Another milestone was reached

At the 13th August 2020 21:44:51 we transitioned into epoch 211. Right at this moment the d (“decentralization”) parameter was lowered from 1 to 0.9. This parameter determines the number of blocks produced by OBFT nodes and thus simultaneously specifies how many blocks are produced by community pools. This is quite a big step as IOHK is slowly but surely handing over control of the network to the community.

But what does d = 0.9 really mean? It means that from epoch 211 on, about 10% of all blocks are produced by community or SPOs (Stake Pool Operators) operated nodes and receive rewards for their produced blocks. The d parameter will be decreased every epoch (so every 5 days) by at least 0.025, so that we will see more and more decentralization as well as more blocks produced by the community.

Here are a few key dates:

  • 13th August 2020: Start of the first Epoch (211) where community pools produce blocks
  • 18th August 2020: Transition to Epoch 212, where the rewards for epoch 211 will be calculated
  • 23rd August 2020: Transition to Epoch 213, where the rewards for epoch 211 will be distributed

Please note: That this process is overlapping for the epochs so in 212 there will also be blocks produced which then gets calculated in 213 and distributed in 214. So this goes on and on.

I was live on the screen during the first produced blocks and it was awesome to see the transition. Congratulations to the SPOs which were among the first people producing blocks in this new Cardano Era!

Hope we will see our first block soon. I’ll keep you updated! Talk to you soon 🙂