Migrating from Minipools to Megapool Validators
If you're a returning node operator looking to migrate their minipool stake to a megapool, this page will offer a step-by-step guide on how to do so. Migration involves exiting your minipools, unstaking legacy RPL and creating new megapool validators. Additionally, you can restake the RPL on your megapool to earn voter share rewards - 9% of protocol ETH revenue is distributed proportionally to RPL stakers with megapool validators. This is in addition to the previously standard RPL inflation rewards.
These are the four separate steps:
- Exiting your minipool. That means unwinding your validator and withdrawing its full balance from the Beacon Chain.
- Unstaking and withdrawing your legacy RPL
- Creating a new megapool validator
- Restake the RPL on a megapool. This step is optional, but doing so will earn voter share rewards from ETH revenue
Before you commit to migrating your minipool stake to a megapool, you'll want to consider the status of the Rocket Pool deposit queue and the Beacon Chain queue. Both of which are variable in wait time and independent of each other. The Rocket Pool deposit queue governs the creation of new megapool validators and when they get matched with ETH from rETH stakers. Meanwhile, the Beacon Chain deposit queue governs the process of how quickly your minipool validator can exit in addition to how soon your new megapool validator can begin participating in attestation duties.
Also consider that the megapool validator bond is 4 ETH, which means you'll be able to create two megapool validators for every 8 ETH minipool validator you have.
Once your minipool has fully exited from the Beacon Chain, you won't be earning rewards on your ETH until your megapool validator is processed by the Rocket Pool deposit queue and the Beacon Chain deposit queue. You'll want to monitor the length of the queue to decide when to migrate.
https://saturn-1.net/queue is a community supported dashboard created by Steely! This page can give you an idea of how long the Rocket Pool deposit queue is.
https://www.validatorqueue.com/ is a helpful site for checking the length of the Beacon Chain queue. This queue is contingent on the amount of ETH
entering and leaving the Beacon Chain. It's processed at a rate of 256 ETH per epoch.
https://rocketpool.net/node-staking/rpl-fee-switch models the impact of Saturn 1's fee switch on your staking rewards.
Step 1: Exiting your Minipool
Exiting your minipool is first step for migrating stake to a megapool. Follow the link below for a handy guide on how to exit your minipool and withdraw funds from the Beacon Chain:
https://docs.rocketpool.net/node-staking/withdraw
This process might take a few days. Feel free to bookmark this page and revisit when it's complete.
Before you proceed to the next step (Unstaking and Withdrawing Legacy RPL), make sure that your minipool is fully exited from the Beacon
Chain and the rewards have been distributed using the rocketpool minipool close command.
rocketpool minipool close will finalize your minipool and distribute its full rewards, allowing you to
unstake your full balance of legacy RPL.
Step 2: Unstaking and Withdrawing Legacy RPL
The withdrawal limit for legacy RPL is 15% of minipool borrowed ETH. If you wish to unstake your full balance of legacy RPL, you need to ensure that all your borrowed ETH ratio is at 0% by closing all of your minipools.
When you're ready, you can use the following command to unstake and withdraw Legacy RPL:
There is a 28 day unstaking period before you can withdraw your Legacy RPL. Please follow this link for detailed instructions on how to unstake and withdraw legacy RPL.
Step 3: Creating a Megapool Validator
Once your minipool is closed and the funds are fully accessible, you're ready to create a new megapool validator! You don't have to wait for the legacy RPL unstaking period to complete before proceeding to making a megapool validator. Megapool validator creation can be done alongside the legacy RPL unstaking process.
The following page below will walk you through all the steps for creating a new megapool validator:
https://docs.rocketpool.net/node-staking/megapools/create-megapool-validator
As a returning node operator, you'll receive one express queue ticket per 4 ETH bonded in minipools. That's 2 tickets per 8 ETH minipool. These tickets are available to you immediately, no need to exit minipools to create new megapool validators using the express queue. You can create new megapool validators using the express queue while running your minipools if you want.
The Rocket Pool deposit queue processes deposits at a rate of 4 express queue validators for each standard queue validator. Please read Rocket Pool Deposit Queue and Express Queue to learn more about how ETH is assigned to new megapool validators.
Step 4: Staking RPL on your megapool
Click on the following link for instructions on how to stake your RPL on a megapool:
https://docs.rocketpool.net/node-staking/megapools/staking-and-claiming-rewards#staking
This step is totally optional as RPL staking is not required to create megapool validators. You won't want to miss out on this step if you want to earn voter share rewards, RPL inflation rewards (same as previous RPL inflation rewards), and have voting power in Protocol Dao (pDAO) governance.
- The voter share (9% of protocol revenue) is distributed proportionally among all node operators based on their share of total megapool RPL staked.
For more detailed information on how voter share is distributed to RPL stakers with megapool validators, read this guide: How Voter Share is Distributed to Megapool RPL stakers
And there you have it! As always, don't forget to brush up on the Monitoring and Maintenance guide if needed. This section covers all the related topics to keeping your node in tip top shape, including software updates and how to monitor the health of your node.