Rewards and incentives for Zeepin Masternodes

Published in

ZeeBlog

7 min readOct 25, 2018

Not a while ago, we introduced Zeepin Galaxy nodes. Since then people have been asking for details about application requirements, returns on ZPT mortgages, and much more. So today we’ll delve into the economics of operating a Masternode and discuss the topic at length.

Hold on, before we start — what’s all this Masternode business about?

Put simply, Masternodes are computers that keep a full copy of the entire Blockchain online at all times. They make instant transactions possible, provide an extra layer of security, and participate in the governance process. In Zeepin Chain, Masternodes are called Galaxy nodes — we gave them a special name for a couple reasons.

First is simple: we wanted to underline their importance in Zeepin Chain.

It became popular among Blockchain startups to add Masternodes to their projects as an afterthought, attempting to coax additional investments without any real use in the system. For us, Galaxy nodes have always been part of the plan — the very protocol that governs Zeepin Chain is called «Galaxy Consensus». It’s designed around Galaxy nodes from day one.

So it only made sense to give extra attention to such a large part of our infrastructure. It’s unique to Zeepin at the moment. You can find out more about the technical aspects of Zeepin Chain here and about Masternodes specifically here.

Second reason for the special name is less practical, though just as important. We believe Galaxy node operators should be recognized and rewarded for their efforts. Everyone participating in the governance of Zeepin Chain have an impact, but Galaxy node operators bring the biggest change.

Galaxy nodes provide benefits like instant transactions, network security, stability, and much more to other users. So we are committed to offer those who operate them incentives for it to be worth the investment.

How this looks like in practice

All ZPT holders form what’s called the Consensus Group — they have a right to vote for Galaxy nodes with their tokens. Galaxy nodes themselves are separated into 9 Consensus nodes and 42 Candidate nodes. This makes 51 nodes in total, divided into two groups based on the amount of staked ZPTs and votes from the community.

So the system consists:

- Consensus Group — all ZPT holders

- 9 Consensus Nodes — chosen based on ZPT Proof-of-Stake, and ZPT staked through community voting (rank 1–9)

-42 Candidate Nodes — chosen based on real-time ZPT Proof-of-Stake and ZPT staked through community voting (rank 10–51)

Zeepin Chain users consume Gala tokens while making transactions, deploying Smart Contracts, and so on. Network and system fees are allocated to the governance contract after confirmation. So all Gala used as fuel goes back to the Galaxy Consensus Cluster.

Which means all Zeepin Chain fees are used to reward Galaxy nodes. The governance contract runs a new round of network adjustments every 120,000 blocks. At this stage, the incentive mechanism is triggered. 9 Consensus nodes receive 40% of the total transaction revenue, while the 42 Candidate nodes get the other 60%.

As the number of users grows over time, rewards increase. Every year the network is going to generate more transactions and as a result, improve the returns on investment for our operators.

There is an estimate of potential revenues in our Incentive Model.

For the sake of transparency, we cannot predict how the market is going to look like in the future and what the actual cost of tokens is going to be. The aim is to create long-term incentives for those who are willing to become Galaxy node operators. We want to make sure this is worthwhile even during the worst dips in the crypto-market, but we can’t predict exact numbers.

And due to the current situation, we also want to reward the pioneers in our community who are willing to join early despite these difficult market conditions.

So during the first year, we’re offering a 5% return on mortgaged ZPTs and voting volume, as well as a return of 20 times this amount in Gala tokens. Participants can lock up their ZPTs, become Galaxy node operators, and grow their operation together with Zeepin Chain.

Galaxy node pioneers get recognition in the community, access to governance, as well as solid returns for the crucial role they play in the network.

Becoming a Galaxy node operator

Because operators play a big role in Zeepin Chain governance, our requirements have to be on par with their influence. Nodes entering the candidate pool should lock up at least 1,000,000 ZPTs and consume 11,000 Gala as fuel. Their ZPT mortgage is ranked against other candidates — at the same time, users can vote with their ZPTs to improve a candidate’s position in the ranking.

The ranking placement is determined by mortgage amount and ZPT voting volume. Nodes ranked 1 to 9 by total mortgage and voting volume are elected as Consensus nodes, while the other 42 become Candidate nodes. Mortgaging and votes are done through ZeeWallet.

this function will be enabled once the selection begins

Token holders who don’t own the 1,000,000 ZPTs required to run their own node can still benefit from voting for a candidate — they might be compensated by Galaxy node operators, if the operators decide to share their rewards.

In practice, any Galaxy node operator can create a community around them and pool resources together with ZPT holders for mutual benefit. After finding a fair way to distribute rewards, they can all agree to increase the ranking position of this operator.

The Consensus creates an environment where all participants benefit from the governance of Zeepin Chain. Proof-of-Stake mortgages combined with voting incentives for ZPT holders ensure a fair and transparent process that is easy to follow and keep track of.

Of course, it’s important that the system is fair to the participants. If for any reason a Galaxy node operator decides to leave early, we unlock their tokens after two consensus cycles. Nobody should feel obligated to be an operator and they can always leave for any reason.

Once a candidate is confirmed and selected for Galaxy node operator, we step them through the KYC; help with hardware and network configurations. One of the requirements is occupying a planet in CryptoGalaxy — you can learn more about the benefits of it here.

CryptoGalaxy is the worlds first virtual universe based on blockchain

This incentive system is in place to make sure Galaxy node operators get considerable returns on their ZPT mortgages. There’s a good reason we focus so much on the economics of this process.

Where Blockchain trends are leading us

We have to face the fact that the industry is changing rapidly. It’s going from ideas and experiments to everyday use. This is happening much to the dismay of projects that rely on enthusiasts for investment, as opposed to end users. Startups are used to getting their funding from speculators and traders — not the target audience of their product.

If this could be forgiven a couple years ago, in 2018 and beyond the attitudes are different. People are transitioning from crypto-investors to users of Blockchain products. Especially now that the market has taken a hit, the sentiment moved even further in this direction.

Everyone wants to see functioning products. We all want to see the «disruption» the industry is talking about, be able to actively engage and participate in the new economy.

So our goal with the Galaxy nodes is not only to improve the system and create better governance — we aim to engage Zeepin Chain users, show them a Blockchain platform that actually works. One that takes on the issues of copyright, helps run a business and provides users the freedom to work while having full control over their time and finances.

And there’s no better way to do this than a powerful governance system. It makes sure everyone has a reason to participate, creates a place where all contributions are rewarded.

For example: if you decide to help the network grow and seek solid returns on ZPT investment — you can become a Galaxy node operator. This gets you a portion of the entire chain’s transaction revenue, plus, a 5% return on the mortgage and total voting volume in the first year along with an additional 20 times of ZPT mortgaged paid out in Gala.

If you don’t want to go this far, you can simply support someone else and still get rewarded proportionally to your contribution. We especially value the early participants in Galaxy Consensus because of their role in helping new generations of Zeepin Chain users adjust.

The incentive system is nothing else but proof of officially recognizing the role of our users and community. No project can thrive without putting the user first, especially not in our industry. So now that we developed our infrastructure, we will focus our efforts on the usability — starting from a simple ranking and governance system for our pioneers.

In the last part of 2018 and beyond, our ambition is to bring freedom to work for everyone who needs it. The election of Galaxy node operators opens a new chapter for Zeepin, we’ll only evolve and improve from here.

Thanks for your warm support and great questions that sparked this article. Looking forward to finding out who our future operators are going to be.

Details about Galaxy node application: https://www.zeescan.io/tool/documents/candidateRules

We will announce the official start date of our Galaxy Node selection process in the upcoming days.

ZEEPIN Team

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