Splinterlands to switch to decentralized validator nodes

NFT game Splinterlands announced a transition to decentralized validator nodes. The launch of the corresponding software on the mainnet is expected in the third or fourth quarter of 2022, ForkLog representatives said.

“This is an important step toward our goal — to make Splinterlands a fully decentralized game that gamers own and govern through SPS tokens,” said Agged Reich, the project’s chief executive.

According to the press release, the software is open-source. Anyone can download, install and run it, but to obtain a license to operate as a node, a fee in SPS tokens must be paid.

The SPS governance mechanism will use the Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus model. This algorithm is used in blockchains such as BNB Chain, EOS and Hive.

Each SPS holder will have the right to vote for the accounts that run validator nodes, to choose the users or organisations responsible for validating token transactions and managing Foundation funds.

In such a model, only a small number of accounts can obtain a majority of votes and, consequently, a substantial share of the rewards. Therefore the Splinterlands team will provide NFT-licensed licenses that allow all users to earn rewards for running nodes without the need to stake SPS votes.

These licenses can be purchased with SPS and special VOUCHER tokens. 80% of SPS and 100% of VOUCHER spent in this process will be burned. The remaining 20% of SPS will be allocated to the Foundation for further incentivising the validator nodes.

In total, the project will issue 60,000 licenses. Distribution will occur in several stages, with NFT prices rising at later stages.

Earlier in March 2022, the number of battles played in Splinterlands surpassed 2 billion.