Rocket Pool has released Smart Node v1.15.7, a major update featuring critical client upgrades, oDAO health check fixes, and a major consolidation of legacy repositories into the main smartnode repo for easier future development. Node operators who upgrade are eligible to claim a commemorative POAP. Release details and update instructions are available here: https://github.com/rocket-pool/smartnode/releases/tag/v1.15.7.

It’s been a turbulent week for crypto, with RPL and other altcoins continuing to struggle as the token price hovers near $5. While the market remains uncertain, Rocket Pool has exciting upgrades on the way, such as Saturn on the horizon. Until then, the price action will be a bumpy ride. Community members within the Rocket Pool Discord that share their struggles receive a POAP.

Rocket Pool has had separate quora for on-chain and snapshot voting. This isn't really the intent; it's based on getting similar absolute requirements given that one is a percent of all vote power and the other is a percent of initialized vote power. haloooloolo has volunteered to initialize more vote power so that the difference is small and Rocket Pool can use a single quorum going forward without more tweaks. Buyers of this POAP helped fund this community initiative to initialize on-chain vote power!

The Rocket Pool Smartnode v1.14.0 release includes mandatory client updates for Nethermind, Prysm, Besu, and Reth, alongside Smart Node changes such as removing the 16 ETH minipool option, enhancing deposit prompts, and optimizing RPC calls for oDAO nodes. Minor adjustments were also made to accommodate Saturn-0 and update messages. Shortly after, version 1.14.1 was released to address a breaking change in Prysm and update Lodestar, which is only necessary for Prysm users. Node operators that updated within 72 hours received a POAP.

This POAP commemorates Jasper’s impactful Twitter thread on Rocket Pool’s roadmap to 2.0, highlighting four major milestones: - Constellation L2: Now live with $xrETH, the first fully yield-bearing LST - Saturn 0: ETH-only bonds, launching in under two weeks - Saturn 1: Featuring LEB4s, direct value capture, and a full redesign - Saturn 2: Sublinear bonding down to 1.5 ETH, plus $RPL buy & burn Community members who read and boosted the thread’s visibility were awarded this POAP.

Rocket Pool has released v1.13.10 of the Smart Node, a recommended update featuring important bug fixes, client updates, and minor enhancements. This version includes updates to Geth, Besu, Reth, Teku, Nimbus, and Nethermind, along with new MEV-Boost support for the Holesky testnet and optimizations for oDAO RPC calls. Additional improvements include Reth peer parameter controls, cleanup for V10, and fixes to various issues. Rocket Pool node operators that were the first to upgrade received a POAP. This month's POAP was designed by talented Icelandic community member IcelandCalling.eth.

The inaugural Home Staking Summit 2024, held in Singapore. This event features speakers and panellists from major Ethereum staking and re-staking protocols across the world with a curated audience of aspiring and existing solo stakers as well as ETH-aligned communities. This POAP also signifies that the holder is interested in exploring the realm of Ethereum solo staking.

Rocket Pool has released v1.13.8 of the Smart Node. Smart Node 1.13.8 adds contribution guidelines, flags bloXroute Max Profit relay as censoring, supports configuring Nethermind's pruning, and auto-initializes voting power. It also removes the Eden Relay, improves voting command text, and adds a warning for uninitialized voting power during staking after the hotfix. Rocket Pool node operators that updated swiftly received a POAP.

The Rocket Pool Houston release delivered Protocol DAO on-chain voting. Shortly, the Protocol DAO will be able to vote on Snapshot for meta governance and vote on-chain to make protocol changes. Before Rocket Pool can enable Protocol DAO voting, node operators need to initialize their voting power in the new system and update their signaling address that is used to vote on Snapshot. Node operators that initialized their voting power by July 15 received a POAP.

On July 11, 2024, Rocket Pool released version 1.13.7 of the Smart Node. This recommended update includes client updates, bug fixes, and changes such as updating the Nethermind auto pruning threshold to 350 GB, fixing oDAO balances/prices submissions, deprecating node voting commands, and improving delegate and signaling-address wording. Node operators that updated quickly received a POAP.