We’re proud to introduce the Pocket Infrastructure Bootstrap Program. Though this limited-time promotion, we are offering professional infrastructure providers an interest-free loan of Pocket Network’s native cryptocurrency, POKT, to encourage early participation in the protocol. Pocket Network, Inc. will lend providers enough POKT to run up to 10 Pocket nodes.

This is an opportunity for node runners to provide the base layer of infrastructure for the majority of the Pocket Network, while also increasing the node count of other layer-one blockchains, starting with Ethereum. This base layer of infrastructure will ensure that the quality of service is the best in the world in the early-stages of Pocket Network. We want to encourage the best node operators in the world to do what they do best while contributing to Pocket’s mission of providing the base layer of sustainable, censorship-resistant, full node infrastructure for every blockchain.

Pocket Core works alongside existing infrastructure with lightweight, easy-to-use deployment artifacts. Like a reverse-proxy, Pocket Core is a thin client that simply relays RPC requests to your existing node infrastructure. It will be possible to leverage economies of scale through horizontally scaling many Pocket Core nodes to one single blockchain node, such as Ethereum.

As nodes relay RPC requests, they are eligible to mint POKT on a per-request basis. For every relay served and validated by the protocol, 0.01 POKT is minted and added to the next block. Service Nodes are allocated 89%, earning 0.089 POKT per each relay served. On top of that, each node will have the opportunity to be elected as the block producer, making them eligible to claim 1% of the total POKT minted in that block. This is in the form of a block reward from the Pocket blockchain. In the early-stages of Pocket Network, we expect 5,000–30,000 relays per day, per Pocket node based on 5M+ daily relays on the network.

In addition to supporting Pocket Network in the early days, participants will support new chains onboarded to Pocket ensuring that all chains will have reliable infrastructure. Newly supported chains will have a minimum required relay volume to ensure those node runners are properly incentivized.

We are limiting participation to five qualified providers. If you’re a professional node operator and want to learn more or apply to participate in the Pocket Infrastructure Bootstrap Program, please apply here.

For more information on setting up nodes, please see our Node Overview. If you need node assistance, hop into the Pocket Discord community to connect with our support team.