The Run A Node Grants Round was designed to reach out to different users interested in blockchain, learning about it, community involvement, and for research. This round aimed to explore a variety of different ideas for running nodes, beyond just running a validator. Examples include facilitating data requests for research, examining the performance of nodes under extreme conditions, and enhancing user experience. Candidates could choose a Dappnode to build or submit specs for a customized build.
We received a total amount of The 243 Applications. We selected the best applications out of all those we evaluated. 35 winners from 23 different countries Support for nodes is available. The eligibility requirements for this round were that applicants had to have fast and stable internet connections, with high data thresholds. They also needed to be able and willing to run a node for a minimum of two years. Our evaluation prioritized proposals from diverse geographical areas, student blockchain clubs, and academic institutions.
The graphs show the distribution of grants awarded by location, and also a breakdown for each node type.
The following is a description of the projects running on each node in the proactive grant round.
ETHKL – MalaysiaMembers gain hands-on experience in maintaining a node, including downtime, hardware troubleshooting and pruning. Members get hands-on training in maintaining nodes, including downtime, hardware troubleshooting. pruning and much more. Node serves as a secure, free RPC community endpoint for students to learn more about blockchain.
SDSU Distributed System Security Lab, United StatesThe research team has spent the last four years working to discover and mitigate vulnerabilities and DoS (denial of service) attacks on the Ethereum network by running an Ethereum node.
FranklinDAO / Penn Blockchain – United StatesFranklinDAO, a student-run group promoting the adoption of blockchain technology at University of Pennsylvania, is running a node that provides an API for blockchain developers and researchers.
Web3Bridge – Nigeria: Web3Bridge is a program created in 2019 to train web3 developers in Africa, emphasizing education and skill development as a primary focus of their work. They offer this node as a learning opportunity for those interested to learn about blockchain technology. The node will build technical skills and help cultivate local talent, which will drive innovation in Africa and the growth of communities.
Champagnat University, ArgentinaThrough its Faculty of Informatics at Champagnat University will use these nodes to collaborate on research and develop new technologies, provide education through workshops, trainings and seminars, as well document best practices.
Solo Operator – BrazilSoftware engineer working on the backend who uses this node for ongoing research into validator privacy issues and Lighthouse consensus code.
Solo Operator – Hong KongThey plan to use their experience as a node operator to make the Ethereum community more transparent and to conduct research on MEVs and node implementation.
SpaghettETH – ItalySpaghettETH runs an Ethereum node to support the decentralized and open Ethereum network. financial They will use this node to start a new Ethereum network, explore opportunities for innovation and participate (more) in its thriving ecosystem. This node will be used to launch a “run a node” The campaign will begin in Italy, and then spread to other communities. They will also create Italian guides for how to run a node, which they plan to distribute through social media, zines and in person events.
Solo Operator – ChinaThis node is part of the BlobStar Project, which is dedicated to storing Ethereum’s Blob Data and providing convenient access points to others. This node will also run on Reth to gain valuable insights into the Ethereum network. It will provide opportunities to sync and benchmark data, as well as reveal potential enhancements to the Reth codebase to improve its performance and user-friendliness.
Stanford University and MIT – United StatesThis group is responsible for full-stack blockchain and consensus research in the Ethereum ecosystem. This group runs their own They will also be able to give other academics access to this data.
Solo Operator – IndiaThis node is run by a systems engineer. It aims to look at RPC requests and investigate how potential exploits can addressed. own Node for privacy purposes
Solo Operator – TaiwanThis node, located between Taiwan and Canada will be used to create and share educational content by an expert in developer relations for those who are interested in running a remote node.
CENFOTEC University Foundation Costa RicaResearchers at Universidad CENFOTEC use this node in order to engage Costa Rican universities, innovators, and entrepreneurs with the Ethereum Community. The projects include educational materials, the formation of university blockchains groups, data research and collection across clients, development and analysis of data, dashboards and other visualizations.
Solo Operators – SingaporeThe duo of a cryptography researcher and a formal verification expert built a custom Ethereum node to distribute and prepare research datasets. It also provided Ethereum RPC for us and other members in our community. They will publish the experience they have with running a Synology Node. This includes stats about running a Synology Node (CPU usage, RAM consumption and storage requirements).
Ponkila Oy – Finland: One of the only nodes in Northern Finland and one of the most northern nodes globally, this node will be used to research infrastructure internetworking—specifically, NFS and other host-client storage and compute solutions over SFP+ links— and homestaking UX through maintenance of HomestakerOS.
Cochin University of Science and Technology India: Node launched at the incubation center in Cochin University of Science & Technology and operated by students to support student research. This node is used to create modules for privacy RPC. It allows them to test their system by exposing endpoints and customizing it.
Purdue University (United States)Purdue University Blockchain Club will use this node as a tool to educate students about web3 and decentralized systems. The goal is to run a full validator for the Beacon blockchain.
Cryptoversidad – MexicoThis node is used to increase the diversity of networks, create workshops and live sessions in Spanish on decentralization, security, and network, and share information with the Mexico community via blog posts and open forums.source Helping others to run their businesses is a great way to give back. own nodes.
Solo Operator – Argentina: This node, as a member in SeedLatam, Ethernaut DAO and Argentina, will be used for educational purposes. It will create a Spanish-language guide about node setup, impact and the importance to maintain nodes as public good. Senior Solidity developers at EthernautDAO will use this node to query indexed information.
