Retroactive Node Rewards and Restarting the Node Incentive Program
This blog post marks the announcement of the restart of the Sentinel node incentive program and the distribution of retroactive rewards to dVPN node hosts. The node incentive program was temporarily suspended last year in the month of August due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the program is now ready to be restarted in anticipation of more consumer demand to dVPN services built on Sentinel.
Community members can host either Wireguard based nodes or V2Ray based nodes in order to earn incentives in the form of dVPN tokens.
To host a dVPN node checkout : https://docs.sentinel.co/dVPN-node/setup/
The dVPN node docker image can be downloaded from (Wireguard/V2ray packaged in the same release):
Node Hosting is about to get much easier with a dedicated community-made node hosting client that is set to be launched in the coming weeks.
A Review of previous Bandwidth Incentives before Suspension
Previously, the Bandwidth incentive program’s criteria largely revolved around incentivizing node hosts based on the amount of bandwidth used from the specific node host. Unfortunately a significant amount of the rewards were being earned by malicious participants who were employing various tactics of gaming the system. The most simple method of a malicious participant is to consume bandwidth from their own dVPN node.
Providing incentives for dVPN nodes based on bandwidth usage is difficult unless there is a mechanism in place that creates a scaling loss for a node host who is trying to manipulate the program with inauthentic bandwidth usage. One example of a possible ‘scaling loss’ could be the proposed ‘dVPN network fee’. The proposed ‘dVPN network fee’ is a transaction fee from all transactions for dVPN services that would be collected and then distributed to dVPN stakers. An implementation of such a fee would result in a higher degree of economic loss by malicious participants similar to how exchange trading fees disincentivize the spoofing of volume.
The proposed ‘network fee’ in addition to the ‘minimum node pricing’ which has already been implemented, allow for the possibility for dynamic bandwidth usage based incentive programs in the future.
Retroactive Rewards
Honoring due rewards to node hosts and conducting a ‘Retroactive Rewards’ program is a way for node hosts who supported the Sentinel network since the suspension of the program to get incentivized to be able to cover their node operating costs. $7.5 worth of dVPN is being distributed for every qualifying node retroactively.
Here is the final retroactive reward list:
8/9–871 qualified — 1 GB minimum
9/10–695 qualified — 1 GB Minimum
10/11–424 qualified — 1 GB minimum
11/12–166 qualified — 1 GB minimum
12/1–120 qualified — 1 GB Minimum
1/2–95 qualified (80%+ uptime)
2/3–95 qualified (80%+ uptime)
3/4–121 qualified (80%+ uptime)
4/5–135 qualified (80%+ uptime)
Retroactive Rewards Distribution
The rewards will be distributed over 90 days, where node hosts will receive 1/90 reward every day, and the USD value of DVPN will be readjusted with the maximum period being 30 days of no price adjustment. This structure is in place to mitigate sell pressure from due node rewards and ensures a minimal amount of sell pressure under $500 every day.
Announcement of the new Node Hosting Program/Eligibility Criteria
The node incentive program will be restarted, and the minimum up-time qualification for the month of May is 50%, as the program is being introduced near the middle of the month. After the month of May, the minimum up-time requirement will be 90%, starting from 00:00 UTC at the beginning of every month.
May 2023 dVPN Node Host Eligibility Criteria:
Up-time: 50%+ (Tracking from 00:00 UTC 1 May 2023)
Minimum Bandwidth Provided: N/A
Reward: $7.5 worth of dVPN
Reward Payment Schedule: 1/30 of reward over 30 days after the final day of the month
June 2023 and onwards dVPN Node Host Elgibility Criteria:
Up-time: 90%+ (Tracking from 00:00 UTC on the 1st of every month)
Minimum Bandwidth Provided: 1 GB+
Reward: $7.5 worth of dVPN
Reward Payment Schedule: 1/30 of reward over 30 days after the final day of the month
From June, the minimum bandwidth requirements will be reinstated, and there will be a minimum of 1 GB per month. All Wireguard nodes must enable the HNS resolver inbuilt into the node docker.
We believe that these eligibility criteria will help ensure that our node hosts are providing the highest quality service possible to our users.
