MANTRA Nodes: Infrastructure-as-a-Service

This is a continuation of our OMniverse adventure where we discover and learn about the various components in its ecosystem.

Last time, we shared about Mantra Finance, the trusted and regulatory-compliant DeFi platform in the OMniverse. We learned about its two vaults where KYC-verified users can stake single or multi-assets to earn yields on a regulated environment.

Then we also talked about the MANTRA Chain, which is the decentralized chain for permissioned applications - one that is designed to service regulatory-compliant digital, RWAs and tokenized assets.

Today, we are checking out the third component - MANTRA Nodes.

The MANTRA Nodes

Accordingly, this is fundamental component of the vertically-integrated stack which is the foundation for the MANTRA ecosystem or the so-called OMniverse.¹

It is a blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) business where it can set up, maintain and provide node service operations for any SMEs, institutional clients or other businesses and generate revenue in the process. Service line includes node management, retail staking (both on- and off-chain), and cloud or white-label node development and deployment."²

The main functions of the node operations are as follows:

• To generate revenue for the further development of the MANTRA ecosystem.
• To increase the growth of its users and participants' holdings by providing more yield-earning opportunities across multiple blockchains.
• Support the MANTRA in building a presence on new and emerging chains and growing its ecosystem into a larger institutional space.
• To create a strong and engaging userbase that can contribute to the growth and expansion of the ecosystem by involving its users and participants, thus opening up more opportunities to expand MANTRA's multi-chain DeFi ecosystem.³

Available MANTRA Nodes

These are the active nodes that are currently open and available. Users can stake (delegate) to them and earn rewards.

Each node having a different APR and commissions (percentage that MANTRA takes from the delegator's yield). Here's how they look like at the time of this writing:

• Terra (LUNA): 5.1% APR (2% commission)
• E-Money (NGM): 29.03% (10% commission)
• Akash Network (AKT): 12.44% (2% commission)
• Band Protocol (BAND): 10.66% (5% commission)
• Kava (KAVA): 16.31% (2.5% commission)

All have an unbonding (lock in) period of 21 days. After such period, the delegated assets become available to the delegators unless they choose to redelegate them.⁴

This is a data obtained from Staking Rewards showing all the assets supported by MANTRA.

There's over $2.17 million staked by 6,939 unique wallet addresses.

Per statistics from MantraDAO App, there's a total of almost $2 million worth of assets delegated to MANTRA Nodes which is close to the amount shown on Staking Rewards where Mantra is rated as a verified AA staking provider.

Blockchains Currently Supported by MANTRA Nodes

• Ethereum
• MANTRA Chain
• Polygon
• Binance Smart Chain
• Polkadot
• Solana

What MANTRA Nodes offer

Retail Staking

Individual users can take part in any staking activities both on-chain and off-chain and contribute to the security and operation of the chain.

This is done by delegating their assets to the active validator nodes provided by MANTRA. In return, they earn passive rewards in the form of additional tokens from fees generated by the network. MANTRA charges commissions for this service.

Institutional Delegation

This is for institutional investors who want to delegate larger amount of cryptocurrency to a validator node on the MANTRA network.

Node management

MANTRA provide users who want to run their own validator nodes with the needed tools and resources for them to effectively and efficiently manage them. This service include various tasks like monitoring node performance, updating software and managing security protocols.

White-label Validator Operations

This is a service which allows institutional investors to operate their own validator nodes on the MANTRA network under their own brand name.

Info sources: Mantra / Binance Academy / Staking Rewards / MantraDao / Medium

Summary (TL;DR)

• While MANTRA run its own nodes to facilitate transactions on its own ecosystem, it also operates validator nodes on 30+ PoS networks without any history of slashing and minimal server downtimes.⁵

• Mantra Nodes as an IaaS business provides and/or offers various services both to individual and institutional investors (Staking/Delegating, Node Management, White-Label Validator Operations). These generate revenue to help support the MANTRA ecosystem.

• There are 5 currently available MANTRA Nodes where users can delegate certain assets to earn yields (E-Money, Akash Network, Terra, Kava and Band Protocol). The lock in period of these are 21 days. MANTRA takes a cut (commission) from the staking rewards.

Conclusion

The OMniverse seems to be shaping up quite well with the various opportunities it is offering in its ecosystem.

Whilst risks might be minimal when delegating, users should still need to take into consideration the reputation of the validators they are delegating to and the risk of "slashing" which may result to the loss of delegated tokens.

Lead image created on canva. Logo/photos linked to their sources. No copyright infringement intended. 20072023/09:30ph

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