Overview

FIO Block Producers (BPs) host and manage the infrastructure necessary to run the FIO Chain. BPs also play a major role in the governance of the chain. FIO Protocol is a distributed proof-of-stake chain wherein FIO token holders choose BPs by voting for producers or proxying their vote.

Blocks are produced every 0.5 seconds by a specific block producer designated to produce a block at that time. Blocks are produced in rounds of 126 (6 blocks each times 21 producers). In FIO, block producers can modify system smart contracts with a ⅔ + 1 (15 BP) supermajority.

The block producer API details the transactions available for managing the FIO chain.

Performance and Effectiveness

There are several tools for examining BP performance and effectiveness. While no single measure can be used to determine how well a BP is performing, there are several measures that should be considered before voting.

FIO Foundation scores Block Producers based on several criteria. Here's the BP Monitor with latest scores.

Becoming a Block Producer

If you are thinking of becoming a BP, checkout this guide.

FAQs

Does the BP publish information about themselves?

Websites and social media links for block producers can be found on the bloks.io monitor and on the AlohaEOS FIO Block Producer Research Portal.

What are the performance benchmarks for the BP?

There are several BP-maintained tools that provide information on BP infrastructure and performance:

BP Monitor (published by FIO Foundation)
Mainnet Health Monitor (published by Blockpane)
FIO Producer Rankings (published by Blockpane)
Block Producer Reliability Tracker (published by AlohaEOS)
FIO Network Monitor (published by EOSUSA)
FIO Node Status (published by Ledgerwise)
FIO Stats Site (maintained by Blockpane)

Does the BP participate in governance and other strategic discussions?

The principle media channels for FIO BPs are the Mainnet and Testnet Telegram channels.

Does the BP keep up to date with releases?

FIO releases are published on the FIO Github repository. Version information for active BPs can be found on the FIO Mainnet Health monitor.

Does the BP build and maintain tools that benefit the protocol?

Many FIO block producers contribute to the protocol by building and maintaining helpful tools.