchains within the broader IBC ecosystem. This increased connectivity will enhance the utility and versatility of Neutron for developers and users alike.
Success Metrics:
Number of IBC Channels: The number of IBC channels we successfully establish and operate will be a key measure of our success.
Reliability of Operation: The uptime of the IBC relayers, the overall packet handled rate, and the absence of significant operational issues will be another important metric.
Incident Response Time: The speed at which we can respond to and resolve any issues or failures will be a measure of our effectiveness in incident management.
Number of Chains Serviced: The number of chains we can service will be a measure of our success in increasing Neutron’s reach within the Cosmos ecosystem.
Unique Contributions to Neutron:
Benefits of this project for the Neutron ecosystem include:
Enhanced Interoperability: Our IBC relayer will facilitate seamless communication between Neutron and other blockchains within the Cosmos ecosystem, thereby enhancing Neutron’s interoperability.
Reliable Operation: Our dedicated IBC relayer team will ensure the reliable operation of existing IBC channels and the creation of new ones, thereby ensuring smooth and uninterrupted communication between blockchains.
Increased Reach: With our capacity to operate IBC relayers between Neutron and the majority of significant appchains within the broader IBC ecosystem, Neutron’s reach and influence within the ecosystem will be significantly increased.
By implementing this project, we aim to become a central hub for IBC relayer operations for Neutron, streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency. We are excited about the potential of this project to drive innovation and efficiency, and we look forward to contributing to Neutron’s continued success.
Funding Request:
We are requesting a total funding of $90,000 for a timeline of 12 months (or the equivalent amount in NTRN tokens)
Physical Infrastructure (private endpoints for Neutron and up to 50 counterparty chains, fallback archive-node for Neutron, relayer hosts): 36,000$
DevOps wages: 30,000$ (200h at 150$/h)
Counterparty transaction fees: 18,000$
Monitoring & Alert System (self-hosted grafana-oncall + hosted k8s infrastructure for monitoring and alert systems, private dashboard access for both teams): 6000$
Our funding request includes transaction fees on counterparty chains, based on an estimate considering the current IBC traffic on Neutron and tx fee structure on counterparty chains. Transaction fees on the Neutron chain should be covered by the Neutron Foundation / Meson Labs (using a feegrant implementation).
Milestones + Deliverables:
Given the nature of the service as a persistent operation over a 12-month timeline, the milestones and deliverables will be based on the successful operation and maintenance of the IBC relayer, rather than specific product deliverables. We propose to publicly report about our IBC relayer operation on a quarterly basis.
Month 1: Successful setup and launch of the IBC relayer, including private endpoints for Neutron and initial counterparty chains.
Month 3 (Q1 report): Successful operation of the IBC relayer for three months, with continuous monitoring and incident management in place.
Month 6 (Q2 report): Successful operation of the IBC relayer for six months, with an increase in the number of counterparty chains serviced.
Month 9 (Q3 report): Successful operation of the IBC relayer for nine months, with further increase in the number of counterparty chains serviced.
Month 12 (Q4 report): Successful operation of the IBC relayer for a full year, demonstrating our capacity for long-term, reliable operation.
Each quarterly milestone will be accompanied by a detailed report outlining the operations, any incidents and their resolutions, and the overall performance of the IBC relayer.
IcyCRO’s proposal for Neutron’s relayer services
About us
IcyCRO is a non-profit community DAO established on Cronos in the autumn of 2021 to help delegators and validators in situations where no one else could help them.
We are well-known around Cosmos for our:
Pro bono delegator rescue service (over $600k delegator funds rescued from compromised wallets before scammers could get them).
Lightning fast and well optimized bare metal relayers, which handle huge part of the IBC traffic in most of the major Cosmos chains.
Team
We are a team of six working in different parts of the project. The full list of members: IcyCRO - Our Team
Juha Huttunen (Technical analyst), Finances and operations.
Project Description
Reliable and fast IBC relaying is especially important for chains using interchain security. IcyCRO has revolutionized Cosmos relaying during the last years and having us as a relayer will guarantee smooth transactions for the foreseeable future.
