# Protocol Documentation Welcome to Smoothly’s Info Center! We're here to answer your questions. Can't find what you're looking for? Hop in our [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/wDgUerzUDE)! Ready to register your validator, visit our [Frontend](https://smoothly.money)! ## What is Smoothly *** Smoothly is a tool that gives home stakers the ability to pool together their execution layer rewards (tips + MEV) from block proposals. This gives access to the mean reward and distributions at regular intervals. Stakers can change the fee recipient address in their validator client to our pool contract address, register to our contract, and claim their share of rewards **every 21 days.** ## What makes us different *** * ***Trust minimized:*** A single entity should not have the ability to manipulate your rewards. There are 6 oracle operators reaching consensus on the state of registrants. Meet them [here](/oracle-operators#oracle-operators). * ***Not for profit:*** Smoothly is designed as a sustainable public good. The pool fee (1.5%) is split equally between all oracle operators to cover hard costs. The Smoothly team takes no additional fee. * ***Open source:*** In the spirit of Ethereum, everything we've built is open source. Feel free to contribute, test, fork, whatever you like. * ***We're realists:*** App layer smoothing pools may not be needed in 2-4 years. We see this project as a bridge between today and when a similar mechanism is enshrined in the protocol. We're actively contributing to that effort! ## About Us *** This open source project was built when we recognized a need for home stakers to remain competitive in the staking marketplace. As a home staker, Kody (Kodys.eth) wanted to build a simple, no frills, MEV smoothing pool that requires no additional monitoring software to be installed on the staking machine. Simply change the fee recipient in your validator to our contract, register to the contract with your funding or withdrawal address, sit back, and watch the rewards accrue. ## Join the Pool *** We’re live for Mainnet validators! Register at [app.smoothly.money](https://app.smoothly.money) ## Set your --fee recipient to the pool address! *** ``` 0x43670D6f39Bca19EE26462f62339e90A39B01e34 ``` ## Mainnet Pool Address *** [0x43670D6f39Bca19EE26462f62339e90A39B01e34](https://etherscan.io/address/0x43670d6f39bca19ee26462f62339e90a39b01e34) ## Mainnet Governance Address *** [0xc7Ea6FF9bE0aE48A3E2C968076E6b1fd921c06EB](https://etherscan.io/address/0xc7Ea6FF9bE0aE48A3E2C968076E6b1fd921c06EB) ## Contact Us *** 🔮 [Join us on Discord!](https://discord.gg/wDgUerzUDE) :newspaper: [Telegram](https://t.me/kodysale) :classical\_building: [Farcaster](https://warpcast.com/kodys.eth) # Overview **tldr:** Smoothly is a tool which gives home validators the ability to pool together their tips and MEV from block proposals which, on average, increases their reward and allows for more frequent distributions. Home Stakers change the fee recipient address in their validator client to our pool contract and can connect their wallet and claim their “share” of the rewards **every 21 days.** **Why would a an individual validator want to do this?** Validators receive various types of rewards for their contribution to the network. These rewards include Attestations, Sync Committee Participation, and the Block Reward (issuance) for proposals. When your validator is chosen to propose a block, in addition to the block reward, you receive the tips associated with that block, and these fees are sent to your “fee recipient” address. The tips also include MEV if you’re using an external builder. Since the magnitude of tips and MEV are highly dependent on network activity, individuals may want to “pool” their tips together with other validators in order to have a better chance of receiving tips from a block when network activity is very high and block space demand is at its peak. Linked at the bottom of this page is best statistical analysis I’ve seen on the topic, and was presented at Devcon in Bogota, Colombia by Ken Smith; an active contributor to Rocketpool. The tl;dr analysis shows that on average over a 5 year time span, validators in a “fee recipient” pool earn 41.6% more ETH than those not in the pool. Also worth noting in this analysis is that the smoothing pool outperformed single validators 9/10 times over that 5 year period. **The Situation:** Solo stakers are becoming a rare breed; there are a growing number of ways to stake your ETH that offer higher rewards with less technical knowhow. Although there are good actors like Rocketpool and Stakewise, a large amount of stake is held by centralized entities. There are three main incentives which large actors offer that separate them from the home staker community. 1. *Issuing an Liquid Staking Token*. By receiving an LST such as cbEth or stEth in exchange for your ETH that you’ve staked, you are essentially still liquid and could put that up as collateral to borrow against, lend, and generate a higher yield than vanilla staking at the protocol level. This is true. 2. *Issuing a native token*. By staking with Rocketpool and running your own node you get exposure to RPL rewards which increases your APY. This is true. 3. *Reward Smoothing*. By staking with Rocketpool, Lido, or Coinbase, the tips and MEV from block proposals can be distributed among all the validators in the associated pool. This gives you exposure to more block proposals which in turn gives you a higher probability of receiving a share of rewards from a block with a large amount of MEV. This is true. **Our Solution** We’re not here to issue another LST and we don’t have a token, but we are here to provide a tool to boost the average APY for home stakers in order remain competitive in the staking marketplace. We promote staking at home, running your own hardware, whilst giving you exposure to blocks proposed during high network activity and MEV events. Our protocol requires no additional software to be run on your staking machine; the only change you will have to make is regarding the fee recipient address associated with your validator. As an insurance policy (bond) we require each validator that registers to the protocol to deposit 0.5 ETH into the contract to be used as a mechanism for punishing the associated user if they act maliciously. The process goes as follow: 1. We’re live for Mainnet validators, you can connect to our contract using [app.smoothly.money](https://app.smoothly.money) The wallet address with which the user is connecting must be either the deposit or withdrawal address. Once you’ve connected, the index associated with your validator(s) will auto-populate in the Dashboard. You will then check the box of the validator(s) that you want to register, check the disclaimer boxes after you’ve read them, and click the “Deposit ETH and Register” button. Note that the 0.5 ETH insurance deposit is per validator, not per user; so in order to register 2 validators, you’ll need to deposit 1.0 ETH as insurance. 2. After your validator is registered, it is then added to the pool index and its status will show “Pending”. During this time, that validator will accrue rewards, but they are locked in the pool until the validator proposes a block with the correct fee recipient address. After that condition is met, the validator status will change to “Active”, and all of the past rewards will be available for withdrawal. Additionally, once the status is Active, you’ll be able to claim rewards at 21 day intervals going forward. Every 21 days the contract state is updated by the oracle operators and the following key functions are performed: 3. The pool index is updated with new validator registrants and exits. Validator status is also updated to enable claiming of rewards. 