Q&A with Silk Nodes: dYdX Validator & Decentralized Infrastructure Builder

Introduction:

Silk Nodes is a trusted validator and active community voice on the dYdX Chain. Since 2021, they’ve combined secure, self-owned infrastructure with a people-first approach—engaging in governance, sharing educational content, and supporting the ecosystem from mainnet launch onward.

In this Q&A, we spoke with the Silk Nodes team about their setup, the challenges they’ve faced, and the principles that guide their work as validators.

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Q: To kick things off, can you introduce the Silk Nodes team? Who’s behind Silk Nodes, and what’s your background in running validators?

Silk Nodes is an independent infrastructure provider run by a tight-knit team of blockchain engineers and ecosystem contributors who have been actively validating and building in the Interchain since 2021. We originally came together through a shared belief in decentralization and the long-term potential of modular and sovereign blockchain architectures.

Our background includes everything from early participation in Cosmos testnets to running bare-metal infrastructure across multiple continents. As co-founders, we’ve worn many hats: validator operators, governance contributors, API/RPC providers, and community educators. Today, we run secure, high-uptime validator nodes on networks like Cosmos Hub, dYdX, SEDA, Dymension, Avail, Supra and ZenRock always with an eye on decentralization, performance, and responsible governance.

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Q: What made you decide to participate in the dYdX Chain as a validator? Why did Silk Nodes choose dYdX, and how did you get involved with the network?

We’ve been following dYdX’s evolution closely since the early days. The decision to launch v4 as a Cosmos-based appchain was bold and technically impressive, it aligned perfectly with our values around sovereignty, customization, and trustless execution.

dYdX represents a rare combination of DeFi maturity and infra sophistication. The idea of bringing orderbook-based trading on-chain, with full decentralization of matching, execution, and governance, was exciting to us both as operators and users. When the opportunity came to support the mainnet launch as validators, we jumped in right away, contributing to the early testnets and infrastructure conversations. And we can proudly say we’ve been validating on dYdX since day one, as a Trusted Validator.

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Q: How does Silk Nodes ensure its validator operations run smoothly on dYdX? Can you share a bit about how you maintain high uptime and security for your node?

Combination of proactive monitoring and alerting, infrastructure services, regular snapshots, and redundancy creates a robust operational framework that's particularly valuable for dYdX's high-performance requirements. Our validator alerting and monitoring tools are a high priority for dYdX with the launch of v4, as chain latency can lead to a suboptimal trading experience.

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Q: Every validator faces challenges. Could you share an example of a challenge you’ve encountered as a dYdX validator and how you solved it? Any interesting lessons learned from that experience?

Every validator faces challenges. We learned this very early in our journey and it shaped who we are today.

At Silk Nodes, we’ve always believed that true decentralization starts with full ownership. That’s why we run and host our own enterprise-grade infrastructure rather than relying on large data centers. It’s not the easiest path, there are no built-in A/B power supplies, no redundant internet connections from a massive provider, no safety net of a corporate-scale facility. But for us, decentralization isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a responsibility.

Very early on, we realized that if we wanted to live up to this principle, we had to build smarter. We automated everything we could. We mirrored our entire stack across two continents. We integrated tools like Horcrux to ensure seamless redundancy. It wasn’t simple but it’s the reason we’ve earned a reputation across the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond as one of the most stable and trusted validators out there.

Then came dYdX, and the challenge shifted. Meeting the network’s requirement to operate validator infrastructure meant completely rethinking our setup. It was the first time we stepped outside our own self-owned stack. We had to adapt without compromising the principles that brought us here. It forced us to grow.

What We Learned
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Be proactive, not reactive: We never waited for a disaster to teach us a lesson. Even minor downtime became an opportunity to strengthen our systems before real risks emerged.

Invest where it matters: High-availability setups with hot spares can fail catastrophically if a failover bug causes double-signing. Manual failover, on the other hand, can mean unacceptable downtime. We found the middle ground, automation that’s deliberate, tested, and safe.

Think globally: Expanding beyond a single location into regions such as Ireland and now Japan gave us true geographic resilience and taught us the value of being everywhere our users need us.

Our biggest takeaway? Being a validator isn’t just about running infrastructure, it’s about carrying the weight of the networks and communities that depend on you. Every challenge has made us stronger, more resilient, and more committed to building for the long haul.

This is what drives Silk Nodes: staying small enough to care, but strong enough to deliver! No matter what the challenge is.

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Q: What’s your approach to governance on dYdX? How do you go about reviewing and voting on proposals, and what principles guide your decisions as a validator?

We treat governance as a core part of our job. Before we vote, we:
- Read the proposal and check the forums.
- Evaluate how it aligns with protocol goals and decentralization.
- Discuss internally, especially if the proposal touches on infra or incentives.
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We also signal votes early where possible and share rationale transparently. Our goal is to be responsible, visible, and community-first.

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Q: For new or aspiring validators in the dYdX community, what advice would you give from your experience with Silk Nodes? Anything you wish you knew when you first started?

Validating can be very rewarding, but it’s a lot of work, setting up monitoring, and not cutting corners on hardware are going to make it so you can sleep better at night (Not getting woken up by alerts)
Focus on why you’re in this space to begin with, and make that core part of your validating services.

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Q: Lastly, where can people follow Silk Nodes’ work or get in touch with you to learn more about your validator journey on dYdX?

Follow us on X: @silk_nodes
Website: https://silknodes.io

We regularly share:
– Educational content
– ELI5 threads
– Governance updates
– Key developments across supported chains

Our DMs are always open whether you're curious about validator operations, modular infrastructure, or just want to chat about the future of decentralized systems.

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Conclusion

Thank you to the Silk Nodes team for sharing your insights! Be sure to follow them on X at @silk_nodes, visit their website at silknodes.io, and explore their validator services and community contributions across the Interchain ecosystem.

Stay tuned for our next spotlight in the series!

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