In the context of web3 and blockchain technology, nodes are essentially points within a network where data is processed, stored and communicated. Think of a node as a server that contains a copy of the blockchain and participates in the process of validating and relaying transactions.
Each node in the network ensures that the blockchain remains accurate and secure by cross-checking data and maintaining a shared ledger.
Nowadays you’ll see more and more of the term DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network, which accurately labels the way that nodes contribute physical computing power to a decentralized network in web3.
Nodes are crucial to the functioning of decentralized networks. Unlike traditional centralized systems where a single entity controls data and operations, decentralized networks distribute these tasks across multiple nodes. This distribution enhances security, reduces the risk of data tampering, and increases the network’s robustness against failures.
In simple terms, if you imagine a network as a city, nodes are like independent businesses that all agree on the same rules and work together to keep the city’s economy running smoothly. Without the effectiveness of these companies, the city would not be able to operate smoothly and provide necessary services to its inhabitants. Additionally, the viability of the entire city does not have to rely on the viability of any one business, because all the others agree on the same rules and continue to hold up the city’s infrastructure.
Each business keeps its own records, but they all share and validate information to ensure everything is accurate and consistent. This is how blockchain nodes work together, even as their operators are most likely strangers to one another, spread throughout the world.
Centralized networks are limited by things like land, real estate, energy and human resources. The larger a company gets, the more resources it must consume in an organized manner to maintain effectiveness. Decentralized systems are more scalable because they create the opportunity for remote node operators to shoulder much of this burden.
Gala Founder’s Nodes: A Specialized Role
Gala Founder’s Nodes are a specialized type of node within the Gala ecosystem. While they do not validate blockchain transactions—a task managed by the Hyperledger Fabric protocol on which GalaChain is built—they play several critical roles in supporting the network’s infrastructure.
Functions of Gala Founder’s Nodes
Decentralized Storage and Computing Power: Founder’s Nodes provide much of the necessary storage and computing power for the Gala ecosystem. This ensures that various applications, especially in gaming and entertainment, run efficiently without relying on centralized servers.
IPFS Distributed Hash Table Routing: Founder’s Nodes are instrumental in the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a protocol designed for decentralized file storage. They account for a large portion of the IPFS routing footprint, making decentralized internet performance significantly more robust throughout the world.
A Huge Piece of The Decentralized Web is Powered by Gala’s Node Network
Gala Founder’s Nodes account for nearly 30% of IPFS servers and Gala is leading the charge in decentralizing the internet.https://t.co/kg4CMUVr9O
Supporting Future Workloads: The scope of responsibilities for Founder’s Nodes is expected to grow. They will soon handle additional tasks such as bridge transactions and chain security, further enhancing the network’s efficiency and capabilities.
Token Distribution and Governance
Founder’s Nodes are also integral to the Gala token ($GALA) distribution process. New $GALA enters circulation by emission to Gala Founder’s Node operators as a reward for powering the network. The total amount of distribution is determined by the difference between the token’s current total supply (in circulation) and its max total supply, allowing dynamic variation of distribution based on how much $GALA is being used and burned throughout the world.
In simpler terms, Gala Founder’s Node operators are essentially licensing their computers as employees of GalaChain, putting them to work in the background and receiving $GALA regularly in exchange for that work. This method of decentralization reduces Gala’s costs for hosting and storing content through centralized providers such as Amazon Web Services.
Moreover, operators of Founder’s Nodes participate in governance decisions through consensus voting. This democratic process allows node operators to influence significant ecosystem decisions, including the distribution of tokens and other critical changes.
Why Gala Founder’s Nodes Matter
Gala Founder’s Nodes are the backbone of the Gala ecosystem, providing decentralized infrastructure support without involving themselves in transaction validation. This specialization allows them to focus on enhancing the network’s overall functionality and security, making GalaChain a more efficient and resilient blockchain solution.
Nodes are fundamental to the web3 world, enabling the decentralized systems that underpin blockchain technology. They ensure data integrity, enhance security, and support the network’s resilience. Gala Founder’s Nodes, in particular, exemplify how specialized nodes can provide critical infrastructure support, contributing to a robust and scalable decentralized network.
We are thrilled to announce the completion and results of Gala Film’s first two Theater Node governance votes. Marking a significant milestone in our journey towards a more decentralized and community-driven platform, our community of Theater Node operators has spoken, and their decisions will play a crucial role in shaping the future of $FILM tokenomics.
The Votes
The two governance votes focused on key aspects of $FILM tokenomics:
Maximum Boost for Film Projects
Distribution Method for $FILM Tokens
Voter Participation
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all Theater Node owners who participated in these votes. A total of 249 Theater Node operators cast their votes, with a total of 508 participating Theater Nodes. This strong turnout underscores the dedication and engagement of our community, and we hope to further increase the involvement and engagement of our valued Theater Node operators in the future.
Results
Vote 1: Distribution Method
With 58% of the votes, the community has decided to keep the current distribution method based on the prior day’s activities. This means that the daily minting of $FILM tokens will continue to be determined by the previous day’s ecosystem activity.
