Proposal
The Stride team proposes migrating Stride’s ICS configuration from a Top N (95%) Partial Set Security configuration to an opt-in model. Under this change, Stride would be secured by a small, proof-of-authority style validator set, relieving Hub validators of the obligation to run the chain. Stride already has 7 validators lined up for this.
Concretely, this is done through a MsgUpdateConsumer proposal that would set an explicit allowlist with the validators included in the set. Additionally, the consumer owner address would be updated from the Hub governance address to a multisig address controlled by the Stride Association.
Context
Stride was the second adopter of ICS, and the first chain to migrate from sovereign → ICS. At the time, ICS was the Hub’s main product, and Stride supported its development. However, ICS failed to find product-market fit, and Cosmos Labs has told us they plan to deprecate ICS in 2026.
The main issue with ICS is that validators must operate chains at a loss, because ICS revenue flows to stakers, not validators. Stride makes ~$400k revenue at current prices, 15% of which (~$60k) is paid to Cosmos Hub stakers. Validators earn their standard commission on this, usually between 5-10%. This ~$5-10k paid to ~100 validators is not enough to cover their operating costs.
The full migration requires a Cosmos Hub proposal (this one) and a Stride proposal, which will follow. The Hub proposal updates the consumer parameters via the Hub’s governance to transfer ownership of Stride’s ICS config to Stride Association, and specifies the set of seven validators that will form the proof of authority style set.
The second proposal, via Stride governance, will change the consumer parameters on Stride to send fees directly to the validators in the set.
The 7 validators Stride Association selected will each have ~14.2% vote power. These validators will register a fee address on Stride to receive rewards directly.
The 7 validators Stride Association selected are:
-
Imperator
-
Polkachu
-
Stakecito
-
Keplr
-
Cosmostation
-
Lavender.Five Nodes
-
Citadel.One
This is the first step towards migrating Stride to PoA, which is a model that dramatically decreases the security budget, while keeping security high in practice. After PSS is deprecated, the Stride Association team intends to continue using the 7 validators above to secure the chain.
Implementation
First, the consumer parameters will be updated via a MsgUpdateConsumer proposal. Specifically:
{
...
"messages":[
{
"@type": "/interchain_security.ccv.provider.v1.MsgUpdateConsumer",
"owner": "cosmos10d07y265gmmuvt4z0w9aw880jnsr700j6zn9kn",
"consumerId": "1",
"newOwnerAddress": "stride1fduug6m38gyuqt3wcgc2kcgr9nnte0n7ssn27e",
"powerShapingParameters": {
"topN": 0,
"validatorsPowerCap": 1,
"validatorSetCap": 7,
"allowlist": [
"cosmosvalcons1m7fg8k39k2tyym5hgwrpf5wx9hqsr8vywuyrtm", "cosmosvalcons1c5e86exd7jsyhcfqdejltdsagjfrvv8xv22368", "cosmosvalcons1pdpwglc4fcjdzqvyhvfwxg684trpc6uqck5sxk", "cosmosvalcons1px0zkz2cxvc6lh34uhafveea9jnaagckmrlsye", "cosmosvalcons1vz42ewp04wwepjed7z4qenj925gpakgvap4q2u", "cosmosvalcons1upc05nc9pwhhagnkr3f2dft327qxsxfeyvajsu", "cosmosvalcons1f6cjsfn47ujttypx7gtncglsmjvndugc2zelqx"
],
"denylist": [],
"minStake": 0,
"allowInactiveVals": false
},
}
] }
The changes above are:
-
The owner address is changed from the Hub governance address to an address controlled by the Stride Association
-
The topN parameter is changed from 95% to 0%, which converts Stride into an opt-in chain
-
The validator set is configured explicitly with an allowlist and a cap on the number of validators in the set
-
The validator power cap is set to its minimum value of 1 to force each validator to have equal voting weight.
- If the power of each validator in the set does not sum to 100, the weights are split amongst each validator [evenly](interchain-security/x/ccv/provider/types/provider.pb.go at 06e0dc6bf6d6c4c8f52c8394e35ce91273e27860 · cosmos/interchain-security · GitHub). Capping the power at 1 per validator, with a set of 7 validators, means the powers would sum to 7, which is less than 100.
Once these parameters are updated, Stride will undergo an upgrade to:
-
Update the consumer redistribution fraction from 85% to 100%
-
Explicitly send fees to the validators in the set
After the passing of the parameter change on the Hub, and the upgrade on Stride, the migration will be complete.
Vote options
-
A YES vote on this proposal immediately migrates Stride’s PSS configuration to an opt-in model with a 7-validator set and transfers control of Stride’s ICS configuration from the Cosmos Hub governance module to a multisig controlled by the Stride Association.
-
A NO vote on this proposal signals disagreement with migrating Stride’s PSS configuration to an opt-in model and transferring control of Stride’s ICS configuration from the Cosmos Hub governance module to a multisig controlled by the Stride Association.
-
A NOWITHVETO vote on this proposal indicates a proposal either (1) is deemed to be spam, i.e. irrelevant to Cosmos Hub. (2) disproportionately infringes on minority interests, or (3) violates or encourages violation of the rules of engagement as currently set out by Cosmos Hub governance. If the number of ‘NoWithVeto’ votes is greater than a third of total votes, the proposal is rejected and the deposits are burned.
-
ABSTAIN - You wish to contribute to quorum but you formally decline to vote either for or against the proposal.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR VALIDATORS: If you are a validator and you aren’t in Stride’s new set of 7, there’s nothing you have to do now. If this proposal passes and executes successfully, you can stop running Stride (for now, you must continue running Stride).