Proposal
Despite our small team size, IcyCRO has bootstrapped our relaying services from scratch and dominated in effective packet volume across the 14 chains we’re on. Because of our small team size however, we do not have the capacity to offer consulting services and significant dev time as our better-staffed counterparts; as such, IcyCRO would like to offer our relaying expertise and excellent coverage of the Cosmos’ core chains to become the complementary relayer for any IBC channels the Foundation requires of us, with the only ask being feegrants to cover IBC relayer fees on Neutron and a modest monthly fee to cover server costs.
white-glove comms channel through IcyCRO’s Telegram and Discord
RPC endpoints, if needed
Monitoring/Alerting tools and frameworks currently used:
Prometheus
Loki
DataDog
PagerDuty
Grafana On-call
Snowflake/BigQuery
Mainnets currently relayed:
Cosmos Hub
Osmosis
Stride
Juno
Evmos
Crypto .org / Cronos
Axelar
Crescent
Kujira
Neutron
Sommelier
Stargaze
Umee
Funding Request:
$4800 per year to neutron1kd4n6s02zllu2cf6gc27n5gumc3cdpw6raawje
Feegrant for our IBC relayer wallet:
neutron1nna7k5lywn99cd63elcfqm6p8c5c4qcuv25mnn
Use of funds:
A mixture of dedicated servers (16 cores 64 GB RAM) on a bare-metal service provider and cheap lightweight VPSs to run Informal Systems’ Hermes relaying software and cluster of Neutron blockchain sentries.
Miscellaneous software essential for Day-2 operations, including log storage, DevOps stacks, monitoring and alerting.
Additionally, we would like to request a feegrant on the Neutron mainnet for our IBC relayer wallet (neutron1nna7k5lywn99cd63elcfqm6p8c5c4qcuv25mnn), with a period-limit of 200 NTRN/day (to be renegotiated whenever necessary). Taking a sample for a previous week (7/20-7/27) IcyCRO spent a maximum of 30 NTRN per day with an obsolete gas-price setting of “0.01untrn”. We expect this estimate to drastically increase once switched to the “0.5untrn” setting currently recommended by the team, and with a full set of relaying infrastructure in place.
Project Timeline:
Week 1: Purchasing of additional infrastructure. Deployment of blockchain nodes and configuration of relayer software
Week 2: Set up additional dashboards
Week 3:
Week 5-: Continued monitoring and optimization
Contact for inquiries:
Main person of contact: Jerry Chong
Email address: zanglang@gmail .com
Twitter: @zanglang
P2P.org is a leading provider of staking solutions, renowned for its extensive experience in supporting RPC nodes across various blockchain networks, including those in the Cosmos ecosystem. Our vast infrastructure project experience makes us a reliable partner for your needs.
Team
Our RPC-as-a-service team comprises four skilled DevOps engineers with over three years of experience in the blockchain industry. Each member has a proven track record in implementing infrastructure tasks within the Cosmos ecosystem and in maintaining IBC channels for Neutron.
We also leverage the expertise of our colleagues from the Cosmos team at P2P, who offer invaluable input, ensuring the smooth execution of the project and the enhancement of our service quality.
Here are some of the networks we currently manage and support:
Neutron
Sei
Injective
Terra Classic and Terra 2.0
Osmosis
XPLA
Agoric
Our deep involvement with key Cosmos ecosystem players and the experience in managing IBC channels highlights our readiness to implement and operate IBC relayers for the Neutron network.
Partial List of Supported IBC Channels
Terra 2.0:
channel 167 (for Neutron)
channel 168 (for Neutron)
channel 171 (for Sei)
channel 172 (for Sei)
Sei:
channel 4 (for Wormchain)
channel 8 (for Terra)
channel 9 (for Terra)
Neutron:
channel 5 (for Terra)
channel 6 (for Terra)
Wormchain:
channel 0 (for Sei)
Proposed Solution and Approach
Our approach to implementing IBC relayers is planned in several stages for optimal efficiency and effectiveness. Our focus will initially be on the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar networks, before extending to Stride, Stargaze, and Noble.
To ensure robust solutions, we will dedicate RPC nodes to maintain each channel, avoiding public endpoints use. This strategy offers greater control, security and strengthens the resilience of our proposed solution.
We will continuously monitor the internal state of the channels and the number of packets being processed. This method, currently in use for the IBC channels we support, ensures efficient tracking of channel statuses, monitoring stuck packets and timeouts.
