Node Running for Passive Income - Pocket, Gala, and More

Nodes are quickly becoming a strong utility-driven investment. We've analyzed some of the ways you can turn nodes into passive income plays.

Nodes took the latter part of the last bull cycle by storm, as dozens of similar projects launched claiming to pay ongoing rewards to you as a participating "node runner' in the world of decentralization.

Fast forward a few months into the bear market and most of these node projects collapsed as fast as they sprang up. However, a few with true utility and potential are still be building. Today we are taking a look at a few of them.

Pocket Network

It is hard to analyze the utility around nodes without first addressing what could be the single biggest and most obvious use-case of that utility which is known as Pocket Network.

Pocket provides RPC access to Ethereum, Polygon, and many more blockchain networks. Everything from testnets to mainnets to any open-source interface. In fact, the blockchain networks that Pocket supports are growing by the week.

"Pocket was designed to be the most reliable and redundant full node network in the world." - Michael  O’Rourke - Pocket Network, Inc. CEO

Pocket Network is tackling this problem at the full node layer so that the shared Web3 vision of a more fair internet can be protected and secured. Pocket is working to unlock a new form of value creation for node operators that realigns their immediate needs with the long-term health of public blockchain networks for a win-win.

There are several ways of participating in earning rewards for running Pocket Network nodes, including running a node directly with services like C0D3R and BlockSpaces or pooling and staking your POKT into grouped node running services like PoktPool and Easy2Stake. More options are evolving each month.

As mentioned previously, Pocket Network has one of the most glaring use cases and deserves a deeper dive that we will be issuing a report on in the coming weeks. There are a series of protocol and governance developments underway at the moment that need to play out ahead of the analysis.

Gala Gaming & Music Nodes

Gala nodes come in a few shapes and sizes, with the main flavors being Gala Games nodes to support the growth of their gaming ecosystem and Gala Music names to support the growth of their up-and-coming music ecosystem.

When you choose to set up and run a Gala node, you help to secure the network, and you are rewarded for doing so by receiving a daily distribution in the form of Gala tokens, free gaming items, NFTs, and Townstar coins.

Gala's node philosophy consists of two parts, you own the content and you own the roadmap. The decentralized Gala Games ecosystem aspires to give players back the control they deserve.

Further, both node owners and players will be enlisted, via distributed voting mechanisms, to help determine what games should be added to the platform or what should be funded by the decentralized ecosystem.

The same philosophy applies to the newer Gala Music nodes that have seen such partnerships with Kings of Leon and Snoop Dogg.

You'll need a license and Gala tokens to get started running your own Gala node to earn rewards. That journey can begin here with a license and how to own and operate a node.

Constellation Network Soft Nodes

The Constellation Network is not new to the market, but its name and mission surfaced higher than before in this past market cycle as the node hype was hitting a peak. But Constellation was not one to group with the others.

Constellation Network has been building since 2017 as the team has been rethinking the usual solutions to many of the problems for existing blockchains, such as scalability and centralization.

An early endorsement came that showed the maturity of the Constellation ecosystem when the US Air Force selected them for a secured SBIR Phase II contract to develop a way of exchanging mission data securely across the Defense Transportation System.

"Soft Nodes" from Constellation, which will be part of the Mainnet 2.0 due for launch in the second half of 2022, allows node running participants to be part of the ecosystem and be rewarded for doing so.

Soft nodes mirror the network rewards dynamic of Mainnet 2.0. Those running nodes are familiarized with the market economics of a validator economy. You can stay tuned in to the latest developments here as Constellation launches the new mainnet in the coming months.

Your Rewards for Passive Income

In summary, earning rewards from this real use-case and utility-driven node projects above can create a supplemental passive income for you as the respective tokens of these projects accrue value.

Setting yourself up as a participant in one or more of these node ecosystems now, during the current bear market cycle, can offer up returns that complement your investment thesis and help further support decentralization growth at the same time.