All posts by Nownodes.io

Nowadays we witness the unbelievably flourishing crypto boom. It seems like everyone has gone bonkers about mining coins and making the most of cryptocurrencies. As you may already know, cryptocurrency is not just about mining, and there are multiple ways of profiting from crypto. One of these methods is setting up and launching nodes on NOWNodes.

Nodes: How Do They Work?

There are three main functions of nodes: accepting and rejecting a block of transactions, storing them and broadcasting transaction history to other nodes.

It is important to mention that there are two types of notes: full and lightweight. Full ones store a complete transaction history of the coin and are available 24/7 while the light nodes are responsible only for downloading and keeping block headers of the blockchain.

Ways to Start Earning with NOWNodes

NOWNodes is a 24/7 service provided by ChangeNOW which gives you simple, fast and secure access through RPC to various nodes.

NOWNodes is easy to use as you do not have to control the nodes – everything is done for you. Masternodes, which are used in NOWNodes, maintain network operations and increase transaction speed. Moreover, they guarantee the stable and secure work of the network.

How to make money from masternodes? Simply speaking, getting profit from nodes means you are rewarded with some amount of cryptocurrency with the creation of every new block of a transaction.

All you need for starting making a profit is just a computer with a static IP address and a cryptocurrency wallet that should stay synchronized with the blockchain 24/7. It is very convenient to use the advantages of NOWNodes as you don’t have to create a new masternode – it is already provided to you by the service. You can choose any masternode you wish according to the cryptocurrency you hold like Bitcoin, Dash, and even Callisto.

NOWNodes allows you to connect to the blockchain via a public full node. Moreover, you don’t have to pay a fee. There’s a wide range of the most famous cryptocurrencies. The service is known for the unlimited access to German-located full nodes of these cryptocurrencies and providing safe and reliable connection via RPC protocol. 

Final Words

It is easy to get a stable income without sparing too much effort using masternodes. You can have a stable passive profit and don’t think of buying and launching a rig or going trading. Still, setting up a node can be quite expensive, but having a decent plan in your hands and using a reliable service like NOWNodes gives you a solid chance of getting sensible profit running a masternode.

If you imagine beads, you will see that they are made of countless elements. One of those elements in terms of computer science is called a node. Nodes are fundamental units of a data structure containing data and linking to other nodes.

A node can be represented by any electronic device as long as it possesses an IP address and connected to the Internet. One of the easiest ways to connect to most popular nodes is using NOWNodes service.

How Are Nodes Related to The Blockchain?

Nodes’ main function in Blockchain is supporting the network by storing a copy of a block. Sometimes they are used to process transactions. It is significant to mention that each cryptocurrency has its own node which allows it to keep track of tokens.

Basically, the functions of nodes come down to the following:

• Nodes control the validity of transactions and are capable of accepting or rejecting them;
• Nodes store blocks of transactions which refer to blockchain transaction history;
• Nodes distribute transaction history to other nodes which may be necessary for synchronization with the blockchain;

How Are The Protocols Used for Connecting to Nodes?

Speaking of protocols, it is important to emphasize that they are a set of rules that governs how a system operates.

The main purpose of a protocol in blockchain is telling nodes how they should interact with each other. There are some particular protocols like Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Ripple and etc. which operate in different ways yet come to the same result.

A node can be a communication endpoint or a point of communication redistribution, which links to other nodes. All the nodes on the network are thought to be the same, yet some nodes possess different roles in the manner in which they support the network and according to a protocol’s role. For example, not every node keeps a transaction history or a block copy.

What Are Full Nodes and Supernodes?

A full node is an outright list of all the transactions which have been implemented on a particular blockchain. The full node is designated to help cryptocurrency preserve the blockchain and keep the ledger distributed. Full nodes are usually compiled of smaller elements called light nodes which contain only partial history of transactions.

On the other hand, supernodes are specific features of some current blockchains. Besides validating and transmitting transactions, they can carry out other exercises like the execution of protocol operations and compliance with rules of a blockchain. Supernodes are usually always online and provide much more memory than full nodes.

How to Use Nodes in Practice?

Using nodes in real life is quite easy. All you need is a Bitcoin core client or any other and around 100 GB on your computer. For example, starting out with running a full node using NOWNodes means you will get full security and reliability. It sounds like an amazing way to find out if you like working with blockchain without putting much time and energy into creating your own cryptocurrency full node. But you have to know that keeping a multi-currency wallet requires maintaining a big number of special nodes to track the history of all possible transactions. However, it is quite easy to pick one currency you prefer or all of the listed ones without wasting time on constructing nodes for each cryptocurrency. 

