Nodes are the backbone of any blockchain, since they are the ones creating and storing the blocks, among other things. It is therefore critical that as many nodes as possible are active in the network at all times.
Beyond the direct block rewards (Fees and Inflation) that nodes obtain for producing blocks, Symbol provides a series of special Reward Programs aimed at further encouraging users to create and maintain nodes.
Each of these programs rewards a different aspect of the network:
Supernode Program: For powerful, high-availability and high-throughput nodes.
Voting Node Program: For nodes supporting Finalization, Symbol’s fork resolution mechanism.
In most cases, node owners wishing to benefit from these programs must explicitly enroll to them. The descriptions below contain guides explaining how to enroll to each program.
Warning
None of the reward programs has launched yet. The information shown below is subject to change until the programs officially start.
This program aims at ensuring that a sufficiently large number of powerful nodes will always be available to guarantee the smooth functioning of the network.
Supernodes are regular nodes meeting the following additional hardware and operational requirements:
Parameter |
Requirement |
|---|---|
Node type |
|
Bandwidth |
5’000 kbit/s or higher, calculated by downloading 2MB files from 3 other random nodes on the network. |
Chain Height |
Chain must be synchronized no more than 4 blocks behind the reference height. |
Chain Part |
Upload 50 random blocks hashes of the chain accurately. These are compared to the reference chain hashes for accuracy. |
Computing Power |
Hash at least 2’000 iterations per second. Node is requested to calculate 10’000 iterations of a 32 byte seed. Speed and accuracy are measured. |
Bonded Deposit |
At least 1, 2 or 3 million |
Version |
Symbol must be up to date. Nodes should be updated within 10 days of each new Symbol release. |
Ping |
200ms response or less. Node is requested to ping 20 other random nodes on the network and at least one ping time must pass the test (each node will be pinged 5 times and response times averaged). |
Responsiveness |
1 second. 10 blockchain height requests will be made and at least 9 must answer in less than 1 second. |
To ensure all of the above, a lightweight monitoring agent is installed on the node which reports to a controller on the network. The controller performs all the above checks a few times per day on each registered supernode and makes daily payments.
This program will last for 6 years after the launch date of Symbol, with decreasing rewards each year.
Supernodes are divided in 3 tiers according to their staked symbol.xym: More than 1 million, more than 2 million and more than 3 million.
The available Total daily rewards are split among all program participants according to their tier in the following fashion:
Each tier 1 nodes gets 17.33% of the Total daily reward divided by the total number of participating nodes.
Each tier 2 nodes gets 46.67% of the Total daily reward divided by the total number of participating nodes.
Tier 3 nodes get the remainder, uniformly distributed among them.
See the complete Terms & Conditions.
Symbol provides fast response times even when network disconnections isolate some of the nodes. When connectivity is restored any conflicts which might have arisen (network forks) are resolved by the Finalization process. This process requires some nodes to periodically vote on which branches are valid according to their records. Blocks deemed invalid are then rolled back.
This program aims at ensuring that enough voting nodes are always present in the network so fork resolution is conducted reliably.
Voting nodes are regular nodes meeting the following additional requirements:
Parameter |
Requirement |
|---|---|
Bonded Deposit |
At least 3 million |
Voting keys |
The node must signal its interest in becoming a voting node by registering its VotingKeyLinkTransaction. |
Although not mandatory, it is recommended that voting nodes meet the same hardware requirements as supernodes. In fact, it is expected that participants of the Voting Node Program will also enroll to the Supernode program.
5% of all block harvesting rewards is set aside for voting nodes. After each finalization round these rewards are evenly distributed among all nodes that participated in that round (and paid on a daily basis). There is no explicit enrollment required for this program.
Note
If you created your node using Symbol Bootstrap, follow this guide to enable voting.
Otherwise, follow this guide to enable voting manually.
See the complete Terms & Conditions.
Last updated by Xavi Artigas
on 2021-10-06.