Restake//Regen

See our Repo Readme for a more technical description.

Despite Ethereums move to proof-of-stake (POS) cutting its energy use by over 8000x, the POS network has a network of over 1 Million lightweight validator nodes running varying hardware, emitting roughly 2,000 Tonnes of CO2 annually across the network.

Protocols like Celo can claim to be carbon neutral because the protocol itself takes a small cut of every block rewards which goes to a carbon offset fund.

Adding this to Ethereum is impossible without a hard-fork. However, we can get a similar result using Eigenlayer restaking and slashing mechanisms by defining an AVS (Actively Validated Service) that enforces their pledge to subsidising the energy usage of running a node by retiring high quality Toucan Biochar (CHAR) carbon credits on Base L2.

Validators register (opt-in) with the Restake//Regen AVS with a self-selected % pledge of the total ethereum network (between 0.0001% and 1%) and then each epoch (28 days) they must send the required amount of CHAR to the Restake//Regen Funding Pool contract, which is then periodically retired.

A reciept of each contribution is stored in the funding pool. After the Epoch, anyone (i.e. a whistleblower) can challenge a validator through the Funding Pool, and claim they didn't make their promised contribution during the specified epoch. If the validator did contribute, the receipt is checked and they won't be slashed. If there is no satisfactory receipt during that epoch, they are slashed by the AVS.

Restake//Regen is a cross-chain application with tight integrations with a number of other protocols. It is comprised of two main components:

1. Restake//Regen Eigenlayer AVS (Ethereum L1)
2. Funding Pool (Base L2)

and relies on:

• Eigenlayer for stake and slashing
• Base for hosting the carbon accounting and pool contract
• CCIP for arbitrary message passing from Base to Ethereum in the case of attempted slashing
• WorldID for registration and Sybil resistance
• Toucan Protocol for access to tokenized, vetted, high-quality carbon credits

Eigenlayer

Eigenlayer allows for programming additional slashing rules on existing staked token pools, known as restaking. For Restake//Regen this stake gives economic incentive for operators to uphold their pledges and continue to offset the emissions of a particular protocol (for the hackathon we focused on Ethereum).

Having a large stake backing the regular, small, offset payments gives credibility to the pledge that these will continue into the future and allows for claims to be made (e.g. that the protocol is carbon neutral or negative).

Base

Base was our first-choice for the accounting layer as it is home to the highest quality carbon credits, as well as being cheap and Ethereum aligned.

CCIP

CCIP allows us to easily pass the data needed for challenges from Base to the L1. This cannot be done with a token bridge and requires an arbitrary message passing protocol like CCIP.

In the case of a slashing attempt CCIP is used to relay the contributions made by the challenged operator in a particular epoch. This data is then used by the ChallengeManager on L1 to determine if the operator was acting in accordance with their pledge or if they should be slashed.

World ID

Operators earn Net-Zero points for the signing a pledge, and for continuing to uphold an existing pledge.

Net-Zero points can be considered similar to a UBI for operators and similarly require Sybil protection to disincentivize splitting stake.

Participants must be World ID verified by the PledgeRegistry contract at the time they make their pledge.

Toucan Carbon Credits

Toucan is a well trusted web3 carbon credit protocol based on bridged, real world offsets and transparent projects from Vera and Gold Standard carbon registries into TCO2 tokens and relevant carbon pools. Toucan deployed their high quality CHAR pool on Base L2 in March 2024, currently priced at ~$160 USD (May 4, 2024).

Multiple offset projects area available with high transparency making it an excellent choice for dApps wanting to integrate with the carbon economy.