The majority of participants in the cryptocurrency ecosystem engage with it through buying and selling speculative assets, developing projects, or becoming influencers. A small but crucial subset of users, however, plays a vital role in ensuring the infrastructure’s sustainability: the validators. These participants maintain the core network by validating transactions and producing new blocks, but becoming a validator has traditionally been restricted by high barriers in terms of technical expertise, financial resources, and operational know-how.
The X1 blockchain is changing this paradigm by lowering the entry requirements, making it easier and more cost-effective for anyone to become a validator and begin earning rewards. In this article, we will explore the role of a validator, explain why validating on X1 is more affordable than on Solana, outline the minimum requirements and associated costs, detail potential earnings, and provide a step-by-step guide on how to get started.
What is the Role of a Validator?
A validator plays an essential role in the functioning of any blockchain network. Their primary responsibility is to ensure the integrity and security of the network by validating transactions and producing new blocks. Validators have several key duties:
- Transaction Validation: Ensuring that transactions adhere to the network’s rules and are legitimate.
- Block Production: Aggregating validated transactions into blocks, which are then appended to the blockchain.
- Consensus Participation: Validators participate in the consensus mechanism to achieve agreement across the network on the current state of the blockchain.
- Network Security: By following consensus rules, validators prevent malicious behavior, contributing to the blockchain’s resilience against attacks.
In exchange for their services, validators receive rewards in the form of the network’s native cryptocurrency. These rewards come from block production, transaction fees, and inflation mechanisms.
High uptime is crucial for validators. A validator must consistently operate to avoid penalties, ensure optimal performance, and maximize rewards.
Some thoughts on X1 and Solana, also about ill tempered monk seals… pic.twitter.com/bua7l2fw0R
— ⓧ Cyphereus Prime 🛞X1 (@mrJackLevin) December 28, 2024
X1 Validators: Lower Costs, Greater Accessibility
X1 is a fork of Solana and inherits all the features and performance capabilities that contributed to Solana’s success. Solana’s breakthrough speed with Proof of History enables extremely fast transaction throughput, processing up to 65,000 transactions per second, low transaction costs, a hybrid PoS/PoH consensus allowing fast and energy-efficient consensus, scalability on a single global state without sharding, and high network efficiency capable of supporting thousands of nodes without excessive computational overhead. X1 improves on this technology by drastically reducing the cost of running a validator, lowering it by 40 times compared to Solana.
Solana is often criticized for the high costs of running a validator and breaking even. This is due to the high cost of voting, which requires around 1 SOL per day, and the high stake requirement to become a leader and produce blocks. Additionally, there is the cost of hardware. Voting constitutes around 94% of the total cost, and with Solana at $250, the entire monthly expense to run a validator is around $8,600. This creates a barrier to entry that is prohibitive for many. X1 eliminates the voting cost entirely, encouraging more validators to join and strengthen decentralization. Removing 94% of the cost increases X1 validator profitability and inclusiveness. Becoming a validator on X1 is now as cheap as a single cappuccino, compared to $200 per day for a Solana validator.
Solana suffers from spam transactions, causing network congestion and performance bottlenecks. To address this issue, X1 introduces congestion-reflective dynamic base fees based on global compute-unit usage. This change allows for higher earnings, especially during peak times.
There are other features to be implemented after the mainnet launch, including performance-based leader selection, homomorphic encryption, SVM capacity scaling, and optimizing consensus with validator subcommittees.
Nakamoto Coefficient: Ensuring Maximum Decentralization
X1’s primary objective is achieving maximum decentralization—a key factor for ensuring the network’s security and resilience. If a blockchain is centralized, it becomes vulnerable to censorship or manipulation, undermining its fundamental purpose. The best way to measure decentralization is through the Nakamoto Coefficient, which quantifies the number of entities required to control over 50% of the network’s consensus power.
A high Nakamoto Coefficient indicates that the blockchain is highly decentralized, while a low coefficient suggests that a small number of entities hold substantial power, increasing the risk of centralization and attacks. For example:
- Bitcoin has a relatively low Nakamoto Coefficient, with mining power concentrated in a 3 large pools.
- Ethereum’s staking power is similarly controlled by a small number of large entities such as Lido, Coinbase, and Kraken, with just 2-3 entities controlling more than 50% of staked Ether.