4. Rewards are calculated for the previous 21 days and allocated to the pool participants as follows. * ( Us ): Users share of rewards * ( Tx ): Eth tx fees in pool * ( Vt ): Number of validators in pool index * ( Ve ): Excluded validators * ( Pe ): Penalties added to pool * (0.985): 1.5% of the pools tx ## $$\[ Us = \frac{{(Tx + Pe)}}{{(Vt - Ve)}} \times 0.985 ]$$ Lets use the 21 days between October 31, 2022 and November 20, 2022 as an example rebalance period. During this period, there are 100 validators in the pool index and 3 validators excluded. During this period, 18.5 ETH is sent to the contract in tips from block proposals and 0.45 ETH sent to the contract in penalties. The users share of rewards for that period is equal to ETH. $$ Us = \frac{{18.95}}{{97}} \times 0.985 \approx 0.1915 $$ c. Penalties are enforced and the ETH from those penalties is added to the pool. Penalties vary depending on the validator status and are detailed as follows: ***Validator Status = Pending Activation*** | Penalty Type | Penalty Amount | Bond Affected? | | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | Any Missed Proposal | Zero out rewards | No | | Block Proposal with Incorrect Fee Recipient | Zero out rewards | No | | Voluntary Exit (without exiting pool) | Zero out rewards and removal from pool index | No | | Relay API Recognized incorrect Fee Recipient | Excluded from reward cycle | No | \**A validators status changes to **active** when they propose a block with the correct fee recipient. ONLY ACTIVE VALIDATORS CAN CLAIM REWARDS.* ***Validator Status = Active*** | Penalty Type | Penalty Amount | Bond Affected? | | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | 1st Missed Proposal | None, excluded from one reward cycle. | No | | 2nd (and subsequent) Missed Proposal | 0.15 ETH from bond and excluded from reward cycle until bond is topped up | Yes | | Block Proposal with Incorrect Fee Recipient | 0.5 ETH from bond and expelled from pool | Yes | | Voluntary Exit (without exiting pool) | Exit request automatically. | No | | Relay API Recognized incorrect Fee Recipient | Excluded from reward cycle | No | ***Fees*** Although we consider this a public good, our intention is to make this project sustainable by charging a small fee to reimburse the costs that oracle operators incur. The fee is set to 1.5% of total rebalance and is split evenly between all oracle operators. The Smoothly team takes no additional fee. Smoothly is intended to bridge the gap between today and when PBS (proposer builder separation) and MEV smoothing (or burn) are enshrined at the protocol level. These upgrades are being researched but my educated guess is they could be anywhere from 2-4 years away. There is more to come! # Latest Updates ***2024/02/04*** The first reward cycle ended yesterday and everything went Smoothly! Thanks to everyone who joined last cycle, you are the foundation we can build on top of. Here are the stats for the first cycle: * Validators subscribed: 48 * Blocks proposed: 2 * Rewards distributed: 0.836E Goals for the next couple weeks: * Add a discord bot for blocks and donations * Get the dune dashboard up * Fix a couple small ux issues on the front end ***2024/01/29*** Albeit a bit late, we created a POAP to celebrate the launch of Smoothly! Obviously, proceeds go directly to the pool. ***2024/01/23*** :tada: Smoothly Protocol Goes Live (for real) Today is the day! We're excited to announce that the Smoothly Protocol front end is now live! Here’s What’s New: * New Landing Page and Dashboard: Enjoy a fresh, intuitive new look. * Updated Docs: Check out our How to Guide if you want to get started! * Early Bird Rewards: Donations have started flowing into the pool (thanks @hanniabu )! Additionally, I'll be transferring ETH from our last Gitcoin round to the pool! Register within the current rewards cycle to claim your share of these bonuses! A Big Thank You We’re so thankful for your patience and support through this! It’s been a long time in the works! We Value Your Feedback Spot a bug or have a suggestion? Reach out! Your insights are key to Smootly’s growth. Stay Tuned Keep an eye on our channels for updates, tips, and more donations!
***2024/01/13*** **🌟 Launch(ish) and Rebrand Reveal from Smoothly! 🚀** Today marks a huge milestone for us thats been 18 months in the making — the launch of Smoothly (kind of)! Our contracts and oracle operators are running on mainnet as we speak, however, to ensure the best ux, we have not yet pushed the front end. Your patience is appreciated, and it will be ready to use in a few days! Now, for the exciting news! Smoothly is proud to reveal our fresh, new brand identity – a reflection of our core values and vision. Our new logo, inspired by the iconic Ethereum shape but done 'Smoothly', symbolizes our extension of the Ethereum ecosystem. Here’s your first look:
This rebranding is more than a visual change; it's a representation of our aspiration – to become an integral part of the Ethereum protocol itself. MEV burn is hot right now, but has smoothing been forgotten? We don’t think so. Prepare to interact with a more intuitive, user-friendly, and visually appealing Smoothly dashboard. The launch of our updated platform is just around the corner, and we're excited for you to experience it (and give us feedback). Stay tuned for more updates and thank you for being a part of this incredible journey! *10/23/2023* ## **Mainnet Countdown Begins!** Hey Eth Stakers! We are excited to bring you up to speed with the developments at **Smoothly** as we commence our **12-week countdown to Mainnet**! For those who may be meeting us for the first time, welcome to Smoothly - a Smoothing Pool targeted at the solo stakers of Ethereum. #### **🔥 Recent Progress:** In response to your feedback and our commitment to improvement, we've implemented significant upgrades to enhance Smoothly’s security, transparency, and reliability: * **Smart Contract Audit:** A security audit of the pool contract and governance contact have been successfully conducted by Pashov. For those interested in his findings, dive into the detailed audit report [here](https://github.com/Smoothly-Protocol/contracts/blob/master/audits/Smoothly-security-review-Pashov-14-8-2023.md). * **Decentralized Oracle Network:** Oracle operators are now maintaining consensus on the state of registered validators through peer-to-peer communication, reinforcing the protocol's reliability and decentralization. Dig into the responsibilities of operators [here](/oracle-operators). * **Goerli Contracts Scaling:** The final set of testnet contracts are deployed on Goerli and over the next 12 weeks we'll progressively extend the duration between state updates until we reach a 21-day interval. #### **🌟 Oracle Operators:** We’re excited to announce our Oracle Operators, a coalition of trusted community members and entities (and Kody and Noah): * [Anthony Sassano, Founder of The Daily Gwei](https://www.youtube.com/@TheDailyGwei) * [EthStaker](https://ethstaker.cc/) * [Cryptomanufaktur.io](http://Cryptomanufaktur.io) * [Aestus Relay](https://aestus.live/) * [Kody Sale (Founder of Smoothly)](https://warpcast.com/kodys.eth) * [Noah Figueras (Co-founder of Smoothly)](https://github.com/noahfigueras) #### **🔮 A Glimpse into the Future: SLIDE** As we work towards our mainnet launch, there's something else on the horizon that we believe you'll be just as excited about. An initiative that, at its core, is designed to onboard smaller stakers — we call it **SLIDE: Social Layer Incentives for DEcentralization**. Think pooling rewards from block proposals together with donations from ecosystem partners. More details will come out soon, but for now, get ready to slide into the pool. #### **🌐 Join the Smoothly Journey:** As we approach our Mainnet launch, we cordially invite you to explore Smoothly, offer your valuable feedback, and be an integral part of this transformative project. With your support and participation, we can strengthen the community of solo stakers and make it more rewarding for everyone! #### **📚 Resources for the Community:** * [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/orgs/Smoothly-Protocol/repositories) * [Documentation](https://docs.smoothly.money) * [Frontend](https://goerli-v2.smoothly.money/) *Let the countdown begin, and stay tuned for more updates!