Become a Solana Transmitter

This guide will walk you through how to become a Solana transmitter. From wallet details to transmitter setup, we'll cover it all here.

Dependencies

Before beginning make sure to install all of the necessary dependencies and tools. In this guide we'll be using several, including:

• libusd, an open source library that allows communication with USB devices fom user space.

• foundry, a modular toolkit for Ethereum application development.

• docker, a set of platform as a service products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers.

Mac

brew install python
brew install pipx       
pipx install base58
brew install libusb
curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash
foundryup

Linux

For the Zsh shell, use source "~/.zshenv" instead of source "~/.bashrc".

If pipx install base58 doesn’t work, try using: python3 -m pip install base58

sudo apt update
sudo apt install pipx
pipx install base58
sudo apt install curl build-essential libssl-dev pkg-config
sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0-dev
curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash
~./bashrc  
foundryup

To verify the successful installation of dependencies, you can run the following command.

cast --version

If everything was successfully installed, the output should be the version of the cast command, as shown below.

cast 0.2.0 (31c24b0 2024-11-14T00:20:56.080456000Z)

Wallet Setup

Your Solana wallet should only hold SOL tokens. The security of other tokens is not guaranteed.

To become an transmitter on Solana you need two wallets. An EVM standard wallet and a Solana standard wallet. To proceed you need to convert your wallets into a format suitable for transmitter registration, below we describe the process.

Convert a Solana Wallet to Hex

For your Solana wallet (<solana_wallet>) in Base58 format, run the following command.

python3 -c "import base58; import sys; print('0x' + base58.b58decode(sys.argv[1]).hex())" <solana_wallet>

• Example for a Solana Wallet:

  • Hj12XrWQmcfRZk4nEejLRvF3tE5QXk5EpxmMm3zZzQbC (Base58)

• Hexadecimal Representation (Output):

  • 0xf87d6a27b105812cdaf3ade4ba67fe501092df51a716671db13f05387dc04603

Convert an EVM Wallet to Hex

For your EVM wallet (<evm_address>), run the following command.

cast to-uint256 <evm_address>

• Example for a EVM Wallet:

  • 0xff22Fb238CfA1013A793FC917F242F9f82a61417

• Hexadecimal Representation (Output):

  • 0x000000000000000000000000ff22fb238cfa1013a793fc917f242f9f82a61417

1. Registration

Make sure that you have the native network token on Entangle and that you have added the Entangle network address to your wallet.

• Node: https://json-rpc.entangle.fi
• Chain Id: 33033

Now run the following command to register your transmitter in the desired network.

cast send 0xB83E7753CAB418775f0dc91ACfcfECba24FE62C1 \
    "registerAgent(uint,address,bytes[])" \
    <chain_id> \
    <evm_address> \
    "[<hex_address_evm>, <hex_address_solana>, <hex_address_evm>, <hex_address_evm>]" \
    -r "https://json-rpc.entangle.fi" \
    --private-key <private_key>

Command Parameter Explanation

The cast command includes several parameters, here we've described them.

• The HEX address at the begining is the address of our AgentRegistrator contract

• <chain_id> is the Blockchain Id (for Solana, use 11100000000000000501).

• <evm_address> is your EVM wallet address (master key).

• <hex_address_evm> is the hex representation of your EVM wallet.

• <hex_address_solana> is the hex representation of your Solana wallet.

• <private_key> is the private key of your EVM wallet (in EVM format).

  • Expl. [<hex_evm_1>, <hex_solana_1>, <hex_evm2>, <hex_evm_3>]

    • <hex_address_evm_1> is used to execute transactions in EIB.

      • <hex_address_solana_1> is used to execute transactions in Solana .

      • <hex_address_evm_2> rewards will be distributed to this address.

      • <hex_address_evm_3> reserved.

If you encounter the error tx already in mempool, try adding the following optional parameter:

--gas-price <actual gas in chain> * 2

To get the actual gas price in the network, run:

cast gas-price -r "https://json-rpc.entangle.fi"

2. Security Deposit

To ensure your transmitter works as expected you are required to stake a security deposit. A minimum of 100 NTGL is required.

Run the cast command again but this time with the follow parameters.

cast send 0x2897F9093bE0B5d5F9067c6f7842B949017eE830 "deposit(uint256,address,uint256)" <chainID> <agent-address> <wntgl-value> -r https://json-rpc.entangle.fi --private-key <your_key> --value <ntgl-value>

Command Parameter Explanation

Set WNTGL amount to 0 if you want to use NTGL for staking and vice versa, set NTGL amount to 0 if you want to use WNTGL for staking.

The cast command includes several parameters, here we've described them.

1. The HEX address at the begining is the address of the RewardVaults contract which is responsible for distributing rewards among UIP participants

2. <chainID> is the blockchain ID where the agent will be deployed (e.g., 146 for Sonic).

