Komodo’s Fifth Annual Notary Node Election
Notary Nodes and dPoW Overview
Notary Nodes are 64 dedicated servers that are elected annually by the Komodo community. They are responsible for running delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) — a security mechanism that recycles the hash rate of the Bitcoin network through a series of cross-chain notarizations. dPoW has successfully defended against real 51% attack attempts and currently secures over 30 production blockchains, protecting several hundred million dollars in value.
“Another year has passed and our season four Notary Node operators have provided the ultimate 51% attack (chain reorg) protection in the entire blockchain space. By recycling the enormous Bitcoin hash rate, Komodo’s delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) network has provided many blockchain projects with secure, reliable consensus. As we begin season five, I look forward to welcoming the new Notary Node operators who will be protecting our ecosystem for the next year.” Komodo CTO Kadan Stadelmann
Notary Node (NN) Election Timeline
There will be a live election count on community-run websites such as dexstats.info. For information on how to participate in the Notary Node testnet, view this Komodo Platform GitHub page for more details and ask any questions in the notarynode channel on Komodo Discord.
— KMD Snapshot: April 2nd 2021, 12:00 UTC - Done ✅
— Season 5 Election Start & Vote2021 Airdrop: April 3rd 2021, 12:00 UTC - Done ✅
— Autoelection Announcement: April 12th 2021 - Done ✅
— Proposal Deadline: April 17th 2021, 12:00 UTC - Done ✅
— Season 5 Election End: April 23rd 2021, 12:00 UTC - Done ✅
— Public Komodo Update Announcement: April 30th, 2021 - Done ✅
— dPoW Season 5 Start: June 14th, 2021 - Done ✅
How To Become A Candidate
Candidates don’t need to be a current member of the Komodo community or know anything at all about the inner workings of Komodo’s technology.
Candidates must own or have access to two computers that meet the following requirements:
- OS: Linux is mandatory. Ubuntu 18.x or Debian 10.x recommended.
- CPU: A High-Performance CPU, e.g. Xeon, i7/i9, Ryzen, EPYC, etc.
- RAM: 64GB or more
- Disk: 1TB SSD or greater
- Bandwidth: 100Mbps or higher
In order to run in the Notary Node Election, all candidates must submit a written proposal to the Notary Node repository on GitHub. Proposals can contain, among other things, a brief bio, motivations for running in the election, and planned contributions to the Komodo ecosystem.
At a minimum, a candidate’s proposal must state which region they are running in and post an address to which KMD community members can send VOTE2021 tokens. Candidates may choose to run for one seat in one of the four regions. That means that, at most, an individual candidate can seek 1 Notary Node position in their first election participation.
Those who would like to run in the 2021 Notary Node Election must announce their candidacy by April 17, 2021.
In general, the Komodo community elects Notary Node Operators who are committed to the development of the ecosystem. If your primary motivation is personal financial gain, you may find it difficult to garner support.
Conversely, even if you are an ardent supporter of the Komodo ecosystem, you may fail to win a seat if your technical skills are lacking. A balance of both attributes — dedication to the Komodo ecosystem and strong technical abilities — is the ideal combination.
For more information about running in the election, please see the documentation for setting up a Notary Node and read the Notary Node Bible, which contains more information about the duties and responsibilities of a Notary Node Operator.
If you’re interested in becoming a candidate in the Notary Node Election, please join Komodo Discord to connect with the team and other community members. The community is more than happy to answer questions and provide support.
Previous Elections
First Annual NN Election (2017)
Second Annual NN Election (2018)
Third Annual NN Election (2019)
Fourth Annual NN Election (2020)
Fifth Annual NN Election (2021)