1. Create your wallet

1.1 With MetaMask

Install MetaMask

MetaMask acts as a digital wallet and is a way to secure your favorite cryptocurrency. You can install the MetaMask add-on on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Brave.

Connect MetaMask

Step 1: Click on the MetaMask logo on the browser to open the extension. Select Custom RPC as shown below:

Step 2: When Setting screen pops up, enter https://tomochain.com into New RPC URL field then Save.

1.2 With MyEtherWallet

From MyEtherWallet homepage, click “Access my wallet” and connect to the TomoChain Mainnet via MEWconnect, hardware devices, MEW CX or software (private key, recovery phrases).

1.3 With TomoWallet

TomoWallet is now available. On the first page, click the CREATE NEW WALLET button. TomoWallet will automatically create a new wallet and show up information about your address, QR code and the balance in your home page.

2. Voting

With a connected wallet, it’s now time to try voting for Masternodes and Masternodes candidates on the list.

2.1 The masternode ecosystem

There is a maximum of one hundred fifty candidates elected to become masternode. The required deposit to become a masternode candidate is set at 50'000 TOMO. This amount is locked in a voting smart contract. Once a masternode is demoted (when leaving the top one hundred fifty voted candidates) or intentionally resigns from his masternode role, the deposit will remain locked for a month.

Masternodes which work hard in the system to create and verify blocks will be incentivized with TOMO. Furthermore, token holders who vote for these masternodes will also receive TOMO in proportion to the amount they have invested via voting. TomoChain engineers take responsibility to design that fair, explicit, automated and accountable reward mechanism.

Token holders, at any time, can unvote candidates who have low performance and give their votes to the other candidates who have better performance. Token holders have incentives to do that because their voted tokens are seen as investment to their supported masternodes, thus they should choose a voting strategy in order to maximize their profit.

This simple trick keeps the system healthy since masternodes always have to race for their position so that all weak masternodes will eventually be eliminated. Therefore, only the strongest masternodes are voted and can flourish.

The list of masternode candidates is dynamically sorted based on voted tokens. The performance of the masternodes will be tracked and reported back to the token holders in terms of three main metrics: CPU, Memory and the number of signed blocks which indicates their work performance. The last signed block also indicates the last activity.

2.2 Choosing candidates

The main points to take into considerations when choosing a masternode are the following:

Raw machine performances: By comparing the theoretical power (their hardware) and actual performances (CPU and Memory usage) between nodes, you can see which masternodes are future proof. As more and more DApps will use TomoChain, the load on each masternode will ramp up. A node who is constantly using 70% of it’s CPU power will probably get into more trouble if the load on the blockchain goes up than a node who’s currently at 20%.

By comparing the theoretical power (their hardware) and actual performances (CPU and Memory usage) between nodes, you can see which masternodes are future proof. As more and more DApps will use TomoChain, the load on each masternode will ramp up. A node who is constantly using 70% of it’s CPU power will probably get into more trouble if the load on the blockchain goes up than a node who’s currently at 20%. Work: For candidates that are already promoted as masternode, you can check if they are fulfilling their duty via each candidate page. You can check when the last signing happened to see if masternode is indeed online doing his job. You can compare the rewards with other masternodes to see if he’s doing the same amount of work.

For candidates that are already promoted as masternode, you can check if they are fulfilling their duty via each candidate page. You can check when the last signing happened to see if masternode is indeed online doing his job. You can compare the rewards with other masternodes to see if he’s doing the same amount of work. Current stacking: When voting for a masternode candidate, be aware that you might not want to blindly vote for the most voted candidate as it will greatly reduce the rewards you will receive. As voting rewards are split between voted TOMO, the more TOMO stacked, the less reward they individually grant.

For example, voting 10'000 TOMO on a masternode with 100'000 TOMO already stacked will earn you more rewards than voting 10'000 TOMO on a masternode with 1'000'000 TOMO stacked. At the same performances, you would earn 10 times more.

Reputation: This one might be the most subjective point. A candidate being owned by a “trusted” company can still encounter problems and be poorly managed. But it might still be a factor as some people might have more experience maintaining IT infrastructures than others.

2.3 How To Vote

Now that you have a better idea about the masternode ecosystem, it’s time to try voting! In this regard, access our governance DApp TomoMaster.

TomoMaster natively supports MetaMask. You can also access your account page to fill in your wallet Private Key or MNEMONIC. Once configured, you can vote for Masternodes by clicking on “the Vote button”.

2.4 Reward Mechanism

Every epoch (~30 minutes), you will automatically receive rewards for each masternode you voted for.

The masternode, who takes turns in a round robin fashion to create blocks, has to scan all of the created blocks in the epoch and count the number of signatures. The reward mechanism is designed following the following policy : the higher number of signatures one masternode has made, the more reward he earns. For instance, within an epoch, masternode A who has sealed twice the blocks than masternode B earns double the amount of TOMO than masternode B does.

Specifically, each epoch consists of 900 blocks, which will reward a total of 250 TOMO in the first two years. This amount of 250 TOMO will be divided to all of the Masternodes proportionally to the number of signatures they sign during the epoch.

Afterward, the reward earned by each masternode will be divided into three portions:

Infrastructure Reward: 40%, goes to the masternode owner.

40%, goes to the masternode owner. Staking Reward: 50%, goes to the pool of this masternode’s voters and is shared proportionally between voters on the amount staked.

50%, goes to the pool of this masternode’s voters and is shared proportionally between voters on the amount staked. Foundation Reward: The last 10% goes to a special account controlled by the Masternode Foundation, which is initially run by TomoChain.

It is worth noting that coin-holders who unvote before the checkpoint block will not receive any shared reward for the current epoch.

2.5 Check your rewards

Wait for some hours and come back to see your rewards.

For this, access your profile page (the three vertical dots on the top right)

And click on the address in the “Account Information”.

Under the “Voter Rewards” section, you can see the rewards you received. You can also check them via TomoScan by searching for your wallet address.

2.6 How to Unvote

If you do not want to support the Masternode whom you voted for, you can unvote by clicking “the Unvote button” on the Masternode’s page and enter the amount of TOMO you want to unvote.

After unvoting, your TOMO will be locked in the smart contract for 48 hours before you are able to withdraw them.

2.7 How to Withdraw

For withdrawals, you have to wait about 48 hours until your TOMO is unlocked from the smart contract. Then you can click the withdraw button in your account page and choose which withdrawal you want to operate (as you will see multiple withdrawals on your account page if you made multiple unvotes previously).

If you withdraw before the unlock period expires, an error will be raised.