DePIN Support for RARI Chain. Onboarding RARI to the POKT Network

[benedictvs]

DePIN Support for RARI Chain. Onboarding RARI to the POKT Network.

tldr;

Thank you for the opportunity to get to know all of you over the past weeks and being able to present at the community call today. As we at PORTERS were able to connect to some familiar faces and meet a many new ones at RARI, we want to follow up with a forum discussion on the onboarding of RARI Chain to the POKT Network.

The main benefit for RARI is in receiving low latency and decentralised node support for the entirety of its lifecycle without any cost for nodes as long as demand for using RARI Chain exists. PORTERS will facilitate the onboarding process and is interested in providing best practice easy NFT-minting functionalities as an open-source reference implementation and API.

PORTERS will expose public endpoints with no or minimal rate limiting, making its endpints the most competitive in the freemium tier.

Proposal

• Onboarding of RARI Chain to the POKT Network
• Provision Public RPC Endpoints for Mainnet & Testnet
• Increase RARI Chain Accessibility
• Support Developer Ecosystem
• Ensure High Performance and Reliability on scalable DePIN

Reasoning

RPC service providers rarely offer their services with an on-chain and builder first mentality. As PORTERS grew out of RaidGuild and beyond, we experienced first hand how crucial the NFT sector is to builders focused on on-chain only use cases. Rarible has been a great partner to many of RaidGuild’s clients for informing their software architectures and smart contract design, but many struggled with connecting on-chain elements of their NFT dApps to frontends.

With PORTERS we now have the chance to tackle these pain points where they arise and want to lower the barrier to entry for new developers and NFT application builders entering the space. We have learned from builders in the Rarible ecosystem how crucial seamless NFT data integration is for them to get started. To this end, we would like to partner with RARI for providing decentralised RPC services for the RARI Chain and develop a set of NFT API making use of decentralised public infrastructure - providing easy and equal access users to all NFT users globally.

Slide Deck from the community call

Figma

About Us

PORTERS is a Gateway to the POKT Network for developer by developers. PORTERS combines seamless access with the robustness of DePIN for builders, users, and networks in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Ask

We would like to garner support for a shared vision of decentralised RPC support for RARI Chain and its users, while checking DAO and foundation sentiment for proceeding with this initiative.

[Jose_StableLab]

Hi Benedict!

Thank you for your introduction to POKT Network. Given my limited technical expertise I would enjoy some further technical clarification, also coming from the Rari DAO’s most tech savvy members. Regarding the Rari Chain, my limited technical understanding makes it difficult to assess the value of the integration to the POKT Network. However, regarding the costs, you mention the integration would be costless in case the Rari Chain held high transaction activity. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and currently the chain’s activity is very low. Given current market conditions, what would be the costs associated to the integration to the POKT Network.

[benedictvs]

Hi Jose!

Thank you for your questions because they allow me to elaborate on what might have been not as clear on the call as I would have hoped.

The initial onboarding is not costless, as it is involves work from us, including:

1. Whitelisting
2. PORTERS configuration
3. Node support
4. Endpoint publication

However, this is usually a one time fee as opposed to an ongoing maintenance fee charged by centralised providers.

I say usually because it has the caveat you are alluding to in your post. If the chain does not have ~2M daily compute units, you would have to bolster organic traffic to reach this threshold sent daily to POKT network to ensure that node runners are incentivised to support RARI Chain.

Now that might sound a lot, but effectively that will cost you approx. 5-10 USD a day or approx. 3,000 USD a year and we can take this over for you. Compare that to other providers, who are charging around 2,500 USD a month for this service.

Long story short, this does not mean you need 2M transactions on RARI Chain, nor does it mean this amount has to go to waste. We would like to offer you building a service that makes meaningful use of these units, which ultimately also benefits the chain’s growth overall. This approach is in nature and quality different and more user-centric compared to all other providers on the market.

I hope this helps!

[Jose_StableLab]

I see, thanks for the clarification. What would be the one-time onboarding fee, then?

[benedictvs]

Thank you for your feedback @Jose_StableLab ! The proposed overall fee structure we have calculated for this initiative is as follows:

• Onboarding to POKT Network: USD 17,000 in RARI
• Node support of 30 POKT nodes, propagation, and public enpoints: 15,000 USDC

Optional but suggested:

• 3rd party NFT minting & lookup integration on RARI chain: USD 13,000 in RARI
  • as reference implementation on PORTERS’ “Easy Integrations Portal”
  • as a service through PORTERS RPC & API portal

I hope this helps. We are open to your feedback!

[bitblondy]

Thanks for your proposal and the intro in the community call. Is the node support an ongoing fee, or does it belong to the setup costs?

And may you share some more resources about POKT, e.g. other chains you already support? Additionally, maybe somebody from the RARI foundation could give some insights into the (technical) benefits of the integration.

[benedictvs]

Hi @bitblondy !

