Masternodes are quickly becoming a hot topic in the cryptocurrency world and for good reason. These nodes are essentially servers that function within a blockchain network to fulfill a specific function beyond simply relaying transactions. While each project has a unique masternode use case, the general features tend to be the same:

Improve transaction speed and privacy

Enable a community system of governance and voting

Enable a budgeting and treasury system

Secure the network and reduce price volatility

Masternodes are found within both proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-work (PoW) projects, meaning that they are not a feature exclusive to PoS coins, as many people tend to believe.

Masternodes are an attractive tool for long term investors looking for a significantly higher passive ROI, as compared to more traditional staking. However, these nodes require far more collateral from investors. For some popular coins, like Dash, it costs over half a million dollars in coins to be able to set up and run a masternode.

These nodes, which require a stable IP address to properly function, are a bit tricky for the average investor to set up. Many require a working knowledge of Linux, which can be daunting for some. However, there are services currently available to handle all of the technical aspects of launching masternode, usually for a small fee.

Of course, with any technology that is not yet mainstream comes unique investment opportunities.

Top 22 upcoming masternode releases for early 2018:

Table adapted from masternodes.online

Here are a few our favorites from the list:

Halo allows users to congregate, organize, strategize, and execute on everything crypto. You can join other investors and mentors in chat groups, control and manage all your coins in one wallet, and trade on their DCE while knowing your coins are secure.

While there have been delays in their network launch, their unique tiered masternode system allows coin holders of various levels to launch and run their own nodes (each with rewards based on total coins held).

XTRABYTES is a blockchain / modules platform and associated cryptocurrency that introduces several key innovations that provide significant security and scalability advantages over current crypto technologies on the market.

The goal of XTRABYTES is to provide a platform on which a multitude of customized services can be deployed and utilized. Several blockchain solutions provide a similar offering, but XTRABYTES is unique in that it is backed by and built upon a secure, powerful, and reliable network.

XTRABYTES currently trades at around an $80M marketcap, with a tiered collateral system.

Syscoin is a full-decentralized marketplace with a token marketcap of $275M. They recently decided to launch masternodes as the first step in the transformation of their project from a blockchain based marketplace, to a complete blockchain development platform. The masternode system is currently in beta.

To set up a masternode, you need 100,000 SYS which equals about $50,000.

Please note, we only added established projects and there might be some upcoming masternode coins missing from this list. Please message us at info@sludgefeed.com if you think we’ve left out a coin that should be included.