* *** Engage with us in the comments, or join our lively [Discord community](https://discord.com/invite/wDgUerzUDE)! We're here to address your queries and celebrate each milestone together! Looking forward to your active participation and feedback! # How To Guide *This is a guide to register your Ethereum mainnet validators to the smoothing pool!* [*Please reach out HERE*](https://discord.gg/wDgUerzUDE) *with any bugs you encounter, questions or concerns, or just to show us some love. Note: If you've just fired up your validator, make sure you've hit your Activation Epoch before joining Smoothly!* 1. We’re live and smoothing rewards for Mainnet Validators, users connect to our contract using [app.smoothly.money](https://app.smoothly.money) Head there and connect your wallet. You may connect with either your withdrawal address or your deposit address.
2. Once you’ve connected, your validator indexes will auto-populate in the table. Click the "subscribe" box associated with validator(s) that you want to register. Note that once you subscribe validators with a certain address (withdrawal or deposit), this cannot be changed unless you request an exit from the pool.
3. Read this next pop up carefully, check the disclaimer boxes after you’ve read them, and click the “Deposit ETH and subscribe” button. Note that the fee recipient address in your validator client needs to be changed to the contract address listed in the disclaimer box to ensure that tips and MEV are sent to the pool. Additionally, make sure that you're using one of the [monitored](https://docs.smoothly.money/relay-monitoring) relays. PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK THE ADDRESS to ensure that you are not penalized for proposing with the incorrect fee recipient. Also, the 0.5 ETH bond is per validator, not per user; so in order to register 2 validators, you’ll need to deposit 1 ETH as bond. ## Set your --fee recipient to the pool address below! ``` 0x43670D6f39Bca19EE26462f62339e90A39B01e34 ``` Want to verify your relay registration?? [Check this out!](/relay-monitoring)
1. Congrats! You're now in the pool! Your validators status will show pending until you propose your first block. You'll begin to accrue rewards now, and these will become claimable upon a successful block proposal. Its worth noting that the Unclaimed column will only update after each reward cycle (every 21 days). While pending, make sure not to miss a block or propose with the incorrect fee recipient because your accrued rewards will be sent to the pool!
4. Once you propose a block, the validator status will change to “Active”, and all of the accrued rewards will become claimable. Additionally, once the status is Active, you’ll be able to claim rewards at 21 day intervals going forward.
4. Familiarize yourself with our [penalties](https://docs.smoothly.money/penalties) section. If you're validator's status is active, and you propose with an incorrect fee recipient, your entire bond will be added to the pool and that validator will be expelled from Smoothly.
4. If you want to exit the pool, all you have to do is request an exit, wait until the current rewards cycle is complete, then withdraw your bond. It's worth noting that if you request an exit while your validator's status is "Pending", your accrued rewards will be sent to the pool.
# Penalties **What are the conditions for validators to be penalized when using Smoothly?** The answer to this depends on the validators status with Smoothly. Immediately after a validator registers and deposits their bond, they are given the status “Pending”. These validators begin to accrue rewards immediately, but are unable to claim their rewards from the pool until they propose a block with the Smoothly contract address as the fee recipient. Please see the table below, but in summary, any validator penalized with this status will have their accrued rewards added to the pool (zeroed out). After the penalty is enforced (during the reward cycle update), they being to accrue from zero. After a successful block proposal (one with the Smoothly contract as the fee recipient), the validators status with Smoothly changes to “Active”. Active validators have the ability to claim their accrued rewards and can claim rewards at all intervals going forward. Because of their ability to claim rewards from the pool, they are now penalized on their bond. All penalties are added to the pool and distributed during the rebalance. Please see the tables below for a simple breakdown. ***Validator Status = Pending*** | Penalty Type | Penalty Amount | Bond Affected? | | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | Any Missed Proposal | Zero out rewards | No | | Block Proposal with Incorrect Fee Recipient | Zero out rewards | No | | Voluntary Exit (without exiting pool) | Zero out rewards and automatic exit request | No | | Relay API Recognized incorrect Fee Recipient | Excluded from rewards cycle | No | \**A validators status changes to **active** when they propose a block with the correct fee recipient. ONLY ACTIVE VALIDATORS CAN CLAIM REWARDS.* ***Validator Status = Active*** | Penalty Type | Penalty Amount | Bond Affected? | | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | 1st Missed Proposal | None, excluded from one rewards cycle | No | | 2nd (and subsequent) Missed Proposal | 0.15 ETH from bond and excluded from reward cycle until bond is topped up | Yes | | Block Proposal with Incorrect Fee Recipient | 0.5 ETH from bond and expelled from pool | Yes | | Voluntary Exit (without exiting pool) | automatic exit request | No | | Relay API Recognized incorrect Fee Recipient | Excluded from reward cycle | No | # Oracle Operators ## Why oracle? As of today, the state of the consensus layer is not available on chain. This needs to be monitored using the beacon node api. The MEV boost ecosystem is also off chain and fee recipient changes can be monitored through the relay registration api. For this reason, an oracle is needed to push that information to the smart contract. For now, this is the way. There are improvements coming which may allow us to eliminate the oracle network. For more information, see [EIP4788](https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/eip-4788-beacon-root-in-evm/8281) and [this proposal ](https://notes.ethereum.org/@ralexstokes/val-reg-in-4844-blobs)put forth by Alex Stokes. ## Oracle operators We’re excited to announce our Oracle Operators, a coalition of trusted community members and entities (and Kody and Noah): * [Anthony Sassano, Founder of The Daily