Sum Up

Nodes play a substantial role in cryptocurrency protocols. All full, light and supernodes are equally essential to the safety and productivity of a cryptocurrency. If cryptocurrencies continue to grow rapidly, more and more people will switch from fiat money to cryptocurrencies. It means that more nodes will be needed to carry out a stable, safe and fast operation of blockchain transactions. If you need any help in setting up your full node or just would love to consult a support manager, we advise contacting us by email: [email protected] and not postponing this process.  Let’s drive crypto mass adoption together!

What is CLO?

СLO is a cryptocurrency owned by Callisto Network, a decentralized open-source crypto platform based on the go-Ethereum source code. The Callisto project acts as an Ethereum cold staking solution, which makes CLO the world’s first cold staking coin! 

What is cold staking then? Cold staking can be thought of as a form of passive income on your investment. You get the coin, and then you receive interest for holding it. You do not have the right to generate blocks or confirm transactions. 

The cold staking contract receives 20% of all mining rewards per block and distributes this amount among cold stakers in direct proportion to their stake.

The aim of the CLO coins is to provide full financial transparency and security, along with a contribution-friendly environment for further developments and improvements. NOWNodes is glad to provide fast and easy access to the nodes with such good goals! 

Also, NOWNodes, have the following advantages:

• We provide access to over 15 top blockchain nodes 
• Our service is fee-free
• Our top-notch API tools grant secure and reliable access to the blockchain

NOWNodes is an innovative modern user-friendly platform that gives its customers unlimited access to major full public nodes. Today, we have a great announcement: We started to support the Litecoin full public blockchain node!

Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. NOWNodes is excited to support Litecoin’s full public node for the people of the community!

Right now, we support nodes for BTC, ETH, XVG, DGB, DOGE, GRS, XZC, BSV, DASH, RDD, BTG, ZEN, KMD, and DCR! Our goal is to support as many nodes as we can and we are excited to welcome LTC node to the NOWNodes family!

As for the details on LTC node: the servers are located in Germany and the node will be available 24/7: non-stop, fast, and reliable. The connection speed is the mind-blowing 1 GB/sec. The best part is that the connection is completely fee-free!

To get updates from us faster than anyone stay tuned: on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord.

Nodes And Mining

In our recent posts, we have already talked about what nodes are and how we can use them for coin mining. Basically, a node is any device with an IP address that participates in a blockchain. Full nodes are online most of the time and store the copy of the whole blockchain, while light ones don’t. It is well known that a crypto user needs to be running a full node to be able to mine coins.

However, mining coins aren’t the only way to earn money in the blockchain field, and sometimes it’s seen as quite ambiguous. After all, crypto coins do have high volatility, and if a coin’s price suddenly significantly falls, a situation can occur, where your expenditures on hardware and power bills would exceed the total value of the coins you’ve managed to mine. Luckily, there are other ways to make money and stay in the crypto lane. In this article, we will be talking about masternodes and how to use them.

What Is A Masternode

To run a masternode, you won’t have to worry about renting a place for all your hardware and installing cooling systems. Basically, a masternode, just like a regular full node, is a server or computer with a static IP-address, fully synchronized with the blockchain and working non-stop. It accepts transactions and provides decentralization. Their functions might differ depending on the cryptocurrency: DASH masternodes, for example, help carry out instant transactions. Other masternode tasks include, but aren’t limited to increasing privacy, governance and voting control, and enabling budgeting and treasury system in cryptos.

Then again — just like a regular node, a masternode can be run by anyone. However, there are certain barriers and limitations to make sure the system doesn’t get malicious. First and foremost, to run a masternode, you’re going to have to deposit a certain amount of your target coin. This needs to be done, so that you, as a masternode operator, have something valuable at stake and therefore are less likely to cheat. The minimum amount of coins differs from crypto to crypto (for example, 1000 DASH units for Dash, 10000 PIVX units for PIVX). Should you want to stop running your masternode, you get your deposit back.

Earning Money With A Masternode

After that, you’re going to need a VPS or server to host your wallet, as well as an IP address and some storage space. The question is, now that you’re all set, how exactly are you going to earn money with your masternode? In fact, it’s really easy. Once you launch the masternode, as soon as it starts performing its tasks, you’ll be getting rewarded by the network. The whole thing can be seen as receiving interest on your holdings. The incentive model depends on the cryptocurrency you’re working with, so it might be a good idea to do some research to figure out which coin will bring you the most money.