Vote 2: Film Boost Reward
With 43% of the votes (winning share), the community has chosen to set the Film Boost at 3X. This decision means that once a film reaches the Boost cap, each view will count as three views when calculating daily $FILM distribution.
Next Steps
These decisions will be incorporated into the Gala Film Litepaper and applied to the platform. We believe that these choices will foster a more dynamic and rewarding ecosystem for all participants.
We are immensely grateful for your continued support and participation in shaping the future of Gala Film. Together, we are building a more empowering film industry.
Stay tuned for more opportunities to have your voice heard in upcoming governance votes. Your participation is crucial in our journey to revolutionize the world of film through the power of blockchain technology.
Thank you again for voting and for being a part of the Gala Film community.
We love our communities at Gala. Even as they have grown and multiplied, first from solely Gala Games into multiple entertainment genres with Gala Music and Gala Film, then branching out into industries beyond entertainment with the release of the developer friendly GalaChain SDK. This family will get bigger and bigger, but we’re still (and always) a family.
One of the most foundational groups in our community is the Gala Founder’s Node operator ecosystem. Since the very beginning, they have been there, powering our network in exchange for $GALA even before GalaChain existed. Today, the operators of this massive DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) are behind one of the largest decentralized networks in the world.
As always, we want to thank our dedicated Founder’s Node operators for acting as the engine of our network. You are true pioneers who have believed in our web3 mission of empowerment through ownership, some of you since our earliest days. Thank you.
Understanding Gala Founder’s Nodes
At the core of our Gala Ecosystem lies the innovative and powerful Founder’s Nodes. These nodes are the backbone that supports and drives our entire network, playing a critical role in ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of our decentralized platform.
Think of a node as an intersection of data on a blockchain, or a joint. In the same way that a traffic intersection is governed and regulated by a traffic light, a blockchain intersection is regulated by a node.
The most fascinating thing about nodes in web3 is how they make decentralized networks possible, essentially turning operators’ home computers into agents (or employees) of the blockchain. By running a simple program in the background, operators can power the network, even with little to no understanding of how it’s working.
The distribution of data across a network of nodes is foundational to a decentralized ecosystem like Gala.
What Are Founder’s Nodes?
Founder’s Nodes are specialized servers operated by community members who have acquired a license to run them. These nodes are integral to the functioning of our GalaChain, contributing to various essential tasks such as securing the network and storing data. Think of them as the silent workhorses that keep our ecosystem thriving.
Incentives for Node Operators
Operating a Founder’s Node means collecting daily $GALA as it is generated. Node operators receive daily distributions of $GALA tokens, our ecosystem’s digital currency, for their contributions to the network. This reward mechanism not only incentivizes node operators but also ensures the continuous and sustainable operation of the network.
Distribution to Founder’s Node operators is one of the main ways that $GALA first enters into circulation. The amount of $GALA distributed to operators each day depends on the number of active operators and the current circulating supply of $GALA, using a dynamic halving model as described in the Ecosystem Blueprint.
Governance and Decentralization
Our vision for Gala is deeply rooted in the principles of decentralization. Founder’s Nodes play a crucial role in this vision by participating in governance through consensus voting. Node operators have the power to influence major decisions, such as the distribution of $GALA and other significant ecosystem developments. This participatory approach ensures that our community has a voice in shaping the future of the Gala Ecosystem.
Founder’s Nodes are the foundation upon which our Gala Ecosystem is built. They provide essential services, secure the network, and empower our community through governance participation. By running these nodes, our dedicated operators contribute to the resilience and growth of the GalaChain, helping us drive the decentralized revolution forward.
Being enthusiastic about the tech world doesn’t necessarily mean that you know EVERYTHING… we get it. DevSpeak, because sometimes the jargon day to day can all start feeling a little bit alphabet soup.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about DePIN. An anecdotal and unscientific sampling of coworkers has revealed that it’s likely many of you reading this (also) have no idea what DePIN stands for or means.
DevSpeak is here to save the day! This series is your chance to get just a teeny bit of insight into some techie lingo here and there. Even if you’re not going to single-handedly engineer the next era of tech breakthroughs, hopefully some small window into developer culture gives you a much better understanding of the world as a whole!
DePIN, Defined
DePIN (usually pronounced `Dē-Pǐn), is short for DEcentralized Physical Infrastructure Network. These are systems organized across a physically distributed network – allowing for storage, sharing and other cooperative use of resources without any one entity controlling the system itself.
DePINs share work across a network of computers to accomplish tasks that would otherwise require a physical server infrastructure. Unlike traditional remote networks, these systems allow participating nodes to work together without any centralized organization, while maintaining standards through protocols established on the network itself.
MONDAY MORNING ALPHA THREAD!
Ok guys, let's talk #DePin since apparently, when I look at hashtags, we are heading into a #DePINSummer.
Modern DePINs frequently rely on blockchain technology to ensure that individual nodes in the network play by the rules or do their part. A blockchain naturally creates verifiable accountability for all users of the DePIN, whereas on-chain assets can provide incentives for users to continue supporting the network.
Constant Evolving Technology
If this concept sounds familiar, that’s because it’s exactly what the Gala Node Ecosystem has been doing for years. We’d love to claim credit for the idea of distributed networks, but it goes back way further than us.
Digital resources have been shared remotely by networks for a long time. Remember torrents? Those were utilizing your bandwidth to facilitate downloads… working with other people hosting the same file, you’d each be providing part of the file. This created a network with scalability bound only by its user base.
DePIN evolved fast from those early days. Organizations like IPFS came along and made the world rethink what was possible from decentralized networks. Today, IPFS has created a truly global peer-to-peer network that has become one of the key foundations for the modern internet.
The Gala Node workloads actually operate through IPFS protocols. Each innovation in the chain of progress is required for the next step.
To summarize: A DePIN is a network of physical devices sharing resources, yet physically separated from each other.
These systems can have governance rules, or simply protocols that mandate incentives and punishments for non-compliance. DePINs are often the basis for blockchain ecosystems, but not always. Sometimes a DePIN is just an off-chain, decentralized system.
Still confused? Let’s try a couple examples.
Imagine you want to host a platform that contains all the best cat videos in the history of the internet, preserved for posterity and human viewing pleasure. You start gathering up cat videos (mostly from your hypothetical cats, Mittens and Meowth), then find yourself buying an awful lot of physical storage. No problem, you can just call that big box hosting service… cats love boxes!
Now you’ve got Tb of cat videos, you want to get them to the world that needs them! But… people REALLY love cat videos. You quickly find your apartment stuffed full of server boxes running your growing platform. Hey wait! Doesn’t the big box corporation also have data servers? Yay! Boxes!
Eventually, you have your cat video empire… but pretty much only by the grace of the big box company. Instead of handing control over the culturally indispensable cat videos and data over, you could have involved a DePIN with sustainable incentives… ensuring your cats aren’t controlled by a dog-loving company.
Hmmm… maybe that was more confusing… let’s try something simpler.
There are miners for Bitcoin all over the world. Those miners all contribute work to the network, which uses that computational power to encrypt the next block. Some Bitcoin miners are massive facilities and some are individuals with a few extra machines. Regardless, each of these individual miners is technically a node in a DePIN.
Bitcoin miners don’t receive a paycheck from a central office. They don’t have to keep up with amending company bylaws or sign contracts… Bitcoin provides incentives to miners who write the last block directly from its inherent protocols. It is a self-sustaining DePIN, with each miner a node.
Hopefully those “practical” examples eliminated some confusion for you!
‘DePIN’ Your Understanding
Unlike some other jargon that we’ll talk about, DePIN isn’t necessarily a complex topic that we need to just brush the surface of. It’s actually pretty simple… a bunch of machines that are not physically together doing work together with no central hub. This one isn’t rocket science… it’s just a new enough idea to not always be intuitive.
This idea is going to continue to grow over the next few years. The idea of DePIN is that no individual controls the network… the network itself makes those decisions. Advancements in AI could help power a new revolution of DePIN and with it true democratization of digital spaces.
DePIN is something that you probably interact with on a daily basis. We hope you not only understand the word a little better from this edition of DevSpeak, but also are a little more aware of the systems around you that are marvels of modern ingenuity.
We’ll see you next time to demystify another tech concept! Enjoy the DePIN world!
This update is important for the future of Gala’s DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network), which allows the ecosystem to scale with all the decentralized power and web3 security of GalaChain.
A New Era of Distribution
For years, the Gala ecosystem has thrived with the support and computing power of our Founder’s Node operators. To acknowledge and further encourage their support, we’re transitioning to a new distribution system designed to reward the efforts of our node operators based on their operational time.
Gone are the days of the simple pass-fail system. We’re introducing a more dynamic point system that rewards operators not just for meeting a minimum uptime requirement, but for their continuous support throughout the day. This new system is a reflection of our appreciation for our operators who go above and beyond in their contribution to the network’s strength and reliability.
The First Step
This update will initially affect the distribution of rewards for Founder’s Nodes and Common Ground World Nodes, aligning with our long-term plan to enhance the ecosystem’s utility and inclusivity. On the back end, this shift is an important step toward the upcoming introduction of Node Workload NFTs (tokenized node licenses). Transferable and tradable node licenses will level up freedom and control for our valued community of operators.
Common Ground World Nodes will lead the way in conversion to Node Workload NFTs, just before the addition of the newly announced and game-changing Guild feature described in this blog. Founder’s Node Workload NFTs will be released soon after, paving the way to a more empowering ecosystem for node operators.
Future Updates
We are also fine-tuning additional updates to reward operators who stay current with the latest node client versions. This step ensures our network remains robust, secure, and at the forefront of blockchain technology. If you are a node operator, ensure that you are appropriately rewarded when these updates are implemented by downloading the latest node client here.
Stay Updated
You’ll find full details on the new point system in the blog linked below. Your feedback and participation are what make the Gala ecosystem vibrant and strong as we continue on our journey to onboard the first billion users to web3 tech. Together, let’s build a decentralized future where everyone is rewarded for their contribution.
