Jul 6, 2023

The Parameter Committee (interim state) meets on a tri-weekly basis. Its members are a mix of different Cardano community members. The Parameter Committee discusses all parameters relating to the Cardano protocol including network, technical and economic parameter type. They are a technical advisory group and only make recommendations.

Updated list of the Members (interim state):

Chairs: Chair: Kevin Hammond Vice- chair: Alex Moser Vice- chair: Vijay Bhuvangiri

Advisory Group Heads: Network group: Neil Davies Economic group: Samuel Leathers Technical group: Markus Gufler

Advisory Group Members: Network group: Karl Knutson, Matthias Sieber, Marcin Szamotulski Technical group: Ruslan Dudin, Michael Peyton Jones Economic group: Sergio Sanchez, Philip Lazos, Giovanni Gargiulo

Other: Communications: Tommy Kammerer, Nathaniel Acton, Addie Girouard, Matthew Capps Domain experts: Martin Lang, Andrew Westberg Observers: WIP Secretary: Joaquín López

Agenda and Updates:

Agenda:

• Committee membership changes: Cristina, Becky are leaving and Joaquin, Matthew are nominated as replacements:

  • Joaquin Lopez is proposed as secretary, introduction to the team

  • Matthew Capps is proposed for communications, introduction to the team

• Confirm that advisory groups are active

• To receive reports from each advisory group on k and minPoolCost, to discuss these, and then to make a recommendation if possible

  • Consider whether a recommendation can be made on reducing minPoolCost by 50% (to 170 ada per epoch) now, and to take input on whether this is the best value for minPoolCost

  • To consider whether a recommendation can be made on increasing k (targetNumberOfPools)

  • To confirm that independent decisions can be taken on the two parameters

Updates:

• All three advisory groups are up and running, having meetings and discussing PCP 001.

  • The Network Advisory Group has been monitoring the network performance and didn’t find any concerns.

  • The Technical Advisory Group has been discussing the need for more feedback about increasing the k parameter and considering decreasing the minPoolCost parameter

  • The Economic Advisory Group has been discussing Mempool saturation and the effects of changing the k parameter.

• Reports on PCP 001 are still in preparation but all the advisory groups have made significant progress on discussing both k and minPoolCost, including considering the community input from the SPO poll.

• There is a relationship between the k parameter and the minPoolCost. Changing both parameters drastically and at the same time could have unexpected and potentially negative effects on the economics of stake pool operation. As long as the number of pools doesn’t change dramatically, we see no big effects on the operational performance of the network.

• The committee recommended decreasing the minPoolCost parameter to 170 Ada per epoch in line with the results of the SPO poll, and monitoring the effects of changing this parameter. Once the effects on the network and stake pools have been analyzed, further changes to either or both parameters can be considered.

• Votes in favor of decreasing the minPoolCost parameter: all.

  • Votes against decreasing minPoolCost parameter: none.

• Votes in favor of keeping k at 500 (for the near future): all.

  • Votes against keeping k at 500 (for the near future): none.

Action items

• Community relations team to be consulted

• Joaquín to summarize the outcomes of the meeting.

• Consult with research team