Solo Operator – NigeriaThis node will be operated by an engineer who specializes in protocol development for Nethermind. The node’s contributions will go to projects like Juno – Starknets’ fastest syncing network – and Voyager – Starknets’ top Block Explorer. The operator intends to also use this node’s insights to educate other engineers about the workings of Ethereum, its protocol and infrastructure.
Miga Labs – SpainMiga Labs, in collaboration with the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), will use this node in order to measure the energy consumed by an Ethereum node when running multiple EL clients or CL clients. They will also compare the energy consumption for hundreds of validators while in a network test environment. This data is then displayed on a dashboard that shows the energy usage of the Ethereum network. This research is important as it demonstrates the benefits of switching from PoW (proof-of-work) to PoS, supported by data on energy consumption.
101.CY (Cyprus): 101.CY is a Cyprus-based community of research and practice on emergent phenomena in digital culture and rights, information freedom and control, and in network geopolitics with a focus on European, Middle Eastern, and African perspectives. This node will be used to set up a local experimental node, do hands-on work, and host a public accessible Ethereum RPC. A guide will be released for those who want to run an Ethereum node using anonymous networks.
SeedLatam ArgentinaSeedLatam plans to use the node to benchmark different Ethereum clients, and to create a dashboard that compares their performance and features. It will also allow researchers and developers in the local community access to indexed data for research, provide custom RPC endpoints for the community to either publicly or privately host for specific users and create a guide for node setup to help other first-time hosts. own nodes.
Indraprastha institute of information technology, Delhi – IndiaResearchers from IIIT Delhi will operate this node to speed up research on Blockchain technology in Indian institutions. Researchers will encourage students by operating this node in the university. work Research on MEVs Intents PBSs and other Ethereum core protocol areas and contribute actively to infralevel research.
ETHKipu – ArgentinaKipuStakers produces content, runs workshops and is interested in running tests on DVT to empower decentralization, increase nodes and educate Latin Americans about the importance of node-based education, all while increasing nodes within geographically underrepresented areas. KipuStakers has as its primary goal to increase the number (validator) of nodes across Latin America. It also wants to create awareness and educate about the importance in Latin America of running nodes. Through our own LSD to support ETHKipu Initiatives
Vanderbilt Blockchain – United StatesThis node will be used by the student-run blockchain organization at Vanderbilt University to launch an educational cohort that will transform students with little to no web3 experience into competent blockchain enthusiasts. This node will be launched using a small client as a way to demonstrate to the cohort what it is like to participate in a decentralized system.
TUM Blockchain Club – GermanyThis node will be used by the TUM Blockchain Club to educate and welcome students at TUM. The TUM Blockchain Club will host workshops and hands-on session to provide students with an introduction to Ethereum and its workings. They will also walk through the process of setting-up and running Ethereum nodes. This node will be used to test clients and also as a tester. source Data that is reliable for students who are interested in blockchain analysis. This data allows them to mine, analyse, and utilize Ethereum for innovative projects and academic research.
Ethereum GuatemalaThis node will be run by the Ethereum Guatemala Community in collaboration with La Universidad del Valle to produce educational material and academic research on Ethereum nodes across Central America. The community of Ethereum Guatemala aims to do more than just educate, and to continue to strengthen the network by running local validators and nodes.
Princeton Blockchain Club – United StatesThe Princeton Blockchain Club at Princeton University is the largest student-run hub for blockchain technology. It has over 200 undergraduates, graduates, and alumni interested in this frontier. They will run an archival node to aid researchers in their community. They’ll also contribute to overall ecosystem health by running minority consent and execution clients.
Oregon Blockchain Group – United StatesThe Oregon Blockchain Group, a student group at the University of Oregon, aims to educate and introduce university students to blockchain. The Oregon Blockchain Group will use this node as a tool to educate university students on how to run nodes. They will also spread awareness regarding client updates and core dev meetings.
ITU Blockchain in TurkeyITU Blockchain Club at Istanbul Technical University with over 2,500 members will use this node to educate people through workshops and events. They aim to teach them how to run and set up nodes and why they are important for a network that is decentralized.
University College Dublin (Ireland)The UCD Maker Society, a student-run organization at University College Dublin, will use this node in order to enhance the decentralization of the Ethereum network, raise awareness and promote education about Ethereum, and support innovative projects that take advantage of the Ethereum ecosystem. Hosting a local Ethereum node at University College Dublin is essential to achieving the goal of making the college a hub of Ethereum education and research. It also helps ensure that the modules do not become too abstract and that students get a better understanding of the network, its structure, and how it works.
Solo Operator – ItalyThis node is used as part of a research project to develop an implementation for a LoRa-based node that exposes RPC endpoints. The vision is for remote areas to be able to connect to the Ethereum network, even if they have limited or no cell phone coverage. This initiative is designed to allow rural individuals to have access to Ethereum for payments, smart contracts interactions, as well as access to the DeFi eco-system.
Solo Operator – United StatesThis node’s primary purpose is to service RPC requests, as well as customized RPCs. These endpoints can be extremely useful for builders, stakers, hobbyists and others. Secondary impact is used to archive historical blocks and data.
Solo Operator – VenezuelaThis node is being developed by a team of researchers and developers from Venezuela in collaboration and in support of a Venezuelan university.
“This article is not financial advice.”
“Always do your own research before making any type of investment.”
Source: blog.ethereum.org