Thank you for your questions. The node support is an initial cost to give us (the RARI Community and PORTERS) enough time to ensure that ~1.5m compute units per day are coming through. In other words, we want to make sure that we get reach relevant stakeholding community members so that anyone wanting to know something from RARI Chain or anyone publishing something on RARI chain can use this.

Ongoing maintenance for ensuring the endpoint is up will cost someone spending ~150-300 USD/month for usage, i.e. this is the minimum usage threshold. To put that in perspective, this is the cost of 3 developers paying a monthly Alchemy subscription. Since POKT network is decentralised, this usage also can be spent with any RPC provider using POKT.

To your second question, we have already successfully onboarded Taiko, for which we are the only provider of public endpoints that are not rate limited. Generally, POKT Network supports over 60 chains taking an unbiased approach. PORTERS as part of the POKT community wants to help you grow as a community, but refrains from engaging in any activities related to L2 competition.

General documentation on POKT Network is available here https://docs.pokt.network/. In case you have specific questions, I am happy to answer them as much as I can or refer you to someone who is in the most convenient way possible.

Let me know if this helps for now.

Ben

[bitblondy]

Thanks for the information, seems like a useful addition to the ecosystem, and the maintenance fee seems reasonable as well.
This is additional to the 17k RARI onboarding and 15k USDC node support fee?

[benedictvs]

Dear @bitblondy,

Thank you for your follow up here. I would prefer to not call it a maintenance fee, as this should really be a minimum usage threshold. However, I can conceive why it may come across as maintenance fee whenever it is unclear whether the usage is met.

To give all stakeholders sufficient time ramping up usage, we can include the first year of threshold usage in the package. That would equate roughly to 550m relays.

What do you think?

[benedictvs]

As suggested by @JanaBe during the community call, we have reworked our proposal to comply with the standard and would like to bring this to the attention of bitblondy and @Jose_StableLab & Matt with the reuqest for feedback.

Abstract

This proposal outlines the onboarding of the RARI Chain to the POKT Network, facilitated by PORTERS, with the goal of providing decentralised RPC services to support RARI Chain’s lifecycle. The key benefit for RARI is access to decentralised, low-latency node support without recurring node costs as long as demand persists. PORTERS will also offer NFT-minting functionalities and expose public RPC endpoints with minimal rate limiting to enhance accessibility and competitiveness within the freemium tier.

The proposal emphasises addressing pain points experienced by developers in the Rarible ecosystem, specifically connecting NFT applications to decentralised infrastructure. By providing scalable RPC services, PORTERS aims to lower barriers for new developers entering the space and support the broader growth of RARI Chain.

The financial structure includes a one-time onboarding fee and ongoing node support costs. Additional optional services for NFT minting and integration are also proposed to enhance utility. The proposal seeks support from the RARI community and DAO members to align on a shared vision for decentralised infrastructure and to assess the overall value of this integration.

Motivation

RPC service providers rarely offer their services with an on-chain and builder first mentality. As PORTERS grew out of RaidGuild and beyond, we experienced first hand how crucial the NFT sector is to builders focused on on-chain only use cases. Rarible has been a great partner to many of RaidGuild’s clients for informing their software architectures and smart contract design, but many struggled with connecting on-chain elements of their NFT dApps to frontends.

With PORTERS we now have the chance to tackle these pain points where they arise and want to lower the barrier to entry for new developers and NFT application builders entering the space. We have learned from builders in the Rarible ecosystem how crucial seamless NFT data integration is for them to get started. To this end, we would like to partner with RARI for providing decentralised RPC services for the RARI Chain and develop a set of NFT API making use of decentralised public infrastructure - providing easy and equal access users to all NFT users globally.

Thus, PORTERS sets out to extend its RPC payment smart contracts to RARI Chain, provisioning decentralised RPC support for RARI Chain networks through the POKT network, and deploying a public endpoint for RARI Chain Testnet and Mainnet to Chainlist. It is a unique offering by PORTERS to RARI, providing RARI Chain exclusive exposure to the POKT Network community, and supports bringing new builders to RARI for increasing RARI demand.

PORTERS will drive adoption not only through community engagement, tutorials, and integrations that highlight the ease of use for developers working within the RARI community and build on RARI Chain. PORTERS also provides uncapped free public endpoints to get developers started immediately, which includes the disbursement of 550m relay credits to eligible users and projects.

PORTERS will leverage its existing links to large developer communities, such as the POKT Network Community and RaidGuild. These networks span 150-300 active developers, marketers, and Web3 enthusiasts capable of kickstarting RARI Chain’s usage growth.

Specifications and Steps to Implement

By providing much needed RPC support for RARI Chain that is up-to-par with developer needs, we will make RARI more readily accessible to dApp developers, who do not have to spend their grant funding in order to procure RPC relay credits. Thus, PORTERS grows RARI’s positioning as an L3 strategically and substantially through heightened exposure and support for its networks, as well as in its strive for becoming an ever more accessible platform for smart contract and dApp developers.

Step 1: Onboarding RARI Chain to the POKT Network

Integrate RARI Chain into the POKT Network for decentralised RPC node provisioning.

