Animoca becomes largest validator of Telegram’s TON blockchain

November 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Animoca Brands invests in Telegram’s TON blockchain protocol and becomes its largest validator as it eyes GameFi development on the platform.

Web3 investment firm Animoca Brands is set to become the largest validator of Telegram’s TON (The Open Network) blockchain and plans to deliver blockchain-based games to the messaging app’s 800 million strong user base.

An announcement shared with Cointelegraph outlined how the partnership will involve the provision of funding, research, and an analytics platform for third-party TON ecosystem applications.

The value of Animoca’s investment was not disclosed at the time of publishing, but part of the investment is understood to have been made directly into Toncoin, which has been staked as part of the validator agreement.

Animoca has carried out extensive market research on TON’s wider ecosystem focused on the platform’s ability to drive cryptocurrency and GameFi adoption.

The firm plans to strategically support TON Play, a gaming infrastructure project based on the TON blockchain. The infrastructure allows gaming applications to be built on TON and launched on Telegram, as well as port existing web-based games to the messaging app.

Ton Play will enable developers to deliver games to some 800 million Telegram users through its web application and the mobile app’s PlayDeck bot - which allows users to browse a catalog of mobile games.

Telegram's PlayDeck bot allows users to browse a catalog of mobile games. Animoca plans to deliver blockchain-based games through the channel.

Animoca will also explore the ability to port a selection of its gaming titles and applications from its portfolio of over 400 Web3 projects to Telegram.

Animoca Brands Research has also developed its own TON Analytics Dashboard, which gathers a variety of metrics from TON’s open internet ecosystem, which includes TON Blockchain, TON DNS, TON Storage and TON Sites.

Animoca Brands Research has created a live dashboard monitoring key networks of the TON ecosystem.

TON Foundation director of growth Justin Hyun said the analytics platform and in-depth research reports provided by Animoca will play an important role in infusing Web3 functionality into the everyday experiences of Telegram users.

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said the investment in TON is aligned with the firm’s efforts to drive adoption and the transition of Web2 to Web3.

“Taking part in the network’s validation underlines our faith in the successful realization of the vision behind the TON project as it looks to bring Web3 into the mainstream.”

Siu added that Animoca has identified significant growth potential of gaming within the TON ecosystem and intends to drive the development of TON-based games over the next few years.

The partnership with TON is the second instance of Animoca becoming a validator of a proof-of-stake blockchain protocol in Nov. 2023. The firm joined fan token blockchain Chiliz Chain as a validator for its native proof-of-stake authority protocol on Nov. 14.

Chiliz Chain is the backbone of Socios.com, which operates a plethora of fan tokens for some of the biggest global football and sports teams. Europe’s most loved football clubs and several household sports brands have tapped into the solution to power Web3 fan tokens and other blockchain-based offerings.

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Google Cloud is now a validator on the Polygon network

September 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

According to Polygon, “the same infrastructure used to power YouTube and Gmail” will help secure its network.

Polygon Labs announced on Sep. 29 that Google Cloud has joined the Polygon PoS network as a validator.

Google Cloud joins more than 100 other validators verifying transactions on its L2 Ethereum network.

This month, @GoogleCloud became part of the decentralized validator set for Polygon PoS.

The same infrastructure used to power @YouTube and @gmail is now helping to secure the fast, low-cost, Ethereum-for-all Polygon protocol.

With 100+ validators securing the Polygon PoS…
— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) September 29, 2023

Per a post from Polygon Labs on the X platform announcing the partnership:

“The same infrastructure used to power YouTube and Gmail is now helping to secure the fast, low-cost, Ethereum-for-all Polygon protocol.”

Validators on the Polygon network help secure the network by operating nodes, staking MATIC, and participating in proof-of-stake consensus mechanics.

Separately, learn more about our work in the blockchain space, in an ongoing strategic collaboration with @0xPolygonLabs https://t.co/r6yAtUSXEc
— Google Cloud Singapore (@GoogleCloud_SG) September 29, 2023

The Google Cloud Singapore account confirmed on X that Google Cloud was “now serving as a validator on the Polygon PoS network,” adding that it would be “contributing to the network's collective security, governance, and decentralization alongside 100+ other validators.”