It’s important to remember that not all cryptos have a masternode system. As of summer 2019, the four most promising coins with a masternode system are Dash (DASH) with a minimum masternode amount of 1000 units, PIVX (10000 units), Blocknet (BLOCK, 5000 units), and Zcoin (ZXC, 1000 units). The amount of money you can earn from owning a masternode in these blockchains varies from $5 to $55 daily and from $2000 to $20000 annually.

Have we convinced you to set up your own masternode? Great! You can always obtain the desired cryptocurrency on our other platform, ChangeNOW: we offer fast and secure service, 24/7 customer support and most favorable exchange rates. Not so sure yet, but would like to try getting into blockchain anyway? Then NOWNodes is what you need: we provide access to full nodes of most promising and popular cryptos, allowing the user to try working with blockchain without having to set up their own full node – let alone a masternode. Join NOWNodes now and find the blockchain that works best for you and decide whether you want to set up a masternode for yourself!

NOWNodes is a modern user-friendly platform from the creators of ChangeNOW that offers secure access to full nodes of various cryptocurrencies. This can be quite useful for someone who would like to get started with cryptos but has no desire, time, or resources to run their own full node.

At the moment (September 18th, 2019) NOWNodes offers full nodes of 13 cryptos, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), DigiByte (DGB), Dogecoin (DOGE), Verge (XVG), Groestlcoin (GRS), Zcoin (XZC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Dash (DASH), ReddCoin (RDD), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Horizen (ZEN), and Komodo (KMD). The platform is open to further partnership, and in this article, we will describe the steps you need to take to become our partner as well.

First off, you’re going to need to set up a full node of your target crypto for other users to have access to. There are various guides on how exactly it is done, the details differing from one OS to another and from one crypto to another, but generally the first thing you need to consider is getting yourself some strong hardware: otherwise, there will be issues. After downloading the software you need and synchronizing your new full node with the existing network, time to move on to the next step: opening P2P or RPC ports. What’s next? After that, you should find a proper explorer for your cryptocurrency. NOWNodes supports transparency and disclosure, which is why it is important to have access to all information regarding the blocks.

Example of an explorer

Onto the next step: once you’ve taken care of the technical questions, it is now time to think about your future customers. Invest in marketing: promote your cryptocurrency and your full node, collaborate with other well-known platforms on the blockchain market, make sure people know about your product. It is crucial to pay attention to the growth of crypto adoption, especially regarding your target crypto. Learn about your potential customers’ needs, listen closely to what they have to say, adapt to their demands to attract new users. Contact NOWNodes at [email protected] once you feel like you have the customer base you are satisfied with, and the platform will be happy to discuss a potential partnership. 

If you’d like to use someone else’s full node, feel free to contact us as well. We’re open to everyone in the blockchain community, amateurs, and pros: should you want to launch your wallet or use a full node in some other way, and not know where to start; or just have any other partnership ideas — message us. Same goes for explorer and blockchain software owners — message us and we’ll figure something out. You’re a crypto newcomer and want to try our nodes — message us for documentation.

Don’t hesitate to contact NOWNodes if you feel like you have unanswered questions. Say, in case you would like to use your crypto/full node for commercial purposes, message us on email, Telegram, or WeChat, and we will gladly discuss that as well. Since its creation, NOWNodes has attracted lots of partners, most being very well-known on the blockchain market. Join the mutually beneficial partnership, keep up to date with the latest blockchain trends, gain profit and enlarge your customer base with NOWNodes.

As we already know, a node is an electronic device with an IP address that is connected to blockchain — that is, a computer, a laptop, or even a smartphone. Bound together, nodes form a decentralized network that works without a server, all information being stored on nodes directly. There are different types of nodes that vary by technical characteristics, the amount of time spent online, and visibility. In this article, we will be talking more about how nodes work and how to use them for cryptocurrency mining.

To understand the concept of mining, we need to remember how blockchain works. Basically, blockchain is a growing list of blocks — data records — all of which are connected, forming the said ‘chain’. Due to every block storing some data from the previous block and the following block, the whole chain is immune to external data modification, which makes the network very secure. To maintain this security, the transactions are expected to be ‘validated’ by the members of the chain — full nodes. Lite nodes don’t carry out validations, due to them being vulnerable to data modification themselves.

As a full node starts generating hashes looking for vulnerabilities in the network, once a vulnerability is found, the node is rewarded with coins. This process of obtaining cryptocurrency is called mining, and basically exists to stimulate blockchain users to contribute some of their computing resources to the network. Once bitcoin —  the first modern cryptocurrency — was launched, mining used to be easy, and almost every user could do it. Nowadays, bitcoin mining needs a lot of dedication, costly computers, and Internet bills. Why is that?

