Relayers. More rewards for AZERO validators and nominators inbound

AZERO holders will soon earn rewards by supporting privacy features through relayers, in addition to existing validation options. Let’s dive into the economy and incentives!

Key Takeaway

• Run Relayers, Get Rewards: Relayers are essential to Aleph Zero zkOS, enabling private on-chain transactions. The introduction of relayers enables users to earn rewards for hosting them;

Progress on Decentralization

Aleph Zero network’s decentralization progresses. Up until now, blocks have been produced with a majority of community validators, while the Aleph Zero Foundation maintained a supermajority for block finalization––10 out of 14 nodes in the block finalization committee were run by Aleph Zero. Now, 9 out of the 10 AZF validators get switched to selected community validators based on their performance. The next step is to fully decentralize the process–randomly selecting any community validator for the committee.

With nearly 190 active validator nodes driving the network’s decentralization, the reliance on Aleph Zero Foundation nodes is no longer critical. As a result, the Foundation’s node operations will be reduced, making more room for community validators’ value accrual.

If you’re currently nominating one of the Aleph Zero Foundation nodes, now is the time to switch your nomination to a community validator. Here’s why: 

• You’ll keep getting rewards–if you’re nominating one of the AZF nodes that get turned off, you won’t get rewards until you nominate another validator;
• You’ll benefit from lower commission fees;
• You’ll help community validators generate more rewards;

You don’t need to unbond to nominate a different validator.

The change in block finalization committee has already been introduced on the Testnet, and is scheduled to be introduced on the Mainnet by December 16th, provided that no issues are found in the testing period. 

Validators and Relayers: Expanding the Roles in Network

Until now, supporting network operations was possible by acting as a validator or a nominator. Validators helped secure the network by validating transactions, while nominators supported trusted validators through staking. Both roles rewarded participants with staking rewards, making them integral to the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

That brings in, with the introduction of zkOS, a new actor in this ecosystem: the relayer. 

How zkOS Maintains Privacy

Relayers are crucial in enabling private transactions on Aleph Zero. A sufficient set of relayers provides strong privacy, as no single actor can be both a bottleneck and a potential point of compromise.

Aleph Zero’s zkOS provides random sampling in such a way that transactions will be disseminated over a multitude of relayers, making it impossible to monitor users based on patterns of repeated relayer use.

Similarly, the quality of relayer’s service––reliability and trustworthiness––is ensured through mechanisms of monitoring and removing low-performing relayers.

Now: how to become a relayer? The hardware requirements for becoming a relayer will be lower than for running a validator node. However, to act as a relayer, you will still need to provide 25,000 AZERO of your own stake, just like in the current validation system.

Relayer Nomination: A New Opportunity for AZERO Holders

Relayer nomination is an exciting method in which AZERO holders will contribute to the maintenance of privacy. By locking their tokens, holders can nominate trusted relayers to help build a reliable and efficient privacy network. 

The selection process will be proportional: relayers will handle a share of zkOS traffic that corresponds to their nomination percentage. For example, a relayer with 2% of the total nominations would process 2% of the transactions.

This system will create a collaborative economy in which AZERO holders directly impact the strength and efficiency of the privacy layer––zkOS.

Incentives: Rewards for Supporting Privacy

Supporting privacy isn’t only about contributing to the network; it is also about getting rewards. Relayers get a fee from users that deposit or withdraw funds from the shielded pool ––and part of the AZERO inflation rewards. 

The nominators, subsequently, share in the rewards that their chosen relayer may earn, inscribing a mutually beneficial relationship in which the network is further strengthened by rewarding participation.

Shielding with zkOS allows for shielding any supported asset––the fees are deducted from these tokens at the time of shielding or unshielding. If the protocol collects fees in any other token than AZERO, it will be swapped for AZERO to be paid out as such to relayers and nominators.

The dual reward structure will ensure that both relayers and nominators are incentivized to maintain and grow Aleph Zero’s privacy ecosystem.

A New Chapter for Aleph Zero’s Economy

By integrating relayers and the nomination of relayers into the ecosystem, the network will open a new avenue of participation, getting rewards, and shaping the future of blockchain privacy for AZERO hodlers.

Whether you are a validator, nominator, or a would-be relayer, this new chapter opens ways of contributing to a privacy-first blockchain economy. As privacy becomes a key priority in the digital world, Aleph Zero is leading the way-and you can be part of it.

Stay tuned on the progress, as we build out this system!