Proposal - Protocol R&D Special Purpose Entity

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Hey there :waving_hand:

Sidestream Protocol R&D SPE here - below is our second monthly update.

Protocol R&D SPE - Sidestream - Update #2

  • Status: On track

  • Summary: We successfully executed the second protocol update on 2026-03-19, building on an improved process that we derived from a retrospective on the first update. Beyond that, we finalized the testnet proposal, which is now awaiting feedback from the Security Committee.

  • Key achievements

    • Protocol update: Prepared, executed, validated the second protocol update on 2026-03-19, following the improved checklist end to end. As part of this, we are now included in a multi-sig setup that allows us to act as a proposer for protocol updates.

    • Process iteration - protocol updates: Conducted a retrospective on the first protocol update, extracted learnings, and updated the multi-stage protocol update checklist to improve reliability and efficiency for future updates.

    • Testnet proposal: Finalized the testnet proposal and shared it with the Livepeer Security Committee for review and input.

    • Structured backlog: Collected and structured a backlog of protocol update candidates to be implemented and executed in upcoming routine protocol updates, establishing a clearer update roadmap. Collected prioritization input from the Security Committee.

    • Process iteration - Immunefi pipeline: Refined the Immunefi triage pipeline based on learnings from processing the first round of reports.

    • Immunefi response readiness: Maintained continuous team-on-duty coverage to ensure timely reaction to incoming vulnerability reports.

    • Proactive security work: Completed internal security review on one additional core protocol contract.

  • Planned by Next Update:

    • Deployment: Prepare the next protocol update from the structured backlog.

    • Immunefi Response: Process all Immunefi submissions in time, based on their severity.

    • Testnet proposal: Iterate on the testnet proposal based on Security Committee feedback, collect further feedback from the community and start with implementation.

    • Proactive security work: Complete internal security review of further protocol contracts. These internal reviews serve as a proactive defense layer before vulnerabilities get reported via public bug bounty programs.

    • Backlog orchestration: Advance the various items that either still need to be evaluated/conceptualized, need to be developed, where development from us has already happened and input from other stakeholders is needed or that are ready and need to be scheduled for deployment

  • ETA for Next Update: End of April 2026

Be aware: Due to the sensitive nature of our work it is not possible to share links to many of the concrete artifacts we created (e.g., the processed vulnerability reports and their results) as these can only be shared with the security committee.

Similar to the first update you can check the implicit artifacts of the 2nd update via the transaction and discord announcement.

Last but not least: Feel free to tag @Mehrdad in the forum or on discord in case you have any protocol feature requests. He will then relay them to us and we will check them out!

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