# The Graph's Arbitrators decline to slash an Indexer for self-curation and rule the dispute a Draw

On 11 November 2026 The Graph's Arbitrators resolved a dispute over an Indexer curating Subgraphs it served as a Draw. Self-curation will be allowed but discouraged, and they recommend a higher curation tax and other changes.

- Published: 2026-11-11T17:06:42Z
- Updated: 2026-11-11T17:06:42Z
- Chains: The Graph
- Source: https://forum.thegraph.com/t/7104
- Web page: https://bitbasic.com/news/27-the-graphs-arbitrators-decline-to-slash-an-indexer-for-self-curation-and-rule
- By: BitBasic (https://bitbasic.com), run by BitNordic

The Graph's Arbitration Team posted its decision on 11 November 2026 at 15:04 UTC. The decision settles an indexing dispute over self-curation, where an Indexer adds curation signal to Subgraphs it then indexes. The dispute is resolved as a **Draw**. The Indexer is not slashed, and the Arbitrators say self-curation will not be treated as slashable on its own. The Arbitrators consulted The Graph Council before deciding.

## The dispute

A Fisherman filed dispute 0x9347e202… on 18 October 2026 against Indexer [0x0a015d9e…db07](https://bitbasic.com/the-graph/validators/0x0a015d9e17d3978164486473a2ddbb654418db07), which BitBasic lists as badcoffee.eth. The Fisherman cited GDR-15, an earlier case in which the Arbitrators had accepted that manipulating curation to steer honest Indexers was slashable. According to the filing:

- the Indexer was the curator on 744 of 1,000 sampled open allocations;
- it was the only Indexer on nearly all of them;
- it earned about 24 times the network median reward per allocated GRT.

## The Arbitrators' view

The Arbitrators say self-curation is "a practice that we want to discourage". They also say it cannot be policed fairly, for three reasons:

- signal can come from any wallet, so it cannot be reliably attributed to an Indexer;
- a ban would push the practice into wallets nobody can link to the Indexer;
- a third party could copy an honest Indexer's activity from unlinked wallets and then dispute it.

The Arbitrators add that this ruling does not overturn GDR-15. That case was decided about four years ago, when the protocol ran on Ethereum mainnet and curation worked differently. The on-chain settlement transaction will be posted later.

## Recommended changes

The Arbitrators put four recommendations to the Council. None of them is in force yet:

- **Raise the curation tax** from 1% to between 3% and 10%, so that rapidly moving signal stops paying. This would also cost developers who curate their own Subgraphs.
- **Use the Subgraph Availability Oracle** to deny rewards on Subgraphs that add no value.
- **Consider raising the minimum curation amount** from 1 wei GRT to 100 or 1,000 GRT, if abuse is detected.
- **Amend the Arbitration Charter** so that it guides the Arbitrators in cases it does not anticipate.

In the longer term, they point to indexing payments under GIP-0081, GIP-0087 and GIP-0088. GIP-0088 would fund indexing agreements with an initial 6 GRT per block, about 5% of issuance, which would make indexing depend less on curation signal.

## What it means

- **Indexers:** self-curating is not slashable by itself, but the Arbitrators will keep watching curation activity. A higher curation tax or a higher minimum would change what curation costs.
- **Curators and Subgraph developers:** a curation tax of 3% to 10% would make signalling dearer for everyone, so watch for a formal proposal.
- **Delegators:** nothing changes for now.

## Sources

- [The Graph Forum: Indexing dispute against indexer 0x0a015d9e (Arbitration decision, 11 November 2026)](https://forum.thegraph.com/t/7104)
- [BitBasic: The Graph Indexers](https://bitbasic.com/the-graph)