Earnings on nodes: possible costs and sources of income
Earnings on nodes depends on a large number of unpredictable factors, but to understand what investments and income can accompany the path of the owner of nodes we will tell further.
Rewards from projects
Developers often organise reward programmes for node operators to test the stability of the project under load, detect and fix bugs, and encourage initial growth in the user base after launch. Sometimes teams reward operators retroactively (even after a significant amount of time) without officially announced incentive programmes.
It is important to realise that such rewards can vary significantly from one project to another and do not always cover the cost of maintaining the node. Similar to drophunting, there is a high level of risk involved in participating in such initiatives.
Transaction processing fees
This way of earning money is intended for miners and validators, but it is not easy to predict the amount of income. In Proof-of-Work (PoW) networks, your income depends on the processing power of the hardware you use, while in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks it depends on the volume of your steak. In general, the more you invest, the higher the potential return. It’s worth noting that this is only relevant for working on the core network.
Note: you can calculate the approximate income from mining or transaction validation through special calculators. Here are examples of such services for Ethereum, Polkadot and Bitcoin. But you need to make an adjustment for the market situation and the dollar value of the asset.
Obtaining delegation
In many Proof-of-Stake networks and hybrid blockchains such as Solana and Tezos, users can delegate their assets. This process allows them to transfer their assets to the operators of delegator nodes in exchange for a portion of their transaction processing revenue. For example, in Solana, delegators can earn up to 7% per annum on their investments.
This is a great way for node operators to increase their steak, which increases the likelihood of being selected as a validator and therefore increases their commission revenue. On top of this, they charge delegators a small fee for services rendered, so the more delegate funds they attract, the higher their potential profit.
Many project teams set up special funds to delegate to validators, which can be earned for contributions to early development or active participation in the test network. However, this approach can have a negative impact on decentralisation, as the project team controls who gets to validate the network.
For ordinary users, this method may be less accessible as it is difficult for single operators to attract significant amounts of delegation without a team, robust security measures and community trust. Nevertheless, there are exceptions where enthusiasts have managed to overcome these obstacles.
Earning money by providing infrastructure
Users without their own nodes are forced to turn to third-party infrastructure providers. Node operators can therefore monetise their resources by offering paid public or private access to the blockchain. However, as with delegations, this option is more suited to teams rather than individual enthusiasts, as it involves setting up a full-fledged business with all the associated costs and obligations.
Starting a node, like any business venture, requires an initial investment. In the next section, we will take a closer look at the major cost categories involved in this process.
Staking
To become a validator and launch your own node, you need to contribute a substantial steak – a certain amount of cryptocurrency that serves as a guarantee of your reliability on the network. While these funds are not an expense in the literal sense, as you can pay them back once the node is discontinued, they still represent a significant investment.
It’s important to keep in mind that steaking involves freezing your cryptoassets, which are subject to high market volatility. This means that the value of your steak can change significantly during the time it is locked up. In addition, withdrawing funds from a steak is often subject to delays: in some networks, this period can last weeks. For example, in the Cosmos ecosystem, unblocking takes around 21 days, whereas in Ethereum, the process can vary from 5 to 10 days depending on the current network load.
You should also be prepared for the risk of slashing, a penalty mechanism used on some networks to punish validators for violations or failures. Slashing can result in you losing part or even all of your steak. The causes can be varied: technical problems with hardware, power outages, configuration errors, or even targeted attacks by malicious actors. Therefore, ensuring stable and secure node operation requires extra effort, resources, and precautions.
Hardware
For node deployment you should use a dedicated or virtual server. Support and maintenance of these servers is often hard to do alone, so Unihost team is ready to provide you with servers where our team will do all the technical work.
We will set up a node that you like, will monitor the server and will be ready to help you 24/7.