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Providers in Chromia

Providers are individuals or organizations who contribute computing power to the network. They run nodes, which are high-performance computers that store and process data for Chromia. These nodes act as the backbone of the Chromia blockchain.

System Providers and Node Providers​

There are two different roles that Providers can have that come with varying levels of responsibility:

  1. System Providers: These Providers run nodes in the network's system cluster. They manage the network's core infrastructure by overseeing the smooth operation of the system chains, which form the foundation upon which Chromia operates. System Providers are responsible for voting on crucial proposals that shape the network's future, such as adding new system providers. System Providers can also initiate the creation of new dapp clusters as demand on the network increases.
  2. Node Providers: These Providers contribute by running nodes in dapp clusters, providing infrastructure for dapps deployed by developers to run. While System Providers are allowed to run nodes in both the system cluster and dapp clusters, Node Providers are only allowed to run nodes in dapp clusters. A Node Provider can be promoted into a System Provider through voting among the current System Providers.

Providers in the Chromia network have a significant say in the decision-making process. They vote on various proposals, and a super-majority (greater than ⅔) is required to approve substantial changes to the network.

Providers manage two types of key pairs:

  1. A provider key pair, used to vote on and sign proposals. This key pair is used to identify the provider on the network.
  2. Node key pairs, used to identify each node on the network. All 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:

  • 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.

  • 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.

note

Please note that we periodically review staking requirements, and they may change over time.

User staking and delegation​

Anyone can stake their CHR at https://staking.chromia.com/ to earn a 3% annual percentage rate (APR) in governance rewards, though this rate may be subject to change.

The staking page supports native CHR on Chromia Mainnet, ERC-20 CHR on Ethereum, and BEP-20 CHR on BNB Chain.

During the staking process, users must delegate their stakes to a provider. This delegation enables users to support providers who demonstrate reliability through consistent uptime and strong node performance.

Provider rewards​

Providers receive compensation from a pool of all hosting fees paid by dapps on the network. The compensation a Provider receives is calculated based on several parameters, such as the amount of computing power contributed to the network, node uptime, and provider role (system provider or node provider). A proposal can update the reward calculation formula as the network evolves and the optimal balance of parameters changes. You can read more about the exact formula for provider rewards in the provider section.

Next up​

Next, we'll look at how to set up a local Rell development environment.