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SMASH

SMASH is a metadata aggregation server that manages metadata for stake pools. The functionality provided by SMASH supports stake pool operations and the delegation ecosystem with its standardized framework for listing valid stake pools with verified metadata.

For more information and tutorials: Go to GitHub repo

Cardano Shelley introduced the concept of stake pools - reliable server nodes that keep an aggregated stake of pool operators and delegators in a single entity. Stake pools are registered on-chain, and their on-chain data (such as information required to calculate rewards) is critical to the operation of the ledger. Stake pools also possess metadata that helps users to make a rational choice of a stake pool to delegate to. This metadata is stored off-chain, as it might reflect sensitive content. Such an approach allows for a certain degree of decentralized censorship.

But on the other hand, off-chain metadata storage poses a challenge of open access by different users. On-chain stake pool registrations contain an URL pointer to the off-chain metadata and a content hash that can be fetched from a specific stake pool. This might cause both performance and privacy issues. Another crucial aspect to address is the stake pool’s “ticker” name, which is the short name a stake pool is recognized by. Ticker names might reflect prominent brands or trademarks that should not be duplicated, as this might lead to confusion. SPOs running multiple pools might want to use the same metadata for all their pools, for example, which might lead to these pools appearing with the same ticker name. This would not be an ideal situation.

To support stake pool operations and provide visibility over the delegation ecosystem, we have created a Stake Pool Metadata Aggregation Server – SMASH.

Learn about SMASH​

The purpose of SMASH is to aggregate off-chain metadata that stake pools provide when they register on the Cardano blockchain.

This metadata might include:

  • owner
  • pool name
  • pool ticker
  • homepage
  • pledge address
  • short description

The integrity and reputation of Cardano depends on ensuring that registered stake pools are valid, that they do not duplicate ticker names or trademarks, and do not feature content that users are likely to find offensive. SMASH was designed to improve visibility on verified stake pool information for Cardano users and enable convenient navigation options.

The first generation of SMASH was initially deployed by IOHK and is currently used in the Daedalus delegation center, where it enables users to view available stake pools with verified names, ticker symbols, websites, and short descriptions. The functionality provided by SMASH supports stake pool operations and the delegation ecosystem with its standardized framework for listing valid stake pools with verified metadata.

SMASH rationale​

The rationale for introducing a metadata aggregation server in the Cardano architecture is two-fold:

  • to keep the stake pool metadata stored off-chain; and
  • to retain the ability to moderate stake pool metadata, without any centralized censor.

The metadata is hosted off-chain and referred to from the on-chain pool registration. SMASH collects the off-chain data to make it more convenient, performant, and reliable for wallets and other applications to access it.

The SMASH server also addresses a second consideration: the desire to moderate the content of stake pool metadata without a centralized censoring entity. For example, most wallet users and stake pool operators would like to have the ability to treat stake pool ticker names as if they were unique trademarks. It would be too complex to have a fair, on-chain system to resolve ticker name disputes. So instead of enforcing uniqueness on chain, this can optionally be enforced by filtering the metadata as part of metadata aggregation. Multiple aggregation services can be run by different organizations following different policies on filtering stake pool metadata, which enables wallet users and other consumers of stake pool metadata to choose which policy to follow, if any.

SMASH can be configured with policies to filter out metadata based on block lists or reserved ticker names. Daedalus can be configured to use any SMASH server. You can also find more information about the pool metadata here.

SMASH use cases​

As SMASH is introduced to address metadata performance and privacy issues, delegators, stake pool operators, exchanges, or wallets can deploy and use SMASH to ensure a higher level of metadata accountability and maintenance. Exchanges, wallets, or other SPOs then act as operators and can validate and manage this metadata, or curate it for censorship via the delisting feature.

Exchanges, for example, can use SMASH to fetch stake pool metadata and verify its content against the on-chain registered hash. The exchange can then check existing metadata for correctness (size limits, content, etc.), create new stake pools manually, and reserve their ticker names. If there is a stake pool with a duplicated ticker name, counterfeit, or offensive content, it will be possible to delist this pool.

There are many other use cases for running SMASH servers besides censorship: an operator might choose to list only charity pools or pools from a certain region for ada holders who would prefer to support locally-operated stake pool businesses, for example.

It is expected that more operators will use SMASH servers for metadata curation. As more servers come online, they can be added to a list of preferred SMASH servers within the Daedalus wallet.