In other words, dropping any relay-specific logic in Algorand codebase.
This won’t happen in the short term. We’ll have both options available, with Relays operating in a reduced capacity, until we better understand the network performance after the topological change.
Another way to look at this: let’s say participation nodes (or a good subset of them) have the hardware/network spec similar to what’s currently required for relays, then is there still any need for relays.
Specs for participation nodes won’t change, P2P will likely enjoy 1000s of nodes, we only ever had ~100 Relays.
Or, why not include those hardware/network spec factors in the incentivisation now, instead of postponing that to after more experimentation in the hybrid state?
P2P is a gargantuan shift in terms of network topology & data propagation, it would be hubristic to skip hybrid form.
If relays are going to be eventually removed, then participation nodes should be also rewarded for relaying
Participation nodes won’t be protocol rewarded for propagating data, it’s implicit in operation and required to execute consensus.
Maximal decentralisation comes at the cost of speed. We’re aiming to keep block times sub-3s post-P2P, but we don’t know yet how performance will look outside of synthetic benchmarks.
Optional “fastpath” Relays can be privately operated as a paid service.
Hope this helps, I don’t have a lot of time atm to spend on these forums.