Independent Treasury Review – Proposal #146

Subject: Funding Request from Lucky Friday (GlobalStake) for Interlay Public RPC
Date: November 2025
Prepared for: Interlay Treasury Council & Community
Purpose: An evidence-based, transparent assessment of Proposal #146 — avoiding blind trust and setting measurable funding standards.

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1) Executive Summary

Funding requested by Lucky Friday (d/b/a GlobalStake):

• $1,500 per quarter (approximately $500 per month) for ongoing public RPC services; and
• $6,000 retroactive compensation covering the past 12 months.

Claims by the proposer:

• They assert being one of the few remaining public RPC providers actively supporting Interlay, after OnFinality and Dwellir allegedly reduced their presence.
• They tout enterprise-grade metrics: ~99.99% uptime, bare-metal servers yielding <50 ms global latency, and operations that are SOC 2 Type II certified and carbon-negative.

Bottom line: A budget of $500/month may be reasonable if the service truly delivers enterprise-level reliability and transparency. However, any retroactive payment must be contingent on audited proof of past performance. The approval, if given, should be conditional – tied to strict KPIs with a mid-term performance audit to ensure accountability.

User impact: Reliable public RPC endpoints are critical infrastructure. They enable end-users, dApp developers, and wallets to maintain seamless access to Interlay’s DeFi ecosystem.

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2) Verification of Key Claims

2.1 OnFinality’s Ongoing Support

As of November 2025, OnFinality continues to support Interlay (and Kintsugi) in its list of supported networks. The public RPC endpoint (e.g. https://interlay.api.onfinality.io/public) remains operational, with a 99.99% uptime service level advertised for public APIs.

Conclusion: The claim that OnFinality “withdrew fully” from Interlay is not supported by evidence. Interlay remains listed and accessible via OnFinality.

2.2 Dwellir’s Status

Dwellir likewise lists Interlay as active and provides a live public endpoint (https://interlay-rpc.dwellir.com). Dwellir emphasizes bare-metal, self-owned infrastructure across global data centers.

Conclusion: The claim that Dwellir ceased public RPC for Interlay is not evidenced — the endpoint is live and functional.

2.3 Lucky Friday’s Self-Reported Metrics

The proposal cites ~100k requests/month, 99.99% uptime, and <50 ms latency, but no independent telemetry is provided (no public Grafana/Prometheus or third-party audit). The “only remaining provider” assertion is likewise unverified.

Summary: All performance claims should be independently audited before funding.

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3) Market Context

Shared RPC API – Typical Pricing

• OnFinality: ~$49–$249/month for tens–hundreds of millions of calls (overage per-MM).
• Dwellir: ~$49–$299/month tiers (e.g., up to ~150M responses).
• Ankr: ~$20 per 1M requests (pay-as-you-go).
• Community nodes: Free, no SLA.

Dedicated / Enterprise

• GetBlock (and peers): ~$600+/month for dedicated full nodes with 24/7 support.

Implication: $500/month = dedicated-tier pricing. Expect enterprise-grade delivery and verified usage. If usage is low and alternatives exist, $500/month is excessive.

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4) Pricing Analysis & Risks

When $500/month is justified

• Bare-metal, multi-region setup
• ≥99.99% uptime, <50 ms avg latency (global)
• Active failover, archival if promised
• 24/7 monitoring & on-call
• SOC 2 Type II (valid, in-scope)

When it’s excessive

• Low demand (<1M req/mo)
• No third-party KPIs
• Alternatives (OnFinality/Dwellir) work at lower or zero cost

Retroactive $6,000

Pay only upon proof of:

• 12-month uptime/latency logs
• Verified request stats
• Cost breakdown
• Signed attestation

Absent proof, limit to symbolic partial payment.

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5) Recommendations

5.1 Approve a short trial with conditions

Approve 3-month trial ($1,500) via monthly escrow ($500/month) with release only upon KPI delivery.

5.2 Monthly KPIs (report publicly)

Category	Metric	Target	Evidence
Uptime	Availability	≥ 99.99%	Grafana/Prometheus exports
Latency	Avg / p99	<50 ms / <120 ms	CSV/heatmap (multi-region)
Errors	Error rate	<0.1%	RPC logs
Regions	Active + standby	≥2 + 1	Failover test results
Archival	Mode	Full/archival (declared)	Config disclosure
Security	Compliance	SOC 2 Type II valid	Certificate / audit summary
Transparency	Public reporting	Monthly report on-chain	IPFS CID + on-chain reference

5.3 Retroactive payment – after evidence

Consider up to $6,000 only after acceptable evidence (12-mo logs, latency, usage, costs, signed declaration).

5.4 Maintain competition / redundancy

Solicit updated terms from OnFinality and Dwellir. Keep at least one backup RPC configured.

5.5 Mid-term audit (6 months)

Assess KPI adherence, $/usage efficiency, community feedback, and alternatives. Renew / renegotiate / rotate accordingly.

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6) Governance Transparency Standards

6.1 On-chain proof of service

Every monthly report → IPFS CID, hash posted on-chain.

