Casper Testnet Rewards

Introduction

Thank you for participating in the Casper Testnet program. Your voluntary participation in this Testnet is enabling stakeholders across the Casper eco-system, including core node developers, validators, dApp developers and tool developers, to test their software in a non-production environment, and to preview upcoming software changes. As announced at the onset of the Testnet program, it is planned to award rewards to Testnet participants, contingent upon their adherence to the Code of Conduct, based on an algorithmically calculated score that incorporates certain performance criteria (see below), and subject to certain limits and final approval.

Reward Calculation

Principles

• Rewards are calculated on a weekly basis, beginning with the first full week after Testnet Genesis, i.e. the week starting Monday April 12th, 2021.
• Weeks begin on Monday at 0:00:00 UTC, and end on Sunday at 23:59:59 UTC.
• Rewards are awarded to the top-ranked n of Testnet participants in a given week:
  • n is subject to a future decision
  • the ranking each week is calculated as explained below
  • all participants tied for the last reward-eligible position will be awarded
• Rewards are accrued and paid at a later date, subject to Casper token lock-up periods and Casper Association’s workflow and grant specifics
• The total reward amount available to the program is subject to a change as needed with a prior announcement
• Reward participation is contingent upon completing a KYC/AML process, details for which will be announced at a later date.
• One KYC’d person can only be tied to one node, for reward purposes.

Weekly Reward Calculation

The basic scoring algorithm is:

100 * uptime_percentage

where uptime_percentage is defined as your node running within 4 blocks from the “tip” of the blockchain, with an active bid. Your node is regularly scanned on port 8888 to check your block height, so if your port 8888 is closed, you are not considered “up”. uptime_percentage is calculated on a 24-hour basis, during each UTC day.

Longevity Score

The longevity score is the cumulative daily score of a node since the last fault. Any day with a score below 90 is considered a fault, which will also cause your longevity score to be reset to zero.

Network longevity at 100% will be used as a factor to break ties (longer longevity=higher ranking among tied performance metrics) and where a tie causes the rewardee list to exceed 100 rewardees, the list will either be shortened to exclude all tied rewardees, or extended up to 110 rewardees, whichever results in fewer rewardee additions/removals.

Deductions

Your cumulative weekly score can be reduced if any of the following events occur:

Network Weight

If your node at any time during the weekly calculation period has a network weight of 6% or more, your score for that week will be reduced by 10%.

Validator Bid

If your node does not have an active bid on the network, it will be considered down, and will not be eligible for rewards. If you follow the installation instructions completely, you will have an active bid. Please see the Validator FAQ for more details on how to monitor your node’s bid status, and how to reactivate your bid if it gets deactivated.

Node Software Version

If your node is not running the expected casper-node software version by the era following the era that a software upgrade is slated to take effect, your score for that week will be reduced by 10%. As an example, if a software upgrade is slated for era 234 and your node is still not upgraded at the beginning of era 235, you will lose 10% of your score.

Please note that the Casper Testnet program is implemented by providing rewards through the Casper Association (CA), a not-for-profit, Switzerland-domiciled organization responsible for overseeing the Casper network and supporting its organic evolution and continued decentralization. MAKE Technology LLC is not affiliated with the Casper Association, and has no control over the program sponsorship or the incentivized reward program, and is hosting these guides and documents as a service to the Casper community only.