As we approach mainnet launch early next year, having a secure, distributed network validated by nodes worldwide is our foremost priority. To achieve this, we are widening our community by inviting more validators and developers to be part of our decentralised future.

If you want to be part of our optimistic roadmap, this could be your last chance as we will stop accepting new prospective mainnet validators on the testnet from December 17th. 

Please complete this form now to become a validator!

Project Artemis status update

Last week, we launched Armstrong, phase 3 of our incentivised testnet, Project Artemis, and with it came rewards and tasks for the validators. Project Artemis began in September and completed two phases, Apollo and Buzz, and we are now in the midst of our third phase, Armstrong. 

These phases have been instrumental in the rigorous testing of the network. In addition, our ever-growing community of validators and developers has been providing us with valuable feedback to pave the path towards building a robust decentralised network. 

We would especially like to thank our star validators for their continuous support in the last few weeks. Among them include GBV, My Cointainer.com, Valid Blocks, and UFFSports.com.

As we inch closer to our mainnet launch early next year, we want to give a shoutout to more validators to join our testnet soon. 

Rest assured, up for grabs are incentives to developers and validators to try out functionalities such as voting on a governance proposal, proposing a non-valid block, and minting an NFT. 

Tasks and incentives

As part of phase 3, Armstrong, validators will be experiencing higher volumes of transaction requests while also experimenting with path testing. As a result, developers will have great opportunities to learn about the CosmWasm smart contracts and earn rewards for deploying their custom smart contracts.

Validators and developers can earn up to $375 worth of tokens by participating in the tasks. So, why not go ahead and read all about the tasks and rewards here. 

Rewards will be distributed based on the completion of testnet tasks. After each phase, validators will receive their prizes, while developers will receive native CUDOS airdropped to their wallets following the mainnet launch.

Why join our test net?

We believe the current testnet environment is the best way to test your validator setup before our mainnet launch in January. It is the right opportunity to prep yourself and signal to the community that you are ready to operate as a validator in the mainnet. 

If you are new here and need clarity on the steps involved in becoming a validator, below is a refresher for you. 

Who is a validator?

As a decentralised technology, blockchain is governed by code and community rather than a central entity. Therefore, a Proof of Stake network requires independent operators to host a node. These operators (validators) financially commit funds through staking and validating transactions on the network. Depending on the protocol it’s built upon, the number of nodes on a validator network can vary. 

Cudos is built upon the Tendermint protocol, with a recommended limit of 100 validator nodes. Cudos Validators run node software to operate the Cudos Network blockchain by checking incoming transactions and forming new blocks in a decentralised manner. In addition, these validators participate in the consensus protocol by broadcasting votes which contain cryptographic signatures signed by each validator’s private key.

Roles & responsibilities of a validator

Validators play a unique role in the Cudos Network’s ability to process workloads. 

Their key roles include:

  1. Constantly run a correct version of the software, ensuring their servers are always online and their private keys are not compromised.
  2. Validate blocks, perform complex security checks on proposed transactions.
  3. Interact with other stakeholders, participate in governance to ensure the decentralised decision-making of the Cudos Network.

They get rewarded with the Cudos utility token for performing validation jobs as an incentive. 

What are the benefits of becoming a validator for Cudos?

A validator for the Cudos network will earn in multiple ways:

  • Staking rewards: Like interest in traditional finance terms, a validator will receive rewards based on a variable Annual Percentage Rate (APR).
  • Delegated staking rewards: Delegated staking allows others to stake their CUDOS tokens by backing other validators and earning rewards in the process. For every processed workload, gas and transaction fees are charged to consumers. These fees are rewarded to validators and resource providers. 
  • Staking bonuses: An accelerator of up to 100% of rewards earned based on term length and network staking amounts.
  • Commission: The validator can set their own commission percentage for those token holders delegating their stake to the validators node, typically up to 10%. 
  • Network transactions: All stakers receive a proportionate share of the network’s transaction revenue. The more you stake, the more you earn, and as a validator, you are earning commission from those delegating their stake to your node. 
  • Compute fees: Cudos will mainly be a computing platform built on a PoS blockchain network. Therefore, general compute demand and execution will generate a large proportion of the network usage.  

How much do I need to stake to become a validator?

The minimum stake to be a validator on the network is 2,000,000 Cudos. However, to become a validator and be part of our testnet, you don’t necessarily have to stake 2 million Cudos. But for those interested in being part of our mainnet in January, staking of 2,000,000 Cudos would be essential. 

Ready to join and earn rewards?

If you are interested in joining the validator programme, reach out to us on Discord, and we can help you get set up with your hardware! It is also possible to participate as a virtualised validator if your hardware isn’t available yet! 

Meanwhile, you can get involved right away by following the links below:

Join the Cudos’ Discord server 

Join the Cudos’ Telegram community 

Buy CUDOS tokens 

P.S. If you’ve already bought your CUDOS tokens, you can stake them on our platform to secure the network and, in return, receive rewards. 

About Cudos

 The Cudos Network is a layer 1 blockchain and layer 2 computation and oracle network designed to ensure decentralised, permissionless access to high-performance computing at scale. It enables the scaling of computing resources to hundreds of thousands of nodes. Once bridged onto Ethereum, Algorand, Polkadot, and Cosmos, Cudos will enable scalable computational and layer-two oracles on all bridged blockchains.

Learn more:

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