While many of the validators are anonymous, as Cointelegraph recently reported, Google Cloud joins Germany's Deutsche Telekom, one of Europe’s largest telecommunications firms, on the Polygon network.

For its part, Google Cloud describes its relationship with Polygon Labs as “an ongoing strategic collaboration.” Alongside the announcement that it would be joining the network as a validator, Google Cloud APAC also released a YouTube video titled “Polygon Labs is solving for a Web3 future for all.”

Polygon Labs recently launched its “Polygon 2.0” initiative to update the Polygon network. As Cointelegraph reported, “Phase 0,” the current phase, features three Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs), PIPs 17-19.

PIP 17 involves the transition from MATIC to new token POL, whilst PIPs 18 and 19 address supporting endeavors such as the technical description of POL and updating gas tokens. According to Polygon, these changes are slated to begin taking place in Q4 2023.

Ethereum validators may have to stake 64X more ETH, devs discuss

June 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The proposal received mixed reactions from the crypto community, with some users stressing that it would make the network more centralized.

Ethereum core developers plan to implement a 64-fold increase in the minimum amount of staked Ether (ETH) required to become a validator, from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH.

The proposal was made during a June 15 Ethereum core developer consensus meeting by Ethereum Foundation researcher Michael Neuder. The researcher noted that although the current limit of 32 ETH allows more validators to join the Ethereum network, making it more decentralized, it also leads to an inflation of the validator set size.

Neuder added that such a large increase would ultimately help the Ethereum network become more efficient over time. Besides the proposal to increase the minimum required staked ETH for validators, Neuder also called for auto-compounding validator rewards.

Ethereum consensus layer meeting. Source: YouTube

The auto-compounding of rewards would allow validators to make more money on their staked ETH. Currently, to produce any staking income, rewards received in excess of the 32 ETH cap must be transferred to another account. These benefits could be rapidly compounded if the cap were raised, giving validators a practical way to increase their earn reward.

Neuder claimed the current proposal would not only make the Ethereum network more efficient and make way for validators to earn more money, but it would also help large node operators, such as exchanges, which currently manage thousands of validators.

The 32 ETH limit has led to a significant surge in validator addresses after Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake network. Currently, there are over 700,000 validators with around 90,000 awaiting activation in the queue.

*Total Ethereum validators. Source: Beaconscan*

The proposal received mixed reactions from the crypto community with several users pointing out that such a significant change in staked ETH would lead to a lower number of validators and thus make the network more centralized. Other users dismissed the idea and claimed it wouldn't be beneficial for the network.

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Ripple expands Canadian engineering activities with U of Toronto XRP validator

June 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Canada

Canada’s largest university is the third in the country to partner with Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative.

The University of Toronto plans to launch an independent XRP Ledger (XRPL) validator, Ripple announced June 12, as the university will become part of Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI). The partnership will support blockchain and crypto technology research at the university.

The partnership will also advance Ripple’s XRPL Campus Ambassador program, which “aims to elevate the impact of college students” by helping "educate other students about crypto and how to start building on the XRPL.” University of Toronto professor Andreas Veneris commented:

“Hosting an XRP Ledger validator matches our goals in both promoting education around the XRP Ledger […] but also the public’s trust in scholars for their long-standing ethos to advance social wellbeing.”

The University of Toronto, Canada’s largest university by enrollment, joins the University of Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan University as Canadian UBRI participants. Ripple has invested $2 million in research in Canada in the past five years. In total, the UBRI has supported more than 45 universities in 20 countries, according to its website.

Now this is how mass adoption should work.

The University of Toronto, the largest university in Canada by enrollment, plans to start an independent $XRP ledger validator.
This new partnership with Ripple seeks to support the next generation of the crypto industry
— Cryptomom (@MsCryptomom1) June 12, 2023

Ripple opened an office in Toronto in July 2022 to serve as an engineering hub. That office has a staff of over 30 and employs summer interns.

