Risks

The following document contains a list of notes how to make the overall operation process safer for everyone.

For Networks

• Collateral value: choose collateral with real economic value (e.g., ETH) and alignment to your protocol; otherwise profit from attacking you can exceed the cost or griefing becomes cheap.

• Vault diversification: use a diversified set of Vaults; otherwise a single Vault failure can rapidly cut stake.

  • Ensure third-party Vaults’ Curators are trustworthy for the diversification you target.

• Veto/epoch spacing: avoid VetoSlasher veto duration that is too close to the vault epoch duration.

  • Example safe config: Vault Epoch 7d, Network Epoch 3d, Veto Duration 1d (leaves 2d to execute).

• Epoch duration vs capture windows: set Vault Epoch noticeably greater than validatorSetCaptureDelay + Network Epoch duration + Network slashing window.

  • Example: Vault Epoch 14d, capture delay 15m, Network Epoch 5d, maxSlashRequestDelay 2d, Veto 2d, maxSlashExecutionDelay 2d ⇒ ~3d buffer.

• Vault deployment completeness: ensure Delegator and Slasher are set (Vault.isInitialized()). Missing pieces can return unsupported stake data or prevent slashing.

• Operator diversification: diversify operators to avoid a concentrated attack surface.

  • Prefer trustworthy operators, especially in small validator sets.

• Neighbor network risk: only restake alongside networks you trust; a malicious neighbor can slash shared stake and wipe your security.

• Stake readings: stakeAt() functions count pending slashings as real stake. Cover this in middleware based on Vault type and slashing logic.

• Slash ordering: execute slashing requests for a single operator in capture-timestamp order to avoid reverts and under-slashing.

• Epoch length limit: Slashers do not support Vault Epoch Duration greater than the current timestamp (~55 years); long epochs may break slashing.

For Curators

• Use valuable collateral: otherwise networks may refuse it as economic security while you claim operational costs.

• Pick sensible epoch duration (24h–30d): extremes deter networks or stakers.

• Keep veto shorter than vault epoch: networks need time to slash; long veto close to epoch length blocks security guarantees.

• Work with trustworthy networks: malicious networks can slash stakers’ money and damage your reputation.

  • Ensure rewards they provide have real value.

• Work with trustworthy operators: poor operator behavior risks staker funds and your reputation; diversify stake across operators where appropriate.

• Avoid invalid/deprecative contract states under your management.

• Redeploy after 100% slashing: repeated full slashings leave the Vault unusable.

• Fee-on-transfer collateral breaks redistribution mechanics: expect losses if you try to redistribute slashed funds with such tokens.

For Stakers

• Deposit valuable collateral: avoid low-value or predatory tokens to reduce loss risk.

• Choose trustworthy vault curators: an honest, immutable, permissionless setup reduces burn/steal/lock risk.

• Use a trustworthy burner: suitability depends on collateral.

  • Immutable burner contracts fit some assets; a dead address may be unsuitable for LSTs where third parties have incentives to lock supply.

• Trust the vault’s networks: malicious networks can slash your entire delegated stake.

  • Prefer networks offering valuable rewards.
  • Prefer networks with trustworthy resolvers to prevent invalid slashes.

• Pick meaningful epoch durations (≤ ~1 year): very long epochs can lock funds too long.

• Know deposits are instantly slashable: new deposits can be slashed by existing events without rewards; align deposits with your yield strategy and vault state.

For Operators

• Work with trustworthy vault curators: dishonest curators can destabilize vaults you vouch for, harming reputation and stake.

• Serve trustworthy networks: malicious networks can slash stake under your management and still fail to pay meaningful rewards, wasting time and costs.