BIT-0011: Conviction

[gztensor]

Summary

This BIT proposes introduction of stake locks, where lock conviction will determine subnet ownership.

Note: In fact it tables the opentensor/subtensor#1860. Copying the description from #1860 with a few additions to clarify.

Note 2: THIS IS AN OPEN DISCUSSION, NOT A FINAL DESIGN YET.

Description and design considerations

Subnet owner becomes a dynamic address that can change based on subnet stake lock. Stake lock is a new state map that describes what amount of alpha owned by a coldkey is locked and cannot be transfered or unstaked at the current time. By locking their stake, a coldkey accrues certain conviction score. The conviction score is an increasing function of lock size and length. Locks are linear with 100% being locked at the start block and 0% on the end block. Any staker can lock their stake. Approximately once per month (7200 * 30 blocks) the conviction score EMAs are recalculated and, the highest by EMA account becomes the owner of the subnet.

• Locked stake can be moved between hotkeys, but it cannot be unstaked or moved to a different coldkey.
• If stake is locked, then only unlocked portion of it can be unstaked or transferred at a given block.
• Locked stake amount reduces linearly from the start block to end block.
• Current conviction score is calculated as the integral of current locked stake over time it is locked, which considers linear reduction.
• In order to prevent subnet sniping, the conviction score EMA is applied, which gives subnet owner enough warning to act.
• Emission (a new alpha amount) can be added to an existing lock, which will only increase it's size, but will not affect it's end block.
• Existing subnet owners need to be protected at the start of this feature (possibly, conviction score EMA will help).
• Chain provides long-term supported RPC APIs to:
  • Read conviction score for a single coldkey
  • Percentage of locked alpha for a subnet
• Feature does not affect root network ownership, but locks may exist on it for different purposes.

[mcjkula]

Changed the BIT number in the document to 0011 for consistency