Proposed Hardware and Software
Software Utilization:
Hermes
Prometheus
Loki
Grafana
Monitoring and Scaling:
For monitoring our services, we use built-in metrics provided by Hermes, focusing on the number of packets in the channel and packet processing timeouts. These data provide valuable insights, enabling us to make timely decisions about scaling. Our IBC channels are deployed on virtual machines, allowing swift and efficient resource scaling as per workload requirements.
Optimization and Tuning:
We constantly work towards optimizing and tuning parameters for maximum efficiency. This includes fine-tuning configuration parameters, performance, security, and system stability.
Funding Request and Use of Funds
Our team has made an assessment of the costs associated with providing support for IBC channels between Neutron and other networks. Here’s the breakdown:
The IBC channel support between Neutron and Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar would be $500 per network annually, totaling to $1500 per year. The existing infrastructure we have for these networks allows us to minimize costs, hence the lower pricing.
For the IBC channel support between Neutron and Stride, Stargaze, and Noble, the annual cost would be $6000 per network, amounting to $18000 per year. The increased costs are due to the need to maintain additional dedicated RPC nodes in these networks.
The difference in cost is primarily due to the additional resources needed to maintain dedicated RPC nodes in Stride, Stargaze, and Noble networks. On the other hand, our existing infrastructure can adequately support the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar networks, which significantly reduces costs.
We have the capability to tailor our support to specific networks based on your needs and preferences, allowing us to flexibly adjust to your requirements.
Additionally, we would like to put forward a request for a fee grant on the Neutron mainnet specifically for our IBC channel management wallet. The final requested sum will vary based on the number of supported channels. These funds will be dedicated to ensuring the efficient and uninterrupted operation of the channels.
Use of Funds
The funds we are requesting will be strategically used to cover various crucial aspects of our operations:
IBC Channel Infrastructure Support: A portion of the funds will be allocated to support the dedicated infrastructure for the IBC channels. This includes the necessary hardware, software, and network resources needed to ensure efficient and reliable operation of these channels.
Dedicated RPC Nodes: Certain networks necessitate the maintenance of dedicated RPC nodes. The funds will be used to set up and support these nodes, ensuring seamless integration and communication with these networks.
Monitoring & Alert System Support: A robust monitoring and alert system is crucial for the prompt detection and resolution of any potential issues. The funds will support the maintenance and continuous upgrade of our monitoring and alert systems, ensuring that they remain state-of-the-art and capable of providing real-time performance and security metrics.
Project Timeline
Should we be selected as the vendor for this project, we commit to the following timeline:
Week 1: Compilation of final requirements and comprehensive technical description of the project for each IBC channel.
Week 2: Implementation of IBC channels and preparation of the required dedicated RPC nodes in the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar networks.
Week 3: Testing, adjustment, and subsequent operation of the IBC channels in the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar networks.
Week 4: Implementation of IBC channels and preparation of the required dedicated RPC nodes in the Stride, Stargaze, and Noble networks.
Week 5: Testing, adjustment, and subsequent operation of the IBC channels in the Stride, Stargaze, and Noble networks.
In conclusion, our solutions in the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, and Axelar networks will be ready no later than 3 weeks after project initiation, while the solutions for the Stride, Stargaze, and Noble networks will be ready no later than 5 weeks after project initiation. These timelines represent our commitment to managing any unforeseen disruptions while maintaining the project’s momentum. However, we anticipate that the actual implementation may take significantly less time.
Contact for inquiries:
For any inquiries, clarifications or additional information, please feel free to reach out to:
We are committed to openness and transparency, and will happily provide any additional information or clarification upon request.
About P2P
P2P launched in 2018 with a mission to positively influence the development of PoS technologies. Since our launch we have grown to manage 4+ billion USD in staked assets across more than 50,000 investors and 50+ unique blockchain networks.
Our team is distributed across the world - with one thing in common: our passion for the decentralised future. We all share this passion for coding, learning, and creating to contribute to the future of finance collectively.
Tessellated is a validator operator who validates across the Interchain and beyond. We currently run nodes on 10 Tendermint networks, as well as 6 networks beyond the Cosmos. Our infrastructure runs on bare metal servers and is continuously monitored.
We have deep technical expertise in the validator space. In the past, we’ve placed highly in incentivized testnets (Celo, Oasis) and we receive foundation delegations for our contributions across a variety of networks (Axelar, Evmos, Cosmos Hub, Celo & Oasis). We’ve previously served as an advisor to Skip, on the Validator Advisory Board for Polygon network and we’ve provided contract based consulting companies to several well known companies in the validator space.