3. <agent-address> is the EVM wallet address (master key).

4. <wntgl-value> is the amount of security deposit (in wei) min 100WNTGL

5. <your key> is the wallet’s private key.

3. Docker Environment Setup

To simplify this process, we've created a docker image. In this part we will describe how to install and setup docker.

Ubuntu

1

Update the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2

Install dependencies.

sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

3

Add the official Docker GPG key.

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc > /dev/null
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

4

Add the Docker repository.

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

5

Install Docker and Docker Compose.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

6

Verify the installation.

docker --version
docker compose version

7

Add the current user to the Docker group (to run commands without using sudo).

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

8

Then log out and log back in, or run.

newgrp docker

Mac

1

Install Docker via Homebrew

brew install --cask docker

2

Launch Docker Desktop

Simply find it in your applications and open it.

3

Verify the installation

docker --version
docker compose version

4. Starting the Transmitter

1

Update the docker image.

docker pull msentangle/agent:3.0
docker pull msentangle/agent-setup:3.0
docker pull msentangle/solana:3.0

2

Create a directory for the transmitter and move to it.

mkdir transmitter
cd transmitter

3

Start the transmitter.

If you want this transmitter to be a super transmitter you need to specify "-e IS_SUPER_AGENT=true".

docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/.:/app/agent/ \
  -e PRIVATE_KEY="yourprivatekey" \
  -e PASSWORD="yourpassword" \
  -e NON_EVM_CHAINS="11100000000000000501" \
  -e SOLANA_PRIVATE_KEY="solanaprivate" \
  msentangle/agent-setup:3.0

Command Parameter Explanation

1. yourprivatekey is your wallet's private key.

2. yourpassword is your desired password to encrypt the private key.

3. solanaprivate is the private key of your Solana wallet.

The program will generate a default configurations for the selected networks.

After the successful execution of the program, you will see the message:

Your Address: 0x96564904617F27722C522D4Ed9D0e7b9911Aa5cC please check correct

2:57PM WRN > contract has no events Contract Name=Slasher
...

Choosing a Transmitter Name

You can also set a unique name for your transmitter to more easily distinguish it. Run the below command to do so.

docker-compose -p <agent-name> up -d

Command Parameter Explanation

1. <agent-name> is where you provide the unique name for the agent (e.g. agent-sonic-1).

Change Round

You can either wait for another participant to make changes to the round or update the round yourself. Run the following command to change the round.

You can check the fees for changing the round in the logs of the evm_agent program.

docker exec -it <agent-name>-evm_agent-1 sh -c "apk add curl && curl 'http://localhost:9131/turnround?chainId=<chain_id>'"

Command Parameter Explanation

1. <agent-name> the name of the agent (e.g. agent-sonic-1).

2. <chain_id> is the blockchain Id (for Sonic, use 146).

Change Node

You can change blockchain providers (RPC nodes) by modifying the configs/solana/transmitter-config.yml file. You can add multiple nodes to ensure high availability

transmitter-config.yml

solana:
    read_rpcs:
        - url: https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com
          ratelimit: 4
    write_rpcs:
        - url: https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com
          ratelimit: 1

Additional Configuration Parameters

Below are additional configuration parameters you can use for the blockchain provider source configuration file.

Parameter	Description
parse_new_headers_interval	How often to update blockchain information (e.g., 5s, 1m).
max_query_in_batch	The number of requests in a single batch request.
filter_logs_max_blocks	The maximum difference between fromBlock and toBlock.
blocks_delay	The maximum difference between block shifts.
blocks_batch_to_filter	The minimum number of blocks to process.
min_balance_to_alert	The minimum wallet balance for notifications (in wei).

Withdraw Security Deposit & Stopping Transmitter

To withdraw your security deposit and stop being a transmitter, run the following command.

cast send 0x2897F9093bE0B5d5F9067c6f7842B949017eE830 "withdraw(uint256,address,uint256,bool)" <chain_id> <agent-address> <nglt-amount> <flag> -r "https://json-rpc.entangle.fi" --private-key <private-key>

Command Parameter Explanation

1. The HEX address at the begining is the address of the RewardVaults contract which is responsible for distributing rewards among UIP participants

2. <chainID> is the Blockchain Id.

3. <agent-address> is the EVM wallet address (master key).

4. <nglt-amount> is the amount in wei.

5. <flag> if set to true, WNGL will be unwrapped and sent to the wallet (you will receive NGL), otherwise WNGL will be sent wrapped (you will receive WNGL)

6. <your key> is the wallet’s private key.

Troubleshooting

Insufficient Funds

Make sure there are enough native tokens in the wallet to cover the transaction fees.

Git Command Not Found

Install git using the command below.

sudo apt install git -y