- Solana enjoys a higher Nakamoto Coefficient compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, but still has some degree of centralization, with a few large validators controlling a significant portion of stake.
- X1, on the other hand, aims to achieve a Nakamoto Coefficient of 50, meaning that it would take 50 different entities to collude in order to hijack the network. This ensures a level of decentralization that provides significant protection against attacks and promotes a truly global and open network.
Validator Earnings: A Huge Opportunity
On traditional blockchain networks like Solana, validators earn from several sources:
- Transaction Fees: A portion of the fees for transactions processed on the network.
- Block Rewards: Rewards distributed through inflation, with new tokens issued to incentivize securing the network.
- Stake Rewards: Validators earn rewards based on the amount of stake they hold, including both their own and delegated stake.
- Priority Fees: Fees paid by users who want their transactions prioritized in the block production process.
However, on Solana, the high costs associated with voting and hardware create significant barriers to entry. X1 removes these voting costs entirely, allowing validators to keep 100% of the rewards.
Validators receive a portion of the fees collected from transactions processed on the network. These fees are typically split among validators who contribute to producing and confirming blocks. Once a block is confirmed, validators earn block rewards from inflation, which are distributed as new SOL tokens to incentivize securing the network. Validators also earn rewards based on the stake they hold, including both their own stake and delegated stake from other SOL holders. The more stake a validator has, the higher the potential rewards. Additionally, validators receive fees paid by users for the prioritized inclusion of their transactions in blocks.
These combined revenue streams are designed to incentivize validators to maintain high uptime, good performance, and active participation in the network’s consensus. All the changes introduced to X1 aim to maximize validator profits, reduce the difficulty of becoming and operating as a validator, and enhance decentralization and scalability.
Running the Validator on the Testnet
X1 is currently undergoing a thorough testing. There are almost 10 billion transactions on the Xolana testnet and 150 validators running the network. These validators are going to receive an allocation of the XN native coin on the mainnet that is set to be released in the first half of 2025. Another way to secure the XN allocation is through the burning of XEN and VMPX tokens between other ways however the details and the exact numbers will be released later.
X1 Validator Hardware Requirements and Costs
According to X1’s official documentation, here are the minimum hardware requirements for running a validator:
- CPU: 12 cores / 24 threads or more, with a base clock speed of 3GHz or faster.
- RAM: 128GB or more.
- Disk: 4TB NVMe SSD.
These requirements ensure that validators can keep up with the network’s high throughput. X1’s performance-based leader selection, which will be introduced after the mainnet launch, will require validators to meet these hardware specifications to remain competitive.
Many validators opt to rent hardware from data centers to meet these requirements. Popular services like Interserver offer cost-effective dedicated servers that can meet the needs of an X1 validator. For example, a server with an AMD Ryzen 7900X processor and 128GB of RAM is a suitable choice for running an X1 validator.
Setting Up Your X1 Validator
Once a server is rented, you will receive SSH access and can proceed with setting up the validator. X1’s official setup guide will walk you through the installation process, which involves:
- Installing Linux (Ubuntu): Download Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS from the Microsoft Store (for Windows users) or directly from the Ubuntu website.
- System Setup: Update your system and configure SSH access.
- Validator Installation: Follow the official guide to install the X1 validator software.
If you’re a Windows user, go to the Microsoft Store and download Ubuntu 22.04.05 LTS. You will be prompted to create a new UNIX username and password for your Ubuntu system.
Update the system packages by typing:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.
When you have Ubuntu installed, you can connect to your server by typing:
ssh root@your-IP-address
Next, it’s recommended to create a new user by typing:
sudo adduser johndoe
and grant it sudo privileges:
sudo usermod -aG sudo johndoe
Switch to your user:
su - johndoe
Once you are logged in, you can start installing the validator. Follow the official guide at docs.x1.xyz and join the X1 Validators Telegram group for assistance.
Conclusion
X1 represents a significant step in blockchain technology by making the process of becoming a validator more accessible and profitable in terms of earned rewards. With drastically reduced costs, enhanced decentralization, and future-proof features, X1 offers a compelling opportunity for individuals to participate in maintaining a secure and scalable blockchain network. Whether you’re a seasoned blockchain enthusiast or a newcomer, becoming a validator on X1 provides a unique chance to contribute to the network while earning rewards in a highly efficient and decentralized environment.