Gwei](https://twitter.com/sassal0x) * [EthStaker](https://ethstaker.cc/) * [Cryptomanufaktur.io](http://Cryptomanufaktur.io) * [Aestus Relay](https://aestus.live/) * [Kody Sale (Founder of Smoothly)](https://warpcast.com/kodys.eth) * [Noah Figueras (Co-founder of Smoothly)](https://github.com/noahfigueras) ## Nitty gritty The operator node is a cli program that works as an oracle which monitors the beacon chain state, validator registration api, as well as interactions with the smart contract: withdrawals, exits, registrations. This node computes and saves the state using a `Merkle Patricia Trie` implementation with `levelDB` on disk. This implementation allows us to track all of the previous states since deployment and share the state with the smoothly pool contract in order to enable withdrawals and exits through merkle proofs. Anyone can run this node to verify that the state is updating correctly in real time. However, in order to propose a rebalance vote with the new state for the `pool` you must be an approved operator. Approved Operators listed above are whitelisted in our `poolGovernance` contract and propose a `vote` on rebalance with the computed root hash of the new state. The `poolGovernance` contract then makes sure that all approved operators reach a consensus of at least `66%` before updating the state of the `pool` contract. To make this sustainable for operators, they will share a `1.5%` fee of the total rewards of that rebalance. This is intended to cover gas and server costs associated with running the oracle, not to enrich the operators. ### Rewards Cycle ("rebalancing") Because of ethereum `gas costs`, we only update the state of the contract once every period of time. This happens every `21 days` on Mainnet. During this state update, rewards are distributed for claiming, validators status is updated, exits are processed, and penalties are issued. ### Monitoring the beacon node In order monitor validators proposals, we listen to the beacon node using the HTTP API for `new finalized` epochs. Next, we query all of the slots on the epoch and look for validators that missed a slot, exit the beacon chain voluntarily or propose a slot with the wrong `feeRecipient`, and act accordingly. ### Smoothly Pool event listeners The node is subscribed to a series of event listeners in the `pool` contract as a way to store all user interactions on chain and retrieve them to update the state of all validators. ### State State is stored on disk, using `levelDB` which stores all of the data of the Merkle Patricia Trie. Data is stored as key-value mapping being: **key**: validator index **value**: ``` export interface Validator { index: number, eth1: string, rewards: BigNumber, slashMiss: number, slashFee: number stake: BigNumber, firstBlockProposed: boolean, firstMissedSlot: boolean, exitRequested: boolean, active: boolean, deactivated: boolean } ``` ### **Website Sessions and Transaction Finalization:** We would like to bring to your attention some crucial information about how our website manages sessions in relation to the monitoring of finalized epochs on the Beacon Node API: 1. **Session-Based Updates:** Our dashboard updates are tied to individual user sessions. This means that any transaction you initiate will be reflected on the dashboard during your current active session. 2. **Finalization Time:** Your transaction is generally included within 1-2 blocks after submission, but, since our oracle operators listen to finalized epochs, they wont pick up the tx for approximately 12 minutes. 3. **Reconnecting Sessions:** If you disconnect your wallet (thereby ending your session) and then log back in, you might not immediately see the transaction you previously submitted. This is normal and is due to the time required for epoch finalization. 4. **Avoiding Duplicate Transactions:** To prevent any potential loss of funds, **please refrain from submitting another transaction for the same action if you have already done so in a previous session**. Duplicate transactions might lead to unintended consequences, including the loss of funds. 5. **Checking Transaction Status:** If you are unsure whether a transaction was successful, we recommend waiting for at least 15 minutes before re-attempting any action. Alternatively, you can check the transaction status on a block explorer using your transaction ID. # Bond and MEV Theft ## Why a 0.5 ETH Bond per Validator? MEV theft occurs when validators, swayed by the temptation of larger block rewards, change their --fee recipient address to divert rewards away from the pool. This not only undermines trust but also disproportionately impacts the rewards distribution among all pool participants. **Balancing Security and Accessibility** To prevent such occurrences, we've implemented a bond requirement for each validator. The bond acts as a security deposit – its size is crucial in deterring MEV theft. The logic is straightforward: for MEV theft to be financially viable for a malicious actor, the potential block reward must exceed twice the bond amount plus any accrued rewards. This formula ensures that MEV theft is economically unfeasible in over 99% of blocks. However, we faced a pivotal decision: to significantly increase the bond to cover outlier cases of very large block rewards, or to set a more accessible bond. We chose the latter, setting the bond at 0.5 ETH. This decision was informed by several factors: 1. **Technical Barrier**: Knowingly executing MEV theft based on bid amount requires a high level of technical complexity which also exposes the validator to potential slashing risks. 2. **Community Trust**: We believe in the goodwill and integrity of our participants. The Smoothly Protocol is built on mutual trust, with safeguards like the bond in place without imposing prohibitive barriers. 3. **Impact on Rewards**: While large block rewards are a significant portion of total pool rewards, increasing the bond excessively could deter many potential validators from participating. # Relay Monitoring ### Monitoring relays In addition to monitoring the beacon node api for validators subscribed to our pool, we monitor the relays for updated 'validator\_registration'. By monitoring this, we're able to catch any changes made to the fee recipient address. For this reason, we're requiring the use of mevboost by all validators subscribed to the pool. If the protocol does not recognize that a validator is registered with the relay, or that the latest validator registration returned is associated with an incorrect fee recipient, that validator will be excluded from rewards cycles until the fee recipient is updated. The advantages for requiring MEV boost are: 1. Higher rewards for pool members. 2. Helps us detect quickly the change of a validators `feeRecipient` through the relay registration. Registration with one of the following 6 relays is required to be included in the rewards cycle. More relays will be added as their api responses become reliable. ``` 'https://boost-relay.flashbots.net', 'https://relay.ultrasound.money', 'https://aestus.live', 'https://agnostic-relay.net', 'https://mainnet-relay.securerpc.com', 'https://bloxroute.max-profit.blxrbdn.com' ``` ### Check relay api before subscribing to the pool Want to verify your relay registration before joining the pool? Easy-peasy, just copy and past the url of the relay you're using into your browser and input the public key associated with your validator. ``` https://boost-relay.flashbots.net/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` ``` https://relay.ultrasound.money/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` ``` https://aestus.live/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` ``` https://agnostic-relay.net/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` ``` https://mainnet-relay.securerpc.com/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` ``` https://bloxroute.max-profit.blxrbdn.com/relay/v1/data/validator_registration?pubkey=YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY ``` # Frequently Asked Questions This FAQ section aims to answer the most common questions we receive from users and lurkers alike. **What is Smoothly?