Inside of the Tendermint stack we’ve built local modifications into our validator nodes to improve performance, consulted on Skip’s core block building products (Skip Select + mev-tendermint), and contributed bug fixes to projects like TMKMS.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve spun up IBC relayer operations and are relaying IBC packets, including replicated security packets across all paths in the 8 networks we support, including Neutron. We expect our relayer presence to increase over time as we further productionize our service.
As part of this effort we’ve been developing a set of custom tools for relayers to manage relayer wallets across the interchain, including custom software for treasury management and transaction signing. We hope to open source these tools in the coming weeks.
Our primary engineering lead is Keefer Taylor. Outside of his work at Tessellated, Keefer has served as a Cofounder of several DeFi protocols (Kolibri, Moonwell), built and contributed to MEV solutions (Polygon Fastlane Contributor, Tezos Flashbake Contributor, Advisor/Contributor Skip) and is currently working at Skip.
All together, we’re uniquely positioned to understand the full stack of Neutron and IBC Relaying, from being a relay operator, to understanding the transactions, and smart contracts that generate the packets, all the way into experience working with Tendermint, Cosmos SDK and Relayer software.
Proposed Solution
As a newer relayer operator, we feel we’d provide a complimentary option to a lead operator.
We propose running two relayer machines which will run both ibc-go and Hermes relayers. We will also spin up Neutron ICQ relayers on these machines as needed. The machines will run on bare-metal servers, with specs roughly equivalent or greater than 32GB RAM, 10GPBPs symmetric network connections and 6-core 3.5GHZ processors. We will locate these machines in different data centers and and geographies to provide a highly available setup.
We’ll reuse our additional infrastructure for validating on networks such as Axelar, CosmosHub, Osmosis and Stride. We will spin up nodes for Noble and Stargaze in a similar fashion to relayers. Our operation will use our infrastructure only and have no dependencies on external or public RPCs, and our nodes will keep at least 3 weeks of history if we need to flush packets.
As Neutron grows, we anticipate other networks will become important as well and we will need to grow to support them. We’ll strive to provide a similar level of resiliency for any networks that are added.
We monitor our infrastructure via a custom in-house side car that queries the state of relayer and node software, ingests state and sends alerts or pages when anomalies are detected. We also include a “heartbeat” functionality to generate pages in case our monitors are offline.We specifically will monitor for pending packets per channel, relayer wallet balances, and health / liveness of the relayer and node processes. We can also provide a way to contact us via PagerDuty in case of emergency.
As part of our contract, we’ll produce quarterly data showing our performance as a condition of payment. These reports will include any production incidents and downtime, as well as root cause analysis and response time, number of packets delivered by Tessellated (broken out by channel) and average delivery time (also broken out by channel).
This infrastructure aligns well with Neutron’s vision as a smart contract hub for the interchain by providing reliable IBC delivery, with transparency to the community as to what they are paying for.
Networks Served
We currently run node and validator infrastructure for 10 networks including:
Axelar
Cosmos Hub
Evmos
Gravity Bridge
Juno
Osmosis
Mars
Neutron
Sommelier
Stride
As of today, we relay between most of these networks and are actively moving towards 100% coverage.
As part of our duty as an Axelar Validator, we already run a variety of nodes for networks which we do not run validators on. We would pursue a similar strategy for Noble and Stargaze, as well as future networks which may emerge as important for Neutron, regardless of if we ran validators for them.
Timeline
Weeks 1-2: Provision relayer infrastructure, and stand up relayers for networks we serve today
Weeks 3-4: Provision infrastructure and stand up additional nodes for Noble and Stargaze networks
Weeks 5-8: Productionize our reporting software in anticipation of delivering quarterly reports to the Neutron Foundation and Community
EOMonth 3/6/9/12: Provide a quarterly report showing both our performance and the general performance of Neutron’s IBC channels.
Payment
The cost for this service is $50,000. Payment could be given in NTRN or Axelar/Noble USDC. These costs break down as follows over the course of a year.
