MIPs FAQs
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Note: the MIPs program is closed as of May 2023. Thank you to all the Indexers who participated!
It's an exciting time to be participating in The Graph ecosystem! During Yaniv Tal announced the , a moment The Graph ecosystem has been working towards for many years.
To support the sunsetting of the hosted service and the migration of all of it's activity to the decentralized network, The Graph Foundation has announced the .
The MIPs program is an incentivization program for Indexers to support them with resources to index chains beyond Ethereum mainnet and help The Graph protocol expand the decentralized network into a multi-chain infrastructure layer.
The MIPs program has allocated 0.75% of the GRT supply (75M GRT), with 0.5% to reward Indexers who contribute to bootstrapping the network and 0.25% allocated to Network Grants for subgraph developers using multi-chain subgraphs.
Yes, it is indeed.
For context, the arbitration charter, , specifies the methodology for generating a POI for a failed subgraph.
A community member, , has created a script to automate this process in compliance with the arbitration charter's methodology. Check out the repo .
The first chain that will be supported on the decentralized network is Gnosis Chain! Formerly known as xDAI, Gnosis Chain is an EVM-based chain. Gnosis Chain was selected as the first given its user-friendliness of running nodes, Indexer readiness, alignment with The Graph and adoption within web3.
New chains will be announced throughout the MIPs program, based on Indexer readiness, demand, and community sentiment. Chains will firstly be supported on the testnet and, subsequently, a GIP will be passed to support that chain on mainnet. Indexers participating in the MIPs program will choose which chains they are interested in supporting and will earn rewards per chain, in addition to earning query fees and indexing rewards on the network for serving subgraphs. MIPs participants will be scored based on their performance, ability to serve network needs, and community support.
The Graph Foundation will be monitoring QoS performance metrics, network performance and community channels to best assess readiness. The priority is ensuring the network meets performance needs for those multi-chain dapps to be able to migrate their subgraphs.
Given that chains vary in their requirements for syncing nodes, and they differ in query volume and adoption, rewards per chain will be decided at the end of that chain's cycle to ensure that all feedback and learnings are captured. However, at all times Indexers will also be able to earn query fees and indexing rewards once the chain is supported on the network.
6. Do we need to index all the chains in the MIPs program or can we pick just one chain and index that?
You are welcome to index whichever chain you'd like! The goal of the MIPs program is to equip Indexers with the tools & knowledge to index the chains they desire and support the web3 ecosystems they are interested in. However, for every chain, there are phases from testnet to mainnet. Make sure to complete all the phases for the chains you are indexing. See to learn more about the phases.
MIPs rewards will be distributed per chain once performance metrics are met and migrated subgraphs are supported by those Indexers. Look out for info about the total rewards per chain mid-way through that chain's cycle.
Indexers will compete for rewards based on scoring throughout the program on the leaderboard. Program scoring will be based on:
Subgraph Coverage
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Are you providing maximal support for subgraphs per chain?
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During MIPs, large Indexers are expected to stake 50%+ of subgraphs per chain they support.
Quality Of Service
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Is the Indexer serving the chain with good Quality of Service (latency, fresh data, uptime, etc.)?
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Is the Indexer supporting dapp developers being reactive to their needs?
Is Indexer allocating efficiently, contributing to the overall health of the network?
Community Support
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Is Indexer collaborating with fellow Indexers to help them get set up for multi-chain?
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Is Indexer providing feedback to core devs throughout the program or sharing information with Indexers in the Forum?
Moderators will assign the roles in the next few days.
10. Is it okay to start the program on a testnet and then switch to Mainnet? Will you be able to identify my node and take it into account while distributing rewards?
Yes, it is actually expected of you to do so. Several phases are on Görli and one is on the mainnet.
There will be a requirement to have a mainnet indexer during phase 3. More infomation on this will be
The percentage to be distributed at the end of the program will be subject to vesting. More on this will be shared in the Indexer Agreement.
Yes
14. Is it possible to use the locked tokens from the graph curator program to participate in the MIPs testnet?
Yes
To be decided. Please return to this page periodically for more details on this or if your request is urgent, please email
No. The options are: you can delegate one to the other one or run two separate indexers.
19. I am not ready to index Gnosis chain, can I jump in and start indexing from another chain when I am ready?
Yes
We do not give recommendations on regions. When picking locations you might want to think about where the major markets are for cryptocurrencies.
It is the deterministic measure of the cost of executing a handler. Contrary to what the name might suggest, it is not related to the gas cost on blockchains.