** Smoothly is built on a smart contract and oracle that allows home validators to pool together their tips and MEV from block proposals in order to smooth out and increase their average reward. This in turn boosts the average APY for home stakers and helps us remain competitive in the staking marketplace. Validators change the fee recipient address in their validator client to our pool contract and can connect their wallet and claim their “share” of the rewards every 21 days. **What is a home staker?** Home stakers (aka Solo Stakers) are the backbone of the Ethereum network. They (myself included) are individuals running an execution, consensus, and validator client either on their own hardware or on a remote server. Although Smoothly is targeted at individuals, it may also be useful for small entities running any number of validators for their clients. Remember that, statistically speaking, joining the pool is beneficial to you as long as your validators do not represent the majority of the pool. **What is MEV?** As a pool member, you are highly encouraged to run the MEV Boost sidecar on your validating machine as a way to generate more value to the pool. In general, MEV stands for Maximal Extractable Value and is a natural occurrence when users can see the public tx mempool. Because the mempool is public and transparent, there exist clever and sophisticated ways to order transactions which most commonly result in arbitrage between many parties. These sophisticated entities are known as builders, and they offer “tips” to block proposers in order to propose the block they have built using the txs from the mempool. The magnitude of the tip payed to the block proposer is dependent on the value that the builder can generate by reordering or inserting transactions in the block. **Which MEV Boost Relays can I use?** This is up to you, there are no restrictions in place on relays. This is an important choice due to the fact that you are relying on them to send fees to the correct fee recipient. Be wary of using brand new relays until they have proven themselves trustworthy. **What are the benefits of MEV smoothing?** Because block proposals are random, the universe gets to decide when it’s your turn. I’ve heard of individual validators going a year without a block proposal. In addition to the randomness of block proposals, so to are the magnitude of tips and MEV associated with your block. Because fees are highly dependent on network activity, individuals are inclined to “pool” their tips together with other validators in order to increase their chance of receiving tips from a block when network activity is very high and block space demand is at its peak. Ken Smith, an active contributor to Rocketpool, performed a monte carlo simulation on the statistical benefits of an MEV smoothing pool. The tl;dr is that on average over a 5 year time span, validators in a “fee recipient” pool earn 41.6% more ETH than those not in the pool. Also worth noting is that the smoothing pool outperformed single validators 9/10 times over that 5 year period. [Here is a link to his report.](https://github.com/htimsk/SPanalysis) **What conditions determine my validators status?** After your validator is registered, it is added to the pool index and its status will show “awaiting activation”. During this time, that validator will accrue rewards, but they are locked in the pool contract until the validator proposes a block with the Smoothly contract address as the fee recipient. After that condition is met, the validator status will change to “Active”, and all of the past rewards will be available for withdrawal. Additionally, once the status is Active, you’ll be able to claim rewards at fortnightly intervals going forward. **Why do I have to wait for a block proposal to claim rewards?** This is done In order to prevent validators from cheating the system. As we have no control over your validator and no way to actively monitor your fee recipient, its beneficial for everyone to verify that each validator has set their fee recipient to our pool contract. Once you propose a block with our fee recipient, you will be able to claim your accrued rewards, then going forward you are able to claim your rewards every 21 days. IF YOU EXIT THE POOL WHILE YOUR VALIDATOR IS PENDING ACTIVATION, YOUR ACCRUED REWARDS WILL BE ADDED TO THE POOL. **Why am I required to Deposit eth when registering?** Each validator that registers is required to deposit 0.5 ETH into the contract as a bond. This eth is there to protect and reimburse the pool in the case of malicious or lazy validators. Assuming you’re neither of those, you have nothing to worry about and will get that back upon pool exit. **How often is the pool balance distributed and when are new validators added?** A "reward cycle" is every 21 days, during which a state snapshot is taken and the following key functions are performed: 1. The pool index is updated with new validator registrants and exits. Validator status is also updated to enable claiming of rewards. 2. Rewards are calculated for the previous 21 days and allocated to all validators in the pool index. 3. Penalties are enforced and the ETH from those penalties is added to the pool. **What if I need to move or be offline and don’t want to unregister?** Since the only relevant metric for the pool is proposals, short offline periods have a low chance of affecting your rewards. When in doubt, claim your rewards, exit the pool, and then re-register when you get everything in order. **How does Smoothly generate revenue to operate?** This project is designed as an open source public good, but our intention is to make this project sustainable by charging a small fee to cover the gas and server costs associated with operators in the oracle network. The fee is set at 1.5% of each rebalance and split equally between oracle operators. This fee is not indended to enrich the operators but meant to cover hard costs associated with running their node. # Social Layer Incentives for DEcentralization (SLIDE) Smoothly is excited to share its latest endeavor: Social Layer Incentives for DEcentralization. This initiative, herein referred to as SLIDE, is a call to action designed to support independent stakers on Ethereum. **Introducing SLIDE:** At its core, SLIDE is designed to incentivize individuals to solo stake by harnessing donations from organizations in the Ethereum ecosystem. The long tail of independent stakers are indispensable in safeguarding the network’s decentralized, credibly neutral, and censorship resistant qualities. Despite their value, they often find the road challenging and unrewarding. Recent efforts advocating for staking diversity are commendable, but the absence of financial incentives has stunted their impact and reach. Through Smoothly, a fee recipient smoothing pool, ([docs here](https://docs.smoothly.money)) and SLIDE, we seek to bridge the gap by providing a conduit for entities and individuals to directly reward this cohort of network participants.
