Update:

Basechain was formerly known as PlasmaChain. Read the official announcement.

Validators can now self-onboard here: https://loomx.io/developers/en/validator.html

Background

The Loom Network team has been delivering at a tenacious pace in our quest to build out the tools that will help developers create and scale their dapps for the masses.

We recently launched Basechain, our universal multichain hub. Basechain is an EVM-compatible chain that gives developers fast and gasless transactions, as well as interoperates with other major networks — Ethereum, Binance, and Tron (plus Bitcoin and more on the way).

That means developers can deploy and scale their dapps directly on Basechain, and then transfer tokens in/out of the layer 1 networks of their choice.

Where Are We At?

Basechain is already live, audited, battle-tested, and running smooth.

There are 21+ external validators running the chain, tons of third-party developers launching new dapps, and the network has maintained stellar performance — already processing 15M+ transactions and creating 60K+ wallets.

Check out the latest roadmap for a view on what’s to come in early 2020.

How To Become a Validator

One of the most important parts of running a DPoS chain is having a diverse set of validators that are held accountable and voted on by the users of the chain.

Many curious minds have already reached out to inquire about the possibility of participating — and we’re flattered. For the rest of you, here’s how the process will work for early testnet validators:

Update: validators can now self-onboard here: https://loomx.io/developers/en/validator.html

Validator Responsibilities

It’s not possible to overstate the critical function that validators play in keeping the network honest. To ensure this, your responsibilities as a validator node will include:

Continuously running the latest and greatest version of the Loom SDK

Staking LOOM tokens for a period of time

Complying with Loom validation requirements and specs

Maintaining properly functioning hardware

Actively participating in network governance (voting on software upgrades, changes to the fee structure, etc.)

Validator Requirements

While validation activity during the initial testnet phase required minimal resources, we’ve seen an accelerated bootstrapping of the network given recent milestones and momentum.

As such, we’ll be continuously iterating on precise specs and requirements to find the optimal setup for mainnet and anticipated growth in transaction volumes. At this point, approximate guidelines for validators are outlined below:

Hardware

Server and backup server running Loom software (both with firewall)

Memory: 32 GB of RAM, preferably 32GB

Disk space: 1 TB of SSD storage, NVME drives (no normal hard disk or network hard disk)

CPU: 64-bit

Processor: Quad core 3GHz

Network: 1GB fiber

Hardware security module (HSM) and backup

Operational

Co-location at a top-tier data center; security and 100% uptime are paramount, so redundancy is a must

An additional backup location operation

Loom will provide examples and documentation on monitoring and alerting tools, but each validator is responsible for their own instance

Initially, more frequent upgrades during the testnet phase as the wrinkles are ironed out

LOOM Tokens

Must stake 1,250,000 LOOM tokens

Requires a 12-month lock-up period on the staked tokens

The larger the stake, the larger the validator will be rewarded

Why Run a Node?

Validators don’t propose blocks and verify transactions just for the thrill of it — they get rewarded for their efforts in securing the network. Those that stake tokens and participate will earn dividends from two primary sources:

LOOM fees that are paid by third-party developers for hosting and running their dapps on Basechain

Transfer Gateway fees when sending their assets between chains (for the first year, this is free for users)

As our latest roadmap is very sharply focused on driving usage, trading, and bringing more third-party dapps onto the network, we see massive growth potential in those hosting and gateway fees.

Early participation is also an opportunity for validators to build their reputation before elections are opened completely to the community, as well as position themselves for early access to future chains that support staking.

Conclusion

If you have the deep technical expertise, experience running validator nodes for large-scale networks, and are interested — then you can self-onboard here or fill out this form to connect with the Loom team directly.

Keep your eyes peeled for more announcements. We will be releasing additional information on the validator process, Basechain, and all the other cool things we have in motion here at Loom Network — additional markets (DeFi, government, enterprise), expanding interoperability with major chains (Bitcoin, Cosmos, EOS, etc), enhancing speed and reliability (Wasm, sharding), onboarding more dapps and developers, launching new CryptoZombies lessons, and continuing to ship fast and frequently (note: real products that are actually live and in production 🤯).

…speaking of big news, we’re thrilled that a few team members (Matt and Georgios) will be presenting at DevCon next month. They’ll be sharing some undoubtedly awesome Basechain-related updates. So stay tuned!