Servers and infrastructure: $15,000
New servers to run redundant relayer infrastructure: $12,000
Additional costs on current infrastructure due to increased performance: $3,000
Labor and Developer Operations (billed at $500/hr): $17,000
Initial setup, provisioning and development of metrics exporting: $5,000
On-Call: $12,000
Transaction Fees: $18,000 and NTRN FeeGrant
Fee grant for neutron
External Fees: 18,000
As a newer IBC Relayer operator, we realize that the Neutron community would be taking a risk by accepting our proposal. To account for this, we propose incorporating an SLA as a condition of payment to ensure we can perform.
Specifically, we’d suggest that quarterly Tessellated will have:
No more than 12 consecutive hours of downtime on one of the two relayers
No more than 3 hours of consecutive downtime on both relayers
No less than 100 of a native token in it at a given time (Ex. 100 ATOM, 100 NTRN)
The average time for a packet from emission to ack/timeout is no less than 3 minutes, as measured by timestamp in the block header on the source network (and assuming normal operations of both the source/destination networks)
Tessellated would collate this report and post in a publicly accessible location for verification by the Neutron community. We’re open to negotiating specific and additional terms to this SLA based on the needs of the Neutron DAO.
We propose payment of the first month up front given that we are already relaying to and from Neutron, with quarterly payments sent once SLA metrics are achieved. Concretely:
Start of Month 1: 1 month paid up front to help bootstrap the initial operation and infrastructure costs
End of Month 3: 2 months paid retroactively, assuming SLA conditions are achieved
End of Month 6, 9, 12: 3 months paid retroactively, assuming SLA conditions are achieved
If an SLA for a quarter is not met, the DAO may terminate the relayer relationship.
We believe this arrangement significantly de-risks Neutron’s exposure to Tessellated by paying only at the end of the quarter, and allowing the DAO to dissolve the services agreement if the contract isn’t fulfilled.
Thank you for your patience as we reviewed the proposals from CryptoCrew, IcyCRO, P2P and Tessellated. We thank all providers who participated or wished to participate in this first RFP/RFQ, and for the quality of proposals.
As discussed above, due to the current lack of user interface for multi-choice proposals, we will now be proceeding with a formal recommendation to the DAO, which will remain on the forum for a few days before moving on-chain for approval/rejection by the DAO.
Recommendation
The purpose of this RFP/RFQ process was to identify the adequate service providers to ensure a high baseline level of service across a wide number of channels, to ensure that cross-chain applications building on Neutron and users willing to transact with them and with the network would benefit from a high degree of service.
It is believed that all applicant providers have demonstrated a satisfactory level of sophistication and robustness in their service. Therefore, for this initial agreement, we recommend selecting the provider based on cost and coverage considerations.
With regards to coverage, CryptoCrew scored best, with a total of 39 networks (Pirin-1 and Nolus-1 were not double counted), 22 of which were not covered by any other provider.
Despite the highest overall price tag ($90,000) this places CryptoCrew in a competitive price range, at $2307.69 per currently supported network (3rd best price), and $1,800 per network included in the proposed package (2nd best price).
IcyCRO also performed well in this regard, demonstrating a solid track record over 14 supported networks and with an average proposed price of $342 per network (best price).
Therefore, to maximise coverage, service level, redundancy and manage cost, we propose to accept both CryptoCrew and IcyCRO’s proposals, for a total yearly cost of $94,800.
This recommendation is conditional on the goodwill participation of selected providers in the drafting of the Definitive Agreements with Meson Labs, and in the proper handling of the NTRN tokens that may be granted as compensation for the services.
Out of scope recommendation
While we expect this process and its outcome to significantly improve the reliability and breadth of the relayer coverage for the Neutron network, we believe the RFP/RFQ approach should be considered a stop-gap solution while trustless, permissionless solutions are implemented.
In this regard, we invite all contributors and relayers to participate in a conversation on relayer incentivization with the goal of producing a guidance for how the DAO could improve the process of securing relaying for the network.
Initial fragments of answers might be found in generalizing fee reimbursement or fee waiving for relayer activities, for example via feegrants or the global fee module. This would complement ICS-29 and Neutron’s existing x/feerefunder module, which are limited in scope and functionality.
Next steps
This recommendation will remain on the forum for a few days before an on-chain proposal is made to ratify the decision. We welcome the community and participant’s feedback on the process, recommendation, and how they can be improved going forward.
If approved by the DAO, providers will be expected to collaborate with Meson Labs to draft and execute the Definitive Agreements and set up the requested fee grants and infrastructure.