Deliverables

• Collaborate with the RARI Chain community and technical teams to assess network requirements.
• Technically onboard RARI Chain to the POKT network by setting up and configuring nodes.
• Publish public RPC endpoints for both RARI Mainnet and Testnet on relevant platforms (e.g., Chainlist).
• Bootstrap a minimum of 30 POKT nodes for supporting RARI Chain traffic.

What Success means:

• Public availability of RPC endpoints for RARI Chain.
• Verification through network monitoring tools (e.g., POKT Scan).
• Release of initial relay credits (approx. 550 million relays over the first year).
• Estimated Completion: Month 2.
• Budget: $32,000 ($17,000 in RARI, $15,000 in USDC for node support).

Step 2: Development and Deployment of NFT API & Integrations

Develop and deploy NFT-minting and data integration APIs for the RARI ecosystem.

Deliverables

• Design and develop a reference implementation for NFT-minting functionality as an open-source API.
• Deploy NFT-related APIs using decentralised infrastructure.
• Make necessary changes to the RARI frontend to integrate the NFT API and onboard developers for testing.

What Success means:

• Availability of the NFT API in a public open-source repository.
• Functionality validated on the PORTERS platform and RARI Chain.
• Estimated Completion: Month 3.
• Budget: $13,000 (optional, in RARI).

Step 3: Ongoing Support, Maintenance, and Usage Growth

Provide ongoing technical support, maintain public RPC endpoints, and drive usage growth on RARI Chain.

Deliverables

• Offer continuous node support, ensuring RPC endpoints remain functional and scalable.
• Provide documentation for developers on how to use the NFT API and public RPC endpoints.
• Engage the community to increase usage and ensure the network reaches a minimum of 1.5 million compute units per day.
• Monitor network performance and adjust node support as needed.

What Success means:

• Daily throughput of 1.5 million relays for RARI Chain.
• Positive community feedback and engagement on usage.
• Ongoing availability of public RPC endpoints for one year.
• Estimated Completion: Month 4 and ongoing.

Estimated Timeline

• Month 1: Onboarding to POKT
• Month 2-3: Development NFT minting solution
• Month 4: Developer ecosystem growth and maintenance

Cost

The overall cost for this initiative is USD 45,000, whereas only the first part of the proposal is mandatory.

Required

• Onboarding to POKT Network: USD 17,000 in RARI
• Node support of 30 POKT nodes, propagation, and public endpoints: 15,000 USDC

Optional but suggested:

• 3rd party NFT minting & lookup integration on RARI chain: USD 13,000 in RARI
  • as reference implementation on PORTERS’ “Easy Integrations Portal”
  • as a service through PORTERS RPC & API portal

Outcomes

PORTERS honours and embraces the growth components present in this proposal. To this end, PORTERS suggests the following metrics and outcomes that augment the proposals success.

• User Adoption: Striking two (2) partnerships or collaborations with RARI Chain communities and three (3) dApp development studios building on RARI
• Performance Metrics: Achieving over 1 million RPC relays daily, with measurable improvements in transaction speeds and developer satisfaction.
• Community Growth: Hosting at least three (3) developer workshops focused on using decentralised RPC services, with participation from the RARI community, two (2) major Web3 developer communities, and a wider Web3 audience.

[bitblondy]

Thanks for updating the proposal and the suggestion to include the first year of threshold usage.

I’m not fully sure, if I understand the benefit of the second part of the proposal (Development and Deployment of NFT API & Integrations). Is this supposed to provide easier access to developers?

I would also be curious to hear some other opinions on this, especially with development experience.

And what would be the plan, if there is no sufficient activity on the chain, and it doesn’t seem to improve, is there an “offboarding” scenario? Just thinking about the worst case

Generally, I’m in support of the proposal.

[benedictvs]

Thank you @bitblondy for your kind response and question!

Your assumption is spot on. We know that some initiatives on RARI Chain, such as @jarisjames can benefit from an improved developer experience for NFT minting on the chain. Everything related to minting, also requires RPC support. Therefore, the second part of the proposal ties RARI’s success closer together with ours, as we can provide useful tooling to get more people started more easily and also ensure that RARI starts to be used more over RPC.

There are no costs associated with the POKT backend that are carried by RARI Foundation or DAO, as long as the RPC relay threshold is reached. If the RARI community wants to discontinue being serviced by PORTERS, it can cease sending relays at which point the chain may cease to be serviced by node operators.

Yet, the general idea of POKT is to further decentralisation. Thus, there should not be a single entity being able to remove RARI from POKT. A classical offboarding would look like rendering the integration unserviced by PORTERS, but does not prevent others from developing new offerings for RARI based on the whitelisted chain for the POKT network. In effect, the integration with POKT is censorship-resistant.

Thank you for your support! I am also interested in hearing other voices.

[bitblondy]

Thanks, @benedictvs, for the additional info. I was referring to the second part (the NFT API), not sure if I understand that correctly.

Also thanks for further explaining the discontinuation scenario, a decentralized structure makes sense.