Obol

Obol (Obol Collective / Obol Network) is an Ethereum-focused staking infrastructure project building Distributed Validator Technology (DVT)-a way to run a single Ethereum validator across a cluster of independent operators instead of one machine/operator, reducing single points of failure and improving resilience.

Obol combines three main directions under one umbrella:

• Distributed Validator middleware (Charon): a middleware layer that sits between standard Ethereum validator clients and the beacon node/API, allowing multiple nodes to coordinate and collectively perform validator duties as one “distributed validator.”

• Operator tooling & coordination: workflows and tooling for forming DV clusters, performing distributed key generation (so the full validator key never exists in one place), and operating validators in a non-custodial, multi-operator setup.

• Collective governance & incentives (OBOL): a community governance and incentive layer around the Obol Collective, using the OBOL token (and liquid-staked governance representations) to coordinate decision-making and ecosystem programs.

Key features of Obol include:

• Threshold / distributed signing: validator responsibilities are shared; the validator can keep working even if some nodes go offline (within the cluster’s fault tolerance).

• DKG-based key security: keys are created as shares across operators, reducing the risk of a single key compromise.

• Improved resilience and decentralization: multi-operator clusters reduce downtime and concentration risk compared to single-operator validators.

• Client diversity support: cluster members can run different client setups, reducing correlated failure modes.

Overall, Obol positions itself as a “staking endgame” upgrade for Ethereum-turning validators into fault-tolerant, multi-operator distributed systems governed and supported by a community incentive layer.