Council Members Present:
- Demian Brener
- Jonathan Alexander
- Juan Garre
- Mat Travizano
- Tomasz Stańczak
Opening
The Council meeting opened at approximately 3:00 pm (UTC) on April 19, 2024. It was noted that proper notice had been provided to the Council in accordance with the Bylaws. Five of the Council Members were in attendance and the meeting had a quorum. The Council consented to the appointment of certain third-party notetakers and attendees.
Network Activity
The Council reviewed a summary of activity in the Forta Network for the year to date. It was noted that the majority of subscribers to threat feeds were companies with a security focus, that were using Forta data to provide solutions to their end users.
The Council reviewed node runner activity in the Network for the year to date. It was noted that there were more than 4 thousand nodes operating, even after FORT rewards were reduced to 100,000 FORT per week. It was noted that as per the async proposal previously approved by the Council, node rewards would be reduced to 50,000 FORT per week beginning in May. Following discussion, the Council agreed that the decentralized node runner community remained strong while being more efficient with the community treasury of FORT tokens.
The Council discussed opportunities to increase the amount of stake on nodes in order to increase the economic consequences of node runners operating improperly or even maliciously. It was noted that the open-source FORT Vault smart contract, which had been developed by Nethermind through funding under a grant by the Foundation, was ready to be deployed and made available to the public as a tool that can be used to make delegated staking more efficient and therefore attract more FORT stakers and further increase the security incentives tied to Network activities. A Council member made a proposal that the Vault smart contract should be integrated into the Forta Network protocol with admin rights held by the Council, so that if users so choose, they may use it to independently participate in delegated staking activity.
The proposal to deploy the FORT Vault smart contract and integrate it into the Forta Network was passed by the Council following the approval of more than half of the active Council members in accordance with the Bylaws.
RIP-7614
The Council discussed RIP-7614, an initiative that had been funded by the Foundation that proposed a new precompile that would expose typically hidden elements of transactions that smart contracts otherwise couldn’t see as a potential novel approach to blockchain security. It was noted that the initiative had received positive feedback, but there wasn’t an urgency from potential protocols that would be needed to adopt the solution. A Council member noted that although it did not get traction, it did generate positive publicity for the Forta Network and its community for being at the forefront of blockchain security. Discussion ensued regarding the RIP-7614 process and it was agreed that it had been a positive experience despite not proceeding to formal adoption at this time.
A Council member made a proposal that the Foundation sponsor a similar initiative regarding screening transactions to block attacks, including certain smart contract development work and the development of proof-of-concept projects with certain types of protocols. Discussion ensued regarding the technical implications of the proposed solution and certain challenges that would need to be solved. A Council member expressed positive views that the challenges should be able to be solved. A Council member asked a question about the importance of decentralization in the novel solution and discussion ensued regarding the implications of the solution and the likely outcome that protocols and users would demand a decentralized approach and that the Forta Network would be a great platform to enable such. All questions were answered to the satisfaction of the Council and it was agreed that the Foundation support the new initiative.
The proposal to fund the transaction screening solution was passed by the Council following the approval of more than half of the active Council members in accordance with the Bylaws.
Council FORT Grants
A Foundation representative noted that the Foundation would independently offer each Council Member a new restricted token grant for an additional 250,000 FORT tokens pursuant to its independent authority to take certain actions under the Bylaws. The representative explained that the respective refresh grants would vest monthly over a period of two years beginning on May 1, 2024 and would continue to vest so long as the member continued to serve on the Forta governance council. It was noted that the new grants for council members were on the same terms as the initial grants, which were intended to ensure that Council Members were adequately compensated for their time and commitment serving on the governance council going forward and had been evaluated as reasonable in light of payments in similar decentralized networks. Following discussion, the Council directed the notetakers to include disclosure of the grants in the minutes, so that the Forta community would have visibility to such compensation.