Ripple is in a highly publicized legal conflict with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, but Canada has provided challenges as well. The country introduced new crypto trading rules in February that have shaken up the domestic crypto market, with dYdX, Paxos, Binance and Bybit among the companies choosing to close down their Canadian operations as a result. On the other hand, Canadian regulators have approved several crypto exchange-traded funds recently.

Ripple is closely associated with XRP Ledger, the issuer of the XRP (XRP) token.

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Germany’s Deutsche Telekom plugs in as Polygon validator

June 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The German telecommunications firm looks to leverage its infrastructure in Web3, plugging in as a network validator for Ethereum scaling protocol Polygon.

One of Europe’s largest telecommunications companies is using its infrastructure to explore new revenue streams and boost network security as a validator for blockchain protocols.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom is set to become a validator for Ethereum layer-2 scaling platform Polygon, becoming one of 100 validators providing staking and validation services for the network and Polygon’s Supernets solution.

Polygon is an important layer 2 in the Ethereum ecosystem, offering developers a range of scaling solutions, including zero-knowledge rollups, sidechains and data availability protocols.

Deutsche Telekom MMS, which provides consulting and software development services, will operate as a Polygon validator for its parent company. This is expected to secure Polygon’s proof-of-stake sidechain and Supernets chain, improving security, governance and decentralization of the protocols.

The firm will run a full node, produce blocks, validate and participate in the network’s consensus, and commit checkpoints to the Ethereum mainnet.

Dirk Röde, Deutsche Telekom’s Blockchain Solutions Center head, told Cointelegraph supporting the Polygon network as a validator is a big milestone in its aim to be an important player in Web3 infrastructure:

“Deutsche Telekom is not only a renowned infrastructure provider for mobile and internet services but is also making significant commitments to expand its presence and reliability as an infrastructure provider in the Web3 domain.”

Deutsche Telekom is also a validator for Q, Flow, Celo, Chainlink and Ethereum, and Röde said the company aims to serve institutional clients as a reliable enterprise-grade staking provider.

Röde added that leveraging the company’s infrastructure as a validator while monetizing the native token of the underlying blockchain network provides Deutsche Telekom with a “dependable, novel and scalable source of income.“

The potential for more mainstream telecommunications companies moving into Web3 could also catalyze greater decentralization of various proof-of-stake blockchains operated by validators:

“Other telecommunications companies are also exploring opportunities in this domain. In a decentralized ecosystem, it should be the goal to have a diverse and reliable validator set.“

A statement from Polygon Labs CEO Michael Blank reiterated this point, highlighting his belief that the partnership could pave the way for more mainstream businesses to embrace blockchain technology.

Polygon recently announced a multiyear partnership with Google Cloud to drive the development of the Ethereum scaling protocol’s zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine, zero-knowledge proof scaling solution.

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T-Mobile’s Parent Company Becomes Validator on Polygon (MATIC) Network

May 31, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Ethereum validators earn a record $46M as staking rewards rate surges

May 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Ethereum validators earn a record M as staking rewards rate surges

Coin Telegraph

Ethereum’s staking rewards hit a record 8.6% post-Merge, with validators earning $46 million in the first week of May, citing the memecoin craze responsible.

Validators earned a total income of $46 million in the first week of May as a result of the increase in the staking rewards rate, which is a metric for the annualized yield of validators. According to data, validators earned 24,997 Ether (ETH) in the week, representing a 40% increase over the previous week's income of $33 million, when 18,339 ETH were distributed as rewards.

The recent trend of a new memecoin called Pepe trading is the reason behind the gratitude of validators. In the past week, the average fees on the Ethereum network have exceeded 100 gwei, marking the highest level since May 2022. As gas fees increase, end users are paying over $30 per swap. The surge in gas fees has resulted in higher fee income for validators from processing transactions, in addition to their regular validator rewards.

*ETH staking rewards reference rate. Source: Beaconcha.in*

Beaconcha.in states that the present staking rate signifies the anticipated annualized return for validators. In order to engage in the network's consensus procedure, validators on Ethereum are mandated to stake a minimum of 32 ETH, valued at roughly $58,000.

There are two types of rewards identified by ETH Store, a company that measures reward rates: consensus rewards for proposing and attesting blocks and transaction fees for processing transactions on the Ethereum network.

