<aside> 🕵🏽♀️ What is node?
A node is a computer running specific software. Once a node is set up, it starts communicating with other participants in the network (blockchain), storing transaction information, and participating in the signing of new blocks.
Nodes are essential for decentralization, which in turn is necessary to ensure the security of the network.
More nodes = a more secure network.
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<aside> 👨💻 What is a Testnet?
Before launching any product for general use, it must be tested for errors. This event is called a testnet.
In our case, a testnet is an event where anyone interested (or a limited number of people) helps the project test their network. This usually involves setting up and maintaining a node.
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<aside> 🛠 What types of testnets are there?
There are 2 types of testnets:
In the first case, we already know how many coins we will receive and can immediately calculate the profit for the work done.
In the second case, the project does not mention rewards, and we support the node voluntarily, hoping that the project will reward us for it.
❗ IMPORTANT POINT: In most cases, incentivized projects pay much less than those where rewards are not initially discussed.
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<aside> 📌 Are nodes still relevant today?
Absolutely – yes. In the current market, this is one of the best activities because you can get involved in a project at an early stage and profit significantly during a bull run.
Nowadays, most projects are transitioning from the Proof-of-Work protocol (traditional mining) to Proof-of-Stake (staking). Since nodes are responsible for validation in PoS networks, it’s easy to see that this is the future.
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<aside> 🤔 What is a Mainnet?
After the testnet phase, the project launches on the mainnet.
The mainnet is a fully operational network available for public use, processing transactions with real cryptocurrency. At this stage, the project's coins already have a certain value.
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<aside> 🛠 Costs and Time Frames
Our expenses include:
Installing software on your rented server. Daily checks for its operation, error detection, installing updates, etc.
There is no fixed price for server rental because each project requires servers with different capacities. Consequently, the load on each node varies. Some servers might cost $5/month, others $15/month, and some even $30 or $100/month. This information can be found in the installation guides for each node.
There is no definitive answer here, as only the developers can announce the end of the testnet. On average, we estimate around six months. Some projects require node support for over a year, while others might have events lasting less than a month.
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First, we want to remove any illusions and say that nodes are not a "money button."
Yes, some projects succeed, and some succeed very significantly, like Solana, where you could earn a few million dollars from the testnet.
In practice, however, only about 1 in 10 projects yields a good result and covers all expenses for a couple of years ahead.
<aside> 🕵🏽♀️ Zeroswap:
<aside> 🕵🏽♀️ Solana:
Even entering the project at a later stage, like in February 2021, for example, could have earned you around $15,000. However, if you had supported the node from the beginning (since 2019), you could have received rewards totaling approximately $2,300,000 because the token price was then less than $1. Yes, such earnings were possible, but this is one of the best cases at the moment, so we do not recommend relying on such large sums. Our goal is simply to demonstrate that anything is possible.
<aside> 🛠 Orakuru:
<aside> 🛠 Clover:
<aside> 🛠 Spacemesh:
There are three types of servers:
VPS — Virtual Private Server VDS — Virtual Dedicate Server DS — Dedicated Server
Let's consider a few hosting options that we have verified, where you can rent a server for your node
A German hosting provider with data centers in Germany, Finland, and recently, the option to choose America.