**How SLIDE Works:** * **Engage Public Goods Maxis:** Smoothly is active in Gitcoin Grants Round 19 ([here](https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/424/0xd4cc0dd193c7dc1d665ae244ce12d7fab337a008/0xd4cc0dd193c7dc1d665ae244ce12d7fab337a008-61)). All the funds contributed during this round will be sent to the smoothing pool upon mainnet launch! Additionally, were reaching out to diverse projects within the Ethereum ecosystem, encouraging them to contribute to the Smoothly Pool contract as a way to increase the yield of registered validators. * **Equitable Distribution:** Donated funds accumulate in the Smoothly Pool contract alongside execution layer rewards from block proposals. Every 21 days these are equally distributed amongst participants. **The Caveat:** * **Smoothly is permissionless:** While SLIDE aims primarily to incentivize and support solo stakers—those who independently run and operate Ethereum nodes—it does not exclusively serve this group due to the permissionless nature of the Smoothly protocol. * **The Un-caveat:** The top entities would need to modify their infrastructure in order to join, which is unlikely as the incentives to join will not outweigh the switching costs. * **What this means:** There will be validators who register that don’t meet the definition of ‘solo staker’ in its truest form. With that being said, even small staking entities and independent operators do much more for the health of the network than dominant staking providers, and they deserve to be rewarded as well.
**Why Support SLIDE:** * **Promoting Decentralization:** Centralization of stake degrades the credibility of the network. Incentivizing solo staking naturally leads to a more decentralized, secure, and robust Ethereum. * **Remain Credibly Neutral:** Businesses built on top of Ethereum have a vested interest in keeping the network credibly neutral and censorship resistant, two properties which are core to it’s survival. * **Community Engagement:** Beyond rewards, SLIDE actively engages the community to appreciate and back minority stakeholders. # Terms of Service 1\. Use of the Services To use the Services provided by Smoothly Protocol LLC (“Smoothly” or “Smoothly Protocol”), you must legally be able to enter into the Agreement. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you meet these eligibility requirements. If you do not meet these requirements, you must not access or use the Site or the Services. Smoothly Protocol is not offered to persons or entities who reside in, are citizens of, are located in, are incorporated in, or have a registered office in jurisdictions where such services are prohibited or restricted by law. Use of a Virtual Private Network ("VPN") to circumvent these restrictions is strictly prohibited. ARBITRATION NOTICE: These Terms contain an arbitration clause. Except for certain types of disputes mentioned in this arbitration clause, you and we agree that disputes relating to the Services will be resolved by mandatory binding arbitration, and you waive any right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class-action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration. You are entering into a binding Agreement. By accessing or using our Services, which include our various websites, applications, and any other services that link to these Terms, as well as any information, text, links, graphics, photos, audio, video, or other materials stored, retrieved, or appearing thereon (collectively, the “Services”), you are entering into a binding agreement with us that includes these Terms and Smoothly Protocol's Privacy Policy, along with other policies referenced herein (collectively, the “Agreement”). If there is a conflict between these Terms and any applicable additional terms, these Terms will control unless expressly stated otherwise. If you do not agree with these Terms, you may not use the Services and should not visit the Site or otherwise engage with the Services. We may update the Services, the Agreement, and any part of the Terms at any time, for any reason, at our sole discretion. Once updated, you will be bound by the Terms if you continue to use the Services. We may modify or discontinue all or part of the Services at any time and without liability to you. You should review the Terms periodically to ensure that you understand the terms and conditions that apply to your access and use of the Site.

2\. Assumption of Risk You assume the risks of engaging in transactions that rely on blockchain technology, smart contracts, and oracle software. Transactions on the Smoothly Protocol rely on smart contracts stored on the Ethereum blockchain and are dependent on data provided by decentralized oracle software. These technologies are experimental, inherently risky, and subject to change. Among other risks, bugs, malfunctions in smart contracts or oracle software, cyberattacks, or changes to the Ethereum blockchain (e.g., forks) could disrupt the protocol and even result in a total loss of digital assets or their market value. You are solely responsible for the safekeeping of the private key associated with the blockchain address used to interact with the Smoothly Protocol. We assume no liability or responsibility for any such risks. If you are not comfortable assuming these risks, you should not access or engage in transactions using blockchain-based technology. Blockchain technology's immutable nature means entries generally cannot be deleted or modified. This includes smart contracts and digital assets generated by them. Thus, transactions recorded on the blockchain, including transfers of digital assets and data programmed into these assets, are permanent and cannot be undone by us or anyone else. You must be cautious when finalizing transactions recorded on the blockchain. We are not liable for any third-party services or links. We are not responsible for the content or services of any third-party, including, without limitation, any applications or self custodial wallets like MetaMask, and we make no representations regarding the content or accuracy of any third-party services or materials. You acknowledge and agree that all transactions accessed through the Services will be automatically processed using blockchain-based smart contracts and reliant on the integrity and accuracy of oracle software data. By engaging in transactions using the Services, you acknowledge and consent to the automatic processing of all transactions in connection with using the Services. You bear sole responsibility for evaluating the Services before using them, and all transactions accessed through the Services are irreversible, final, and without refunds. The Services may be disabled, disrupted, or adversely impacted due to various factors, including cyber-attacks, surges in activity, computer viruses, or other operational or technical challenges, including those associated with the oracle software. We disclaim any ongoing obligation to notify you of all of the potential risks of using and accessing our Services. You acknowledge there is a real risk that assets deposited into the Smoothly Protocol may suffer complete and permanent economic loss should the protocol’s technical or economic mechanisms, including the oracle software, suffer catastrophic failure. You acknowledge that the terms of the Smoothly Protocol may change at any time for any reason, including but not limited to protocol fees, rewards, accessibility, and changes in oracle software operations. You agree to accept these risks and agree that you will not seek to hold any Smoothly Protocol Indemnified Party responsible for any consequent losses.