Since Ethereum's network moved to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism with The Merge last year, and following the recent Shapella upgrade that enabled validator withdrawals for the first time, ETH staking has gained significant importance among institutions.

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April 19, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Gnosis Chain spends $5M on validator incentive program for decentralization

April 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Gnosis Chain spends M on validator incentive program for decentralization

Coin Telegraph

The program offers 388 mGNO to each of the first ten validators that runs in a listed country.

Gnosis Builders, developer of blockchain network Gnosis Chain, has announced a $5 million project to increase the number and diversity of validators through incentive mechanisms. The new project is called “Gnosis VIP,” according to an April 18 announcement from the company.

As part of the new project, Gnosis is launching a “Geographic Diversity Program” that seeks to increase the number of countries Gnosis Chain validators are located within.

The network currently has over 100,000 validators spread across 60 countries, and the program’s goal is to increase the number of countries to 180 by year’s end, the announcement said.

According to the program’s official webpage, for each of the 90 countries listed, the first ten validators that start operating within them will receive 388 meta Gnosis (worth $1,368.18 at April 12 prices) over the course of six months. Meta Gnosis (mGNO) is the wrapped and staked version of the network’s native coin, Gnosis (GNO). Each mGNO can be redeemed for 1/32 GNO.

The first payment of 38 mGNO ($134) will be disbursed after the first 30 days the node operates. The size of the payment will increase each month, and the last payment at the end of the six months will be for 98 mGNO ($345.57).

In an email statement to Cointelegraph, Gnosis CEO Martin Köppelmann expressed hope that the new program will help to improve both the security and performance of Gnosis Chain:

“A diverse validator set is paramount for a resilient and secure network [...] Geographical diversity hedges the network against both natural and jurisdictional disasters [and] can also improve the performance of a network; by having validators located in different parts of the world, transactions can be processed more quickly and efficiently.”

Debates often rage in the crypto community over which networks are the most decentralized, with many experts claiming that a network cannot be scalable, secure, and decentralized at the same time. This conflict in design philosophy is often called the blockchain trilemma.

In his email statement, Köppelmann emphasized that geographical diversity is only one aspect of decentralization, and others are also important to ensure resilience and security.

TON validators receive single nominator smart contract

April 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Orbs’ single-nominator contract offers independent validation for validators, safeguards against gas attacks and enables stake recovery during emergencies.

Orbs, a public blockchain infrastructure designed for mass usage applications and close integration, has announced the release of the single nominator smart contract for validators in the Telegram Open Network (TON), a decentralized layer-1 blockchain.

In the TON blockchain network, validators can use the single nominator, which provides an isolated cold wallet for securing their validation process. This feature is particularly useful for validators with enough self-stake to conduct independent validation without needing third-party nominators. This feature aims to enhance validators’ independence, security and protection against gas-spending attacks.

In blockchain technology, a nominator is an individual or entity participating in a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. This is done by staking their cryptocurrency holdings to support the network’s security and transaction processing.

The nominator essentially nominates a validator to represent their stake in the network and earn rewards on their behalf. The validator, in turn, is responsible for validating transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. This process is essential to the security and efficiency of the blockchain network, as it ensures that only legitimate transactions are processed and recorded on the blockchain.

Smart contracts typically involve two or more parties agreeing on a set of rules or conditions that must be met before the contract can be executed. These rules are encoded into the smart contract, and when the specified conditions are met, the contract executes automatically, transferring funds or assets between the parties involved.

The single nominator smart contract provides an option for the core team’s nominator pool smart contract. The alternative was developed in-house to provide security for validators who stake their funds. The single nominator tool is now offered to the community as a free, open-source product.

Orbs added that the single nominator contract offers protection against attack methods by keeping the validator node’s hot wallet separate from the principal staking funds. This separation safeguards the funds against gas spending attacks, and the owner can alter the validator address if the wallet is compromised. Moreover, the contract provides the ability to recover stakes during emergencies, such as elector upgrades.

The contract has been audited by CertiK, a Web3, blockchain and smart contract security firm, which recently announced a partnership with TON to audit future projects on the network.

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