6.2 Impact statement

Reliable RPC affects: iBTC bridge & vaults, lending, wallet UX (Talisman/SubWallet/Nova), SDKs & bots.

6.3 Continuity clause

If provider exits, they must hand over configs, snapshots, monitoring so a replacement can spin up fast.

6.4 Evidence package (example)

• Uptime CSV (30d), latency heatmap, incident report(s)
• Multi-region traceroutes/pings
• SOC2 proof / audit excerpt

6.5 Motto

“Fund infrastructure, not promises — measure, verify, publish.”

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7) Governance Rationale

• Transparency: evidence-based spending
• Competition: avoid single-provider risk
• Value: enterprise price ↔ enterprise delivery
• User impact: RPC uptime → DeFi accessibility
• Accountability: certifications & claims must be proven

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8) Proposed Decision (Draft)

• ✅ Approve with conditions: 3-month trial ($1,500), monthly escrow tied to KPIs.
• 🕓 Defer $6,000 retroactive until evidence is reviewed.
• 🔄 Benchmark OnFinality/Dwellir; ensure redundancy.
• 📊 Require public monthly KPI reports with on-chain hashes.

Vote Recommendation: ✅ Aye – Approve with Conditions

“Interlay should fund performance, not promises — measurable uptime, verified latency, transparent costs.”

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9) Call for Comments

Feedback requested on: KPI sufficiency, retroactive policy, backup strategy, and long-term infra funding model.

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10) Risks & Mitigations

Risk	Description	Mitigation
Operational	Missed KPIs / outages	Escrow; pause/cancel; failover to backup
Financial	Overpay vs. real usage	Usage stats; quarterly cost review
Governance	Precedent of paying w/o proof	Enforce public KPIs & evidence
Reputational	Funding underperformance harms trust	Conditional approval; full transparency

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11) Oversight Framework (brief)

Principles: transparency; conditional funding; multi-provider; periodic audits; community dashboard.
Roadmap: M1–2 telemetry live; M3 release if KPIs met; M4–6 benchmark alternatives; M6 audit → renew/renegotiate/rotate.
Outcome: performance-driven infra funding.

Takeaway:

“Don’t fund infrastructure because it exists — fund it because it performs.”

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12) KPI Reporting Template

Interlay Public RPC — Monthly KPI Report (Lucky Friday / GlobalStake)
Period: YYYY-MM | Report Date: YYYY-MM-DD | IPFS CID: … | On-chain Ref: …

1) Availability & Reliability — Uptime %, downtime (list), error rate, SLO compliance
2) Latency — Avg/p95/p99 by region; attachments (CSV/heatmap)
3) Traffic & Capacity — Requests total, peak RPS, egress
4) Redundancy & Continuity — Regions, standby, failover test, node type, backups
5) Security & Compliance — SOC2 status, patches, access control notes
6) Incidents — date/time, duration, root cause, mitigation
7) Cost Breakdown (optional) — hardware, bandwidth, monitoring, on-call

Declaration: Metrics are accurate and complete.
Signed: <name, role> — Lucky Friday / GlobalStake

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13) Conclusion & Final Recommendation

Resolution:

1. Approve $1,500 pilot quarter with KPI-gated monthly releases.
2. Defer $6,000 retroactive until satisfactory evidence is reviewed.
3. Require monthly public KPI reports and on-chain hashes.
4. Maintain backup RPCs (OnFinality, Dwellir) for redundancy.

Treasury Rationale: Conditional, evidence-based funding safeguards public funds, ensures value, and avoids lock-in.

Recommended Vote: ✅ Aye – Approve with Conditions

“Interlay should fund performance, not promises — measurable uptime, verified latency, transparent costs.”

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End of Report
(Prepared independently for the Interlay Treasury Council and community governance, November 2025.)

To ensure transparency and effective use of Treasury funds, the following operational conditions and community actions are recommended:

1️⃣ Independent Verification — Lucky Friday should provide Prometheus/Grafana exports or read-only dashboards showing uptime, latency (p95/p99), and request volumes. This is essential to validate the claimed 99.99 % uptime and sub-50 ms latency.

2️⃣ Community Impact Mapping — The team is encouraged to publish a short summary of real RPC usage: which wallets, dApps, or bridges rely on this endpoint. This will clarify whether the cost truly reflects ecosystem demand.

3️⃣ Escrow-Based Disbursement — To align incentives, Treasury could release funds quarterly through a multi-sig or escrow mechanism, tied to KPI confirmation (uptime, latency, transparency reports).

4️⃣ Sustainability and Redundancy Plan — In parallel, Treasury should invite updated offers from OnFinality and Dwellir (and other RPC operators) to restore healthy competition and avoid single-vendor dependency.

5️⃣ Long-Term Governance Standard — Proposal #146 can serve as a precedent for all future RPC or infrastructure grants: fund only with measurable KPIs, public telemetry, and optional competitive bidding.

This approach protects the Treasury, promotes accountability, and ensures Interlay’s infrastructure remains resilient, verifiable, and community-driven.