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DPoW FAQ
The DPoW system is the The Nano Center solution to helping the Nano community-supported services, such as faucets, tipping bots, and wallets. It allows any user to support the nano network by computing the required work for transactions.
The DPoW Network has a dashboard that is located at https://dpow.nanocenter.org/. You can see how many clients are connected, a list of services utilizing the network, and detailed statistics on PoW generation.
The work is distributed by a centralized server, and you should use one of the available clients:
- Python client - more performance and configurable, harder to setup, intended for continuous use
- Web-based client - easy to setup, intended for intermittent use
Every Nano transaction requires a small PoW to be calculated. It can take around 15 seconds on a modern computer (less than 3 if using a graphics card). This is not a problem for users running a node and only sending occasional transactions. However, for services that manage hundreds of accounts, which may want to transact at the same time, their server might not be able to keep up with the demand. This problem is usually handled by having a work server. The issue is that can be expensive, and is sometimes doing nothing, when transactions are not happening. For non-profit community services, this has become a problem.
With DPoW any user can help run the aforementioned services, simply by leaving their computer on and calculating the occasional PoW. Much easier and often more helpful than running your own node.
Not necessarily, especially if you have a slow node. A representative, however, helps decentralize the network, making it more secure. DPoW was created because many users wanted to help the network in some other way.
It runs on the same principle of running a node - we believe users will want to help the Nano network and services simply because they want them to exist. Moreover, there are small payouts to clients, proportionally to the amount of work done.
Exactly.
We are currently implementing a subscription model where services pre-purchases a bundle of credits, such that each work requested costs them one credit. These funds will be then distributed to the workers regularly. This is still in testing and in the future we plan to explore a free community model. The cost to use the dPoW system is significantly cheaper then a service running its own work server.
In a server run by James Coxon, a member of The Nano Center.
If anyone could request work for free, in theory it could be work that will be used to spam the network, which would go against the purpose of this system. However, all services have their own API Key and they will be banned if this happens.
Great! Please contact @jayycox#5013 in http://discord.nanocenter.org/ or by e-mail: [email protected]. In the future, a form will be available.
You can use the open-source client and verify the source code (or ask someone you trust in the community). We will never do such a thing.
Yes. It is perfect for sending occasional transactions since they will be sent immediately without waiting for work. The DPoW system does the same for its services. After a work is requested, the corresponding source account is kept in a database, and we check for changes in its ledger. Once they send a transaction, we request work to a work peer in the background and keep it in cache. Once the service requests work for that same account, it will already be available! Neat, right?
We recommend that services keep a fallback method to get their PoW.
Welcome, and thank you for helping to support community projects.