In fact, mining difficulty is the actual official term rather than a subjective assessment. Like we mentioned above, nodes, while mining, generate hashes in order to detect blockchain vulnerabilities. For every node, there is a set number of how many times per second a hash can be generated —  this is one of the fundamental node characteristics, hash rate. In other words, the hash rate of a node expresses its computing power. To mine successfully, you’re going to need high capacity devices, the hash rates of which being above 10 megahashes per second (MH/s).

What about the difficulty though? It is a parameter expressing how difficult it would be to be rewarded with a coin, which depends on the hash rate of the whole network and on the time spent on finding the previous blocks. The higher the hash rate, the more participants in the network, the shorter the amount of time spent on mining a new coin, the smaller the chance you’ll be rewarded — and, last but not least, the more electric power you spend. It is important to know the difficulty of mining to spot the most effective devices and to redistribute the resources you spend if needed.

The fact that mining popular cryptocurrency is becoming more difficult and demanding, can be illustrated by another fundamental characteristic of any blockchain — block height. Roughly speaking, a block height is an amount of all the blocks (which are effectively just bunches of transactions) that have been created since the launch of the coin. For example, every ten minutes a new block is generated by the Bitcoin protocol. The generation rate is even higher in the Ethereum protocol: once in every fifteen seconds. Even though the block height is a worse security indicator than the hash rate, it is an important parameter, for it demonstrates how quickly popular cryptocurrencies are being spread. 

In conclusion, we would like to mention that despite the fact that running a full node is serious business nowadays, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get into cryptocurrency at all. NOWNodes provides access to full nodes of the most popular cryptos, making your blockchain experience easy and fun.

So, you figured you would like to try getting into blockchain and see for yourself whether it works for you. Now what? If you aren’t dedicated enough to set up your own full node, might be a good idea to use the NOWNodes service to connect to full nodes of some of the most widespread cryptocurrencies. This is a simple and secure way to get into blockchain – but how exactly is it secure?

NOWNodes offers RPC (Remote Procedure Call) connection via which you access the blockchain. This way, you can carry out administrative tasks, control your wallet and obtain the data you need – all via remote procedure calls, or commands you use in the client the cryptocurrency creators provide (almost all of them are BTC-like). For instance, you can use such RPCs, or methods, as GetBlockHash (returns hash of block in best-block-chain at height provided), GenerateToAddress (mine blocks immediately to a specified address (before the RPC call returns)), Ping (requests that a ping be sent to all other nodes, to measure ping time), and many others.

However, not all of the usable remote procedure calls are safe for you and/or other users. Carrying out the “stop” method might lead to undesirable consequences. This is why it is crucial to filter user requests to the node. NOWNodes cares about the customers’ experience and well-being and makes sure to protect their privacy and their funds from any unauthorized third-party intrusions. Every user request is verified by the proxy server first, and if it isn’t suspicious, it gets redirected to the node after that. Moreover, the nodes have a built-in P2P protocol filter, which also helps ensure user safety.

You can find all the necessary documentation on nownodes.io in the respective section. We’ll be adding more information soon, including the methods list and request examples, so stay tuned on Twitter!

While getting introduced to Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, or blockchain, in general, might seem a bit difficult and even intimidating at first, a lot of services have been developed over the years, aiming at making the process easier for the new users. NOWNodes by ChangeNOW is one of them: it has been made specifically with this purpose. What exactly does it do? Here is some theory at first.

What is a node in terms of blockchain? Blockchain process can be roughly explained as transferring encrypted data between electronic devices (this process, in turn, is known as transactions) that have an IP address and Internet connection. Basically, each of these devices is a node, the most essential component of the whole process: the nodes support it by having access to a copy of the blockchain. Its structure can be described as a network, namely a P2P (peer to peer) network — it is decentralized, which means that all participants, or nodes, have equal rights.

However, the decentralization doesn’t mean all blockchain nodes are exactly the same. They can be divided into two main categories: full and lightweight nodes. A full node is a device that has 24/7 access to blockchain and stores a complete copy of the whole transaction history. A certain amount of full nodes is crucial for a blockchain network to exist. Lightweight, or light nodes, on the other hand, download only block headers rather than the whole blockchain and are not that important for the blockchain networks to function.

While being significantly easier for the user to run and maintain, light nodes have a number of serious downsides: for example, a user risks to be paid with invalid or fake bitcoins, since light nodes don’t validate cryptocurrency (e.g. bitcoin) rