As a foundational pillar of the Gala ecosystem, our Founder’s Node operators have always played a crucial role in shaping the future of our platform. Traditionally, the decision-making process has involved simple proposal style votes, offering a binary choice on the direction of development within the Gala ecosystem.
The Vote
The voting opens at 2pm PT on April 12th and concludes at the same time on April 19th.
As you know, we opened GalaChain to external development with the release of the open-source GalaChain SDK earlier this year. The community’s response was nothing short of phenomenal, leading to the creation of invaluable resources by dedicated developers. Among these resources, various GalaChain explorer apps stand out as exemplary projects that not only enhance the ecosystem but also enrich our community.
The Reward
In recognition of these contributions, we’re dedicating this vote to decide which development team will be honored with a remarkable prize: Either 1 million $GALA or a prestigious Gala Founder’s Node license– Winner’s choice. This initiative is not just about rewarding innovation; it’s about celebrating the spirit of community and collaborative growth that defines Gala.
The Candidates
The spotlight is on the following GalaChain explorers, each a testament to the ingenuity and commitment of our community developers:
We encourage all Gala Founder’s Node operators to engage with these explorers and make an informed decision on which project truly deserves the accolade and the prize. Your vote is a powerful tool in shaping the ecosystem and recognizing the efforts that fuel our collective growth.
Gratitude and Anticipation
Our heartfelt thanks go to all GalaChain developers for their contributions and to our extraordinary community for their unwavering support. This vote marks a new chapter in our journey towards a more inclusive, innovative and decentralized future. Join us in celebrating the creativity and hard work that continue to propel the Gala ecosystem forward.
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.
It’s almost time for an important update to the Gala Node ecosystem that will enhance rewards for the most active operators.
As the Gala ecosystem was building its infrastructure and first proving viability, Founder’s Node operators were rewarded for operation based on their ability to meet the minimum 6-hour uptime requirement during each 24 hour distribution period. This system should be familiar to all Founder’s Node operators today, as it is the system we have used for several years.
In this current system, 1 point is awarded to each Founder’s Node that has met its minimum uptime requirement for the day. Then the $GALA generated for the day is distributed proportionally to the allocation of the points. This straightforward system provides no incentive for Node operators to support the network by operating their Nodes for longer than 6 hours each day.
We’re looking for node operators who support our vision of building the largest decentralized network in the world, so we devised a solution that would a) remove the minimum uptime requirement,and b) reward those who run their Nodes around the clock.
The Long Term Plan
In 2021, it was first announced HERE (and decided through a decentralized governance vote) that the network would eventually shift to such a system. Amid the excitement of opening GalaChain to external development via tools like the GalaChain SDK and the Gala Creator Portal, as well as the web3 buzz surrounding the March 20-21 GalaChain Hackathon GDC competition, we’re thrilled to announce that the time has come.
These updates will go live soon, switching to the new distribution system and rewarding node operators based on a new point system, described in more detail below.
The Point System
The original point system was “pass or fail” with the operator receiving either 0 points for not meeting the requirements or 1 point for meeting the requirements.
The new point system allows operators to earn partial points, creating a more accurate reward structure based on actual operation time.
Every 6 hour period equals 1 point. Therefore the max points for a 24 hour day is 4.
Another way of phrasing this is through the following formula:
Points = (Seconds Online ÷ 3600) x (4 ÷ 24)
While this point structure is changing, the total amount of $GALA available in the daily distribution will not change, except when a dynamic supply event occurs as described in the Gala Ecosystem Blueprint.
The founders distribution still follows the same formula:
Point Value = Distribution $GALA Amount / Total Points
Reward = Points * Point Reward Value
Founder’s Nodes and Common Ground World Nodes
This change will initially only affect the distribution of $GALA from Founder’s Nodes and $DIRT from Common Ground World Nodes.
For Common Ground World Nodes, the 1 $DIRT received per day for an active node will now be the maximum that a Common Ground World Node will generate when active for 24 hours in a day. A Common Ground World Node that is active for 6 hours will receive .25 $DIRT, and so on.
Next Steps
This update is an important step in the process toward making tokenized licenses called Node Workload NFTs, which will allow Node operators to transfer their Node licenses to other users. Shortly after the start of this new distribution structure, we will convert Common Ground World Node licenses to the ecosystem’s first Node Workload NFTs. The tokenization of Founder’s Node licenses will follow shortly after.
Running the Newest Client
With a future update to this system, modifiers will be implemented that reward additional points to operators who run the newest version of the Node client or reduce points for running a deprecated version of the Node client. These details are still being fine tuned and we will share updates as they become available.
Thank you for supporting the decentralized Gala ecosystem, and we look forward to many more years of building and innovating through the power of GalaChain!