3\. Privacy Smoothly Protocol values your privacy. While we implement various measures to safeguard the integrity and security of your data, it is essential to understand the inherent risks associated with digital transactions and data storage. Your interaction with the Smoothly Protocol, including the use of blockchain technology, inherently makes certain information publicly available. This includes but is not limited to transaction data and wallet addresses. As the Ethereum blockchain is public and decentralized, your transactions are visible to anyone. We have no control over, nor do we have the ability to alter, blockchain data once transactions are executed. Although we do not collect personal identifying information (PII) directly through the Smoothly Protocol, it is crucial to recognize that your blockchain address and the associated transactions are permanently recorded on the Ethereum blockchain and publicly visible. We encourage you to exercise caution in revealing any additional personal information related to your blockchain address. We comply with all valid subpoena requests concerning any data or information we may hold or have access to. By accessing and using the Smoothly Protocol, you understand and consent to our collection, use, and potential disclosure of data and information related to your blockchain transactions as dictated by law. Please be aware that our website and services may contain links to third-party websites or services, which are not operated or controlled by us. This Privacy section does not apply to third-party websites or services; we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites or services before providing them with your personal information. In the event of a data breach or other unauthorized access to our systems, we will take reasonable steps to mitigate the breach's effects and will comply with all applicable laws regarding such a breach. However, given the nature of our services and the public availability of blockchain data, our ability to control or mitigate the exposure of data on the Ethereum blockchain is inherently limited.
4\. Taxes As a user of the Smoothly Protocol, you bear sole responsibility for determining and fulfilling the tax obligations that arise from your use of our services, including engaging in transactions with the protocol. This encompasses any taxes, duties, or assessments levied by governmental authorities in relation to the crypto assets or rewards you accrue, hold, transfer, or otherwise interact with via the Smoothly Protocol. Blockchain-based transactions, including those facilitated by the Smoothly Protocol, are a novel area in many jurisdictions and their tax treatment may be unclear or subject to change. It is essential for you to understand that participation in blockchain activities, such as staking and pooling rewards, could have tax implications. We strongly advise you to consult with a qualified tax professional to ensure compliance with your local tax laws and regulations. Smoothly Protocol does not provide tax advice, nor do we have any responsibility to advise you on the tax implications of any transactions conducted through our protocol. Our platform does not monitor, report, or withhold any taxes on your behalf. As a result, you must report and remit the appropriate taxes to the relevant tax authorities. Please be aware that your failure to comply with your local tax laws and regulations could result in penalties, fines, or other legal consequences. By using the Smoothly Protocol, you acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for keeping informed about, and compliant with, tax laws and regulations that apply to your transactions.
5\. Prohibited Content In using the Smoothly Protocol, you are required to comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, as well as the terms of this Agreement. The following activities are strictly prohibited: A. Illegal Activities: Using the Smoothly Protocol for, or to facilitate, any illegal activities, including but not limited to money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion, or trading in illegal substances or goods. B. Unauthorized Commercial Use: Exploiting the Smoothly Protocol for any commercial purposes not expressly authorized by us. C. Malicious Code: Uploading, transmitting, or activating viruses, worms, Trojan horses, time bombs, or any other type of malicious software that might harm the protocol, other users, or any associated networks or services. D. Unauthorized Access and Interference: Attempting to gain unauthorized access to the Smoothly Protocol or its related systems and networks, or interfering with their normal operation. This includes hacking, denial-of-service attacks, and any other form of cyber attacks or unauthorized exploitation. E. False Pretenses: Using the services under false or fraudulent pretenses, including providing incorrect or misleading information. F. Interference with Other Users: Interfering with, or disrupting, other users' access or usage of the Smoothly Protocol. G. Violation of Third Party Rights: Violating the rights of any third party, including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights. H. Deceitful Behavior: Engaging in any form of deceitful behavior in your use of the Protocol. I. Anticompetitive Conduct: Participating in any activity that is deemed anticompetitive or otherwise in violation of applicable competition laws.
Violation of these rules may lead to actions on our part, including but not limited to restricting or terminating your access to the Smoothly Protocol. We reserve the right to take appropriate measures, including legal action, in the case of serious or repeated violations.
6\. Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability No Representations or Warranties: THE SERVICES OF SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL, including but not limited to, its parent company, subsidiaries, affiliates, related companies, officers, directors, contractors, employees, agents, representatives, partners, and licensors associated with the Smoothly Protocol (collectively “SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES”) DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED FROM SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES OR THROUGH THE SERVICES, WILL CREATE ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED HEREIN. Risks Associated with Blockchain and Smart Contracts: Transactions on the Smoothly Protocol involve blockchain technology and smart contracts, which are experimental and carry inherent risks. These include, but are not limited to, technical malfunctions, cyberattacks, changes to blockchain networks, and potential total loss of cryptoassets or funds. Transactions are irreversible, and THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES CANNOT ALTER OR REVERSE TRANSACTIONS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN. Third-Party Risks: The Smoothly Protocol is not responsible for any third-party services, applications, or websites linked to or from our services. Your interaction with third-party products or services is solely at your own risk.
Limitation of Liability: TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOOD-WILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM (A) YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES; (B) ANY CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD PARTY ON THE SERVICES; (C) ANY CONTENT OBTAINED FROM THE SERVICES; OR (D) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE, OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSACTIONS OR CONTENT.
User Responsibility: You are solely responsible for securing your wallet and private key. SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES are not responsible for losses due to unauthorized access or failure to secure your wallet. Jurisdictional Limitations: Some jurisdictions do not permit certain disclaimers or limitations of liability. In these jurisdictions, the exclusions and limitations will apply to the greatest extent enforced under applicable law.
Total Liability Cap: THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID TO SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL FOR THE SERVICES IN THE SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY.
Acknowledgement of Risks: You acknowledge and agree that your use of the Services is at your own risk and that the risks outlined in this section are inherent to the services provided. Exclusion of Liability for Certain Damages: NO SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTY SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY: (A) USER ERROR, SUCH AS FORGOTTEN PASSWORDS, INCORRECTLY CONSTRUCTED SMART CONTRACTS OR OTHER TRANSACTIONS; (B) SERVER FAILURE OR DATA LOSS; (C) MALFUNCTION, UNEXPECTED FUNCTION, OR UNINTENDED FUNCTION OF THE BLOCKCHAIN, ANY COMPUTER OR CRYPTOASSET NETWORK (INCLUDING ANY WALLET PROVIDER), INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSSES ASSOCIATED WITH NETWORK FORKS, REPLAY ATTACKS, DOUBLE-SPEND ATTACKS, SYBIL ATTACKS, 51% ATTACKS, GOVERNANCE DISPUTES, MINING DIFFICULTY, CHANGES IN CRYPTOGRAPHY OR CONSENSUS RULES, HACKING, OR CYBERSECURITY BREACHES; (D) ANY CHANGE IN VALUE OF ANY CRYPTOASSET; (E) ANY CHANGE IN LAW, REGULATION, OR POLICY; (F) EVENTS OF FORCE MAJEURE; OR (G) ANY THIRD PARTY.
