Chainode Tech — 2021 Year in Review
In the decentralized world, 1 year can seem like a decade if you immerse yourself deep into the ecosystem and spend your time productively building, working and developing. For Chainode Tech, 2021 was no exception. Even though we have been active in the DLT Infrastructure space for only 3 years, we already joined more than 15 Proof of Stake Networks and Protocols as a Validator and Indexer, the majority of these on both Testnet and Mainnet. Looking back at 2021, it was a defining year for our project and team — we successfully registered our entity in Zug, Switzerland (where we were already based), we outlined a more clear set of rules in terms of the characteristics we require from a project in order to join it as an infrastructure provider and last but not least we strengthened our confidence as a still small yet highly skilled Validator in the space, with big goals and high standards for 2022.
This being said, let’s break down a few of the milestones achieved during 2021, in no particular order.
Joined new Testnet and Mainnet Networks
With Staking as a Service running on 15+ Networks, in 2021 we joined further Testnets and Mainnets such as The Graph, Wormhole, Lido Finance, Agoric, Axelar Network, BitSong, Regen Network and Desmos. One of our traits as a Validator is that we like to test and stress test every network that we intend to support in the long run. This means that usually we test more networks than we actually join on Mainnet, something that we also diligently did during 2021. Besides the technical side, we also rigorously research the projects that spark our interest and take into consideration specific points that we are evaluating such as the project’s use-case (crucial), the team behind it, the focus on decentralization, the infrastructure it plans to use, the amount of funding raised — if it exceeds a certain limit it usually does not align with our ethos, the existing competition, etc.
Below, we are happy to share some of the main reasons/description of the projects we joined as a Validator and Indexer during 2021.
The Graph: One of the best and most interesting current use cases: blockchain agnostic open-sourced software used to collect, process and store data from various blockchain protocols to facilitate information retrieval. Reliable information is something indispensable for the decentralized space to reach true mass adoption and a project like The Graph is crucial for this. Chainode Tech participated in both the Mission Control Testnet as well as Mainnet (since Genesis), and the Chainode Tech Indexer has open capacity for new delegations. More information available here.
Wormhole: Another vital puzzle that has to be solved in order for blockchain to reach mass adoption are cross-chain transactions. Our team strongly believes that this will be a topic that will get more and more traction in the next few years. The Wormhole Token Bridge allows users to seamlessly transfer tokenized assets across Solana, Ethereum, BSC, Terra, Avalanche and Polygon with more networks to be added in the future. Chainode Tech has been active as a Wormhole Guardian for cross-chain transactions from and to Solana since almost 1 year.
Lido Finance: Staking involves locking your crypto assets in the protocol in order for the Validators to validate blocks on the network. Through liquid staking the ecosystem participants and stakers can benefit from the advantages of staking while gaining access to new features like participating in on-chain activities, such as for example lending. Lido empowers users to put their staked assets to use and gain yield on top of yield. Chainode Tech joined Lido Finance supporting Solana starting with the summer of 2021.
Agoric: Built using Cosmos SDK, Agoric — an open-source development project — focuses on utilizing JavaScript to rapidly build and deploy secure DeFi applications and more. Agoric is set to launch an interoperable economy by creating a JavaScript-native smart contract platform to unlock the DeFi economy to millions of innovative and curious developers, enterprises and institutions. Chainode Tech participated in both the Agoric Testnet as well as Mainnet (since Genesis), and is open to receive delegations. More information available here.
Axelar Network: The project, also using the Cosmos SDK, is determined to unlock the cross-chain communication between different blockchain protocols. The aim of the network is to allow developers to simply plug-in a blockchain network to all other connected blockchain ecosystems, build applications that can communicate with applications from other networks and lock, unlock and transact assets. Chainode Tech joined the Axelar Network on Testnet and plans to continue to support the project on Mainnet as well.
BitSong: Enriching the artist and fan relationships, BitSong is a project that uses the Cosmos SDK in order to bring decentralization in the entertainment industry. The last decades brought, through centralization, an unbalance that in the long run was detrimental to artists and fans. Now, through projects like BitSong, the interaction between these communities is a lot easier and more direct while one holistic ecosystem is created. Our team joined BitSong on both the incentivised Testnet and Mainnet, and is currently open for new delegations here.
Regen Network: The climate is undoubtedly a topic that will be among us for the foreseeable future. By leveraging blockchain technology, Regen Network’s mission is to incentivize regenerative land use practices, restore ecosystems and reverse climate change. The project also uses the Cosmos SDK, and we joined them as a Validator on both the Testnet and Mainnet. Delegations to our Chainode Tech Validator for Regen Network are always appreciated. More information here.
Desmos: Since its appearance and mainstream adoption, social media has always been a hot topic. We do not expect this to fade away easily in the future, but we are certain that the underlying technologies behind it will change in the favor of the user. The goal of Desmos, a project that also uses the Cosmos SDK, is to democratize social media while empowering the development of user-centric social networks. Chainode Tech was active on the Desmos incentivised Testnet and is now active on Mainnet as well (since the Genesis). Our Validator is also open to receive new delegations, more information is available here.
Chainode Tech as RPC node Operator and Provider
Our goal was always to do more for the decentralized ecosystem, besides our Validator work. Alongside different tools and monitoring dashboards that we built during 2021, we now run RPC nodes for our own infrastructure, cross-chain integrations and we also put these at the disposal of interested developers (to rent). Since not everybody has the time or resources to run their own RPC node and some prefer to rent it, we decided to include this service as well under Chainode Tech.
For anyone interested in utilizing our RPC nodes, we kindly invite them to contact us at contact@chainode.tech.
Project growth and capital backing
Due to our team’s background, our experience stretches on broad areas. One of the main reasons why we decided to join the decentralized space was because we felt that we needed to have a say in some of the decisions affecting the ecosystem. Therefore, even before establishing Chainode Tech, we backed and supported — both with our know-how and funding — the projects that we believed in and that we saw pertinent to bringing a true contribution to the decentralized space. In 2021 we not only offered our know-how and technical support to some of the projects interested in making the first steps in the Web 3.0 space, but we also proceeded to provide capital as an investor to the ones that we truly believed in. Supporting new ambitious upcoming projects both through our experience and funding is something that we are planning to do even more during 2022.
All in all, 2021 was a great year for Chainode Tech. We believe that we managed to make the most out of the opportunities that we had to develop ourselves and grow and we definitely did our utmost best to offer the most reliable infrastructure for our partners and rewards for our delegators. We do not plan to stop here, we actually feel that our journey just started and we are proud of our incident-free performance to date. There are countless blocks that have to be validated, billions of users that have yet to onboard this fascinating decentralized space and thousands of institutions and projects that we are looking forward to working together with.
2022, Let’s do this!
About Chainode Tech
Founded in early 2019, Chainode Tech is a Web 3.0 infrastructure and service provider based in Zug, Switzerland, focused on bootstrapping innovative Web 3.0 protocols, providing necessary infrastructure and tooling as well as offering staking and validator services on cutting-edge Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) protocols.
The team behind Chainode Tech is young, extremely motivated and experienced with background in Software & System Engineering, System & Integration Architecture, DevOps, Marketing, Business Growth and Capital Investments.
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