Introduction to providers
Providers are the backbone of the Chromia ecosystem. A provider is a person or organization responsible for nodes, which are physical or virtual instances of computing power.
Chromia acquires node capacity from providers. Nodes run by providers produce blocks, thus enabling dapps to run.
The following are the roles on the network:
| Provider role | Permitted actions |
|---|---|
| Dapp Provider (DP) | Can deploy dapps and add nodes that replicates blockchains (replica) (default). |
| System Provider (SP) | Governance of the system chains. Can add node to the system cluster. |
| Node Provider (NP) | Can add block builder nodes. |
Providers together decide on events on the network. Voter sets contain the list of providers that can vote on proposals, and all the significant changes are done by voting.
A system provider can do some operations directly on the network, such as creating a cluster, but considerable changes require consensus by voting. For example, providers can upgrade a node provider to a system provider if a super-majority (greater than or equal to ⅔) of providers vote in favor of the proposal to approve it.
Providers have two types of key pairs. The first is the provider key pair, which providers use to sign transactions and proposals on the network. The second is the node key pair, which the consensus algorithm uses to sign blocks between its peers. All the nodes in the network have their unique key pair.
Provider staking requirements
To participate in the network and support the community, providers must stake a specific amount of CHR tokens. The requirements are designed to align the providers' incentives with the network's welfare. Here's a breakdown of the staking requirements:
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System providers: Each node must have a total stake (including both self-staked and delegated) of 600,000 CHR. At least 10% of this total, or 60,000 CHR, must be staked directly by the provider.
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Node providers: Each node must have a total stake (including both self-staked and delegated) of 300,000 CHR. At least 10% of this total, or 30,000 CHR, must be staked directly by the provider.
Providers must fulfill their self-stake requirements by staking native CHR directly on the Chromia Mainnet. Delegated stakes can come from a variety of sources, including native CHR, ERC-20 CHR, or BEP-20 CHR.
Please note that we periodically review staking requirements, and they may change over time.
Provider rewards
Providers receive compensation from a pool of hosting fees paid by dapps on the network. The compensation depends on several factors, including the computing power contributed, node uptime, and the provider's role (system provider or node provider). Proposals can modify the reward calculation formula as the network evolves in order to maintain an optimal balance among these parameters. For more details about the exact formula for provider rewards, refer to the provider rewards page.
To manage nodes, you need to install Postchain Management Console (PMC) CLI. For information about installing PMC CLI, see Install the PMC CLI topic.