Scope of Liability Limitations: THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS INTENDED TO APPLY WITHOUT REGARD TO WHETHER OTHER PROVISIONS OF THESE TERMS HAVE BEEN BREACHED OR HAVE PROVEN INEFFECTIVE. THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER ASSERTED LIABILITY OR DAMAGES ARE BASED ON CONTRACT, INDEMNIFICATION, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTIES HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGE.
7\. Indemnification You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Smoothly Protocol Indemnified Parties from any claim, liability, loss, damage, cost, or expense, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of the Smoothly Protocol Services. This includes but is not limited to: a) Your breach or alleged breach of the Agreement, including these Terms and any other policy or guideline applicable to the Services; b) Any content or data you submit, post, or transmit through the Services; c) Your misuse of the Services, including any use contrary to the intended function or purpose of the Smoothly Protocol or its smart contracts; d) Your violation of any laws, rules, regulations, codes, statutes, ordinances, or orders of any governmental or quasi-governmental authorities; e) Your infringement or violation of the rights of any third party, including intellectual property rights, publicity, confidentiality, property, or privacy rights; f) Your use of any third-party product, service, and/or website accessed or used in connection with the Smoothly Protocol Services; g) Any misrepresentation made by you in connection with your use of the Smoothly Protocol Services. We reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us. You agree to cooperate with our defense of such claims. You will not settle any claim without the prior written consent of the Smoothly Protocol Indemnified Parties.
8\. Arbitration Agreement and Waiver of Rights, Including Class Actions PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY AS IT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO FILE A LAWSUIT IN COURT AND TO HAVE A JURY HEAR YOUR CLAIMS. THIS SECTION CONTAINS PROCEDURES FOR MANDATORY BINDING ARBITRATION AND A CLASS ACTION WAIVER. Agreement to Resolve Disputes through Negotiation: Before commencing any legal proceeding against Smoothly Protocol, including arbitration, you and Smoothly Protocol agree to attempt to resolve any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to this agreement or the services through good faith negotiations. This process involves providing a written notice specifying the details of the dispute. The parties will have sixty (60) days from the initial notice to try to resolve the dispute through videoconference or telephone. If unresolved within ninety (90) days, either party may proceed to arbitration. Agreement to Arbitrate: Any unresolved disputes will be resolved through binding arbitration under the International Arbitration Rules of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. The arbitration will take place in California, United States, and will be conducted in English. The arbitrator(s) should be experienced in Internet technology, software applications, financial transactions, and blockchain technology. The prevailing party will be entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. The arbitrator's decision will be consistent with the “Limitation of Liability” section of these Terms.
Waiver of Jury Trial and Class Actions: By using the Smoothly Protocol services, you waive the right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any class action or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of class or representative proceeding, unless both you and Smoothly Protocol agree otherwise in writing. Opt-Out of Arbitration: You may opt-out of this arbitration agreement by providing written notice to Smoothly Protocol within a specified period. Confidentiality of Arbitration: Neither party may disclose the existence, content, or results of any arbitration without the prior written consent of both parties, except as required by law. This arbitration agreement will apply to any disputes between you and Smoothly Protocol as of the date you first accepted these Terms or accepted any subsequent changes to these Terms.
9\. Waiver of Injunctive or Other Equitable Relief TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AGREE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ENTITLED TO, AND HEREBY WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO, SEEK AN INJUNCTION OR OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF OF ANY KIND AGAINST THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL OR ANY SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTY. THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, ANY COURT OR OTHER ACTION THAT MAY INTERFERE WITH OR PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT, OPERATION, OR EXPLOITATION OF THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER WEBSITE, APPLICATION, CONTENT, SUBMISSION, PRODUCT, SERVICE, OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNED, LICENSED, USED, OR CONTROLLED BY ANY SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL INDEMNIFIED PARTY. BY AGREEING TO THIS WAIVER, YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU WILL NOT SEEK TO RESTRAIN OR OTHERWISE IMPACT THE DEVELOPMENT, DISTRIBUTION, OR OPERATION OF THE SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL SERVICES, OR RELATED PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, THROUGH LEGAL OR EQUITABLE MEANS. THIS WAIVER IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND SMOOTHLY PROTOCOL, AND IS INTENDED TO APPLY TO ALL FORMS OF EQUITABLE RELIEF, INCLUDING INJUNCTIONS AND SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE.
10\. Termination and Cancellation This Agreement remains effective unless and until it is terminated by either you or us. As a user, you may terminate your agreement with the Smoothly Protocol at any time by discontinuing all access to the Smoothly Protocol site, protocol, and services. Conversely, the Smoothly Protocol reserves the right, in its sole judgment, to terminate this Agreement and deny you access to its services if you fail, or are suspected of failing, to comply with any term or provision of this Agreement, including these Terms. We also reserve the right to restrict your access to the Smoothly Protocol site or to cease providing you with all or part of the services at any time, without prior notice, particularly if we believe that: (a) your use of the services poses a risk or liability to us, (b) you are using the services for unlawful purposes, or (c) it is no longer commercially viable to continue providing you with our services. These rights are in addition to any other remedies we may have, whether in equity or at law, all of which are expressly reserved by the Smoothly Protocol. We also reserve the right to modify the services at any time, although we are under no obligation to update the services. It is your responsibility to stay informed of any changes to the services that may impact you. We may also remove the services, or any content therein, for indefinite periods or discontinue the services entirely at our discretion, without notice to you.
11\. Severability Should any provision of this Agreement, including these Terms, be found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this Agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. The unenforceable provision will be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, and the remaining provisions of this Agreement will continue in full force and effect.
12\. Assignment This Agreement, including these Terms, may be assigned by us without your prior consent to any party affiliated with the Smoothly Protocol, or to its successors, in relation to any business activity associated with the Services provided by us. You are not permitted to assign or transfer any rights or obligations under this Agreement without our explicit prior written consent.
13\. Entire Agreement This Agreement, which includes these Terms and the Smoothly Protocol Privacy Policy, along with any policies or operating rules posted by us on our Services, constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between you and us. It governs your use of the Services and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications, and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us. This includes any previous versions of these Terms. Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement shall not operate as a waiver of such right or provision.
14\. Governing Law These Terms, along with any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of California, United States. Any disputes or interpretations of these Terms will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts in California.