We have decided to launch collators on Kintsugi now to decentralise the network and re-focus on incentives later. The final step is to decide what value `CandidacyBond` should be set to - ensuring the safety and liveness of the network. Please see this discussion post for a more in-depth explanation of the parameters and concerns: https://kintsugi.subsquare.io/post/12

📚 https://docs.interlay.io/#/collator/overview


What minimum collator bond should be required on Kintsugi? 

The "griefing collateral" (also called the "security deposit" on the issue page) requires a user to lock some KINT in order to create an issue request. Its purpose is to deter individuals from creating issue requests that they do not intend to fulfill. If a user creates an issue request and doesn't send the BTC within the time limit (currently 48+ hours, depending on block production rate) then the request expires and they lose the griefing collateral.

Currently the griefing collateral is calculated as 0.005% of the amount of kBTC being issued. For instance, a user who wants to issue $1,000 worth of kBTC must lock a meager $0.05 worth of KINT. The amount was initially set low in order to limit the hurdles involved in minting kBTC while launching the parachain and bootstrapping liquidity. However this seems to no longer be a concern, as kBTC has been in high demand for over 6 weeks and the bridge is regularly at or close to its maximum capacity.

Instead, what has transpired is that a small number of accounts tend to "reserve" kBTC whenever it is available, creating issue requests without the intent to send the BTC until later (either close to the deadline or not at all). **Of the last 100 issue requests, more than 20% of them expired.** This has the negative effect of tying up the available capacity in the bridge and preventing other, honest users from being able to issue kBTC, as well as affecting the distribution of vault rewards. When done maliciously this would be classified as a Denial of Service attack. In short, the griefing collateral is not high enough to fulfill its purpose.

After some discussion in the community Discord, my suggestion is to raise the griefing collateral to 0.5% (i.e., $5 of KINT when issuing $1,000 worth of kBTC). I believe this amount strikes a good balance, with increased financial costs for dishonest activity while not being prohibitive for honest users wishing to use the bridge (and will hopefully help with the capacity issue which prevents those users from bridging BTC at all). It's on the same order of magnitude as the issue fee (0.15%), but unlike the fee, the griefing collateral is returned to the issuer once their request has completed successfully.

Once the extrinsic has been added to change the griefing collateral on chain via code upgrade, this will be created as a governance proposal, but for now, feel free to vote with your preference in this poll. If you have a suggestion for a different amount, please vote "Other" and post your suggestion in the comments below.

Raise the Griefing Collateral for Issue Requests to 0.5%

Please find below the parameter configuration proposed for the "KINT vaults":

- **Initial collateral ceiling:** 1 million USD equivalent
- **Secure collateral threshold:** 700%
- **Premium redeem threshold:** 600%
- **Liquidation threshold:** 500%

Add KINT As Collateral for Kintsugi Vaults?

Please find below the parameter configuration proposed for the “USDC vaults”:
- **Initial collateral ceiling:** 1 million USD equivalent
- **Secure collateral threshold:** 160%
- **Premium redeem threshold:** 140%
- **Liquidation threshold:** 120%

Add USDC as a collateral for Kintsugi Vaults?

Dear Kintsugi innovators,

We are ready to open an XCM (more precisely, HRMP) channel between Kintsugi and Karura! 
We are sure this is beneficial to the Kintsugi ecosystem and now also want to hear your opinion!

The staking UI is nearly finished, but not just yet - so voting on-chain is still a somewhat tedious process via Polkadot.js. 

--> Hence, we are doing another round of off-chain voting. 

**The vote will:**

Start on 28 February 17:00 UTC
End on 2 March 17:00 UTC
Duration: 48h
What are we voting on?
To open XCM (HRMP) channel between Kintsugi and Karura, enabling transfers of KINT (and soon kBTC) to Karura.

Important: moving Karura-native assets to Kintsugi will not yet work - we are working to add support for this asap.

**When will the XCM channel open?**
Likely before 15 March

**Why do we need an XCM channel to Karura?**
To enable DeFi use cases for KINT (and soon kBTC), including but not limited to bootstrapping and trading pools, as well as (hopefully soon) kUSD integrations!

**Why are we using off-chain voting?**
Kintsugi's governance requires you to stake your KINT tokens. However, the staking user interface is not 100% completed (and Polkadot.js is difficult to use).

There will still be an on-chain vote - and we will do our best to finish the staking and governance UX by then - but in case the easy-to-use interfaces are not yet ready, we want to be sure that we have consensus among our community.

---
Greetings from the Interlay team

Please vote: open an XCM channel between Kintsugi and Karura?

Dear Kintsugi community, 

We are ready to open an XCM (more precisely, HRMP) channel between Kintsugi and Moonriver. Our teams have been working on this integration for the past weeks. 

While we are sure that this is beneficial to the Kintsugi ecosystem - in the spirit of the decentralized system that Kintsugi is - we want to hear your opinion!

The vote will:

- Start on 16 February 9:00 UTC
- End on 18 February 9:00 UTC 
- Duration: 48h

**What are we voting on?**
To open XCM (HRMP) channel between Kintsugi and Moonriver on Kusama, enabling transfers of KINT (and soon kBTC) to Moonriver. 

Important: moving Moonriver-native assets to Kintsugi will not yet work - we are working to add support for this asap.  

**When will the XCM channel open?**
Likely before February 20th

**Why do we need an XCM channel to Moonriver?**
To finally enable DeFi use cases for KINT (and soon kBTC). We cannot yet reveal which integrations will happen first but we are working with the largest DeFi Dapps on Moonriver to bring you the best Kintsugi DeFi experience. 

**Why are we using off-chain voting?**
Kintsugi's governance requires you to stake your KINT tokens. However, the staking user interface is not 100% completed (and Polkadot.js is difficult to use). 

We would have like to ask the community to vote without locking KINT on-chain - and to understand if opening an XCM channel between Kintsugi and Moonriver is in everyone's best interests. 

There will still be an on-chain vote - and we will do our best to finish the staking and governance UX by then - but in case the easy-to-use interfaces are not yet ready, we want to be sure that we have consensus among our community. 

PS: plus, this is a great opportunity to test this off-chain voting platform built by OpenSquare. 

---
Greetings from the Interlay team