Introduction
GALA Games, the blockchain gaming platform has been making incredible progress within the crypto and gaming industry of late.
The successful listing of $GALA coin on Binance and Coinbase has caused a tsunami of people wanting to learn more about GALA Games.
In addition, GALAVERSE (a 3-day event dedicated to GALA games) commences on the 11th of December, and the team have already announced that there will be some huge announcements, thus I am expecting another huge influx of newcomers to the world of GALA Games.
What Is GALA Games?
GALA games's mission is to create the world’s largest decentralized gaming platform.
Decentralization is achieved through the power of 50,000 nodes that are geographically located across all four corners of the globe. These nodes provide network support to the platform and govern the network. In return node owners are rewarded in daily cryptocurrency ($GALA).
Anyone with a computer can acquire a node and this is key to the goal of decentralization.
The team intend to have hundreds of games on the platform in the coming years.
How Much Does A Node Cost?
Currently it costs $71,000 to acquire a node. However, the price of a node increases by $2,500 for every 100 nodes that are sold. Back at the start of the year, the price increase per 100 node sales was a modest $100, but this was then increased to $500 (in Aug) then $1,000 (in Nov) and now $2,500. This huge price hike has been implemented to try and slow down node sales. Yes, you heard that right, the GALA eco system is trying to SLOW down sales!
As of to date, 41,800 nodes have been sold and with a finite supply of 50,000 nodes, only 8,200 nodes remain.
The current batch of 100 nodes (so node numbers 41,801 to 41,900) cost $71,000 per node, whereas node numbers 41,901 to 42,000 will cost $73,500 per node. This pricing mechanism will result in the last 100 nodes (so node numbers 49,901 to 50,000) selling for a rather mouth-watering $276,000.
What Are The Responsibilities of Node Owners?
The current requirements for nodes are to simply be online for 6 hours in a 24- hour period. However, once the platform grows, further computational power will be needed as follows.
- 50 GB Disk Space
- 4 GB Ram
- 2 CPU Cores
- 10 Megabit upload network connection
Standard machines maybe able to meet this increased computational demand, however if not, the nodes can be run on a virtual private server (VPS). As an FYI, I run my node on Vultr which provides uptime for 24 hours a day and costs $6 per month.
In addition to providing network support, node owners are expected to provide governance through voting (e.g. what games are allowed on the network, or how the daily $GALA should be distributed).
What Are The Daily Earnings For Active Node Operators?
Node owners are currently earning 300 $GALA per day. The daily earnings do fluctuate and have been oscillating in the 280-350 region. The daily rewards are dependent on how many nodes have been active in the previous day. To add a little more context, 8.5million $GALA is released into circulation per day. This fixed amount of $GALA is shared amongst nodes that have been active for at least 6 hours per day. The exact calculation is as follows:
Daily reward per active node holder = 8,561,643/ no of active nodes
$GALA is currently trading at around $0.55, therefore, a node owner can expect to earn approx. $165 a day in rewards (300 x $0.55), or $4,950 per month.
From January 2021, the daily reward system for node owners will be changing. The change is designed to incentivise node operators to provide more uptime to the network. In short, a node owner who keeps his node running 24 hours a day will earn 4x more than a node owner who only keeps his node running for 6 hours per day.
In addition to daily GALA, node owners also receive daily drops of $Town which is approx $3 per day. $Town is the native currency for the game TownStar which runs on the GALA network.
It should be noted that every game launched on the GALA gaming platform will have its own in game currency. A percentage of the total circulating supply for EVERY in-game currency that runs on the GALA gaming platform shall be airdropped to node holders. The platform expects to have at least 15 games running on the network by the end of 2022.
How Do I Sell My Node?
Currently it is not possible to sell your node and they can only be acquired from GALA directly. Having said this, once the entire 50,000 nodes have been sold, it is intended that they will be converted to Non Fungible Tokens which will allow secondary market sales. What will the value of these nodes be on the secondary market? I am going to refrain from speculating here as their are just too many unknowns, but with the last node selling for $276k they should have significant value.
Interested In Learning More About GALA Games Or Purchasing a GALA Games Node?
If you are interested in learning more about GALA Games, or whether you are interested in acquiring a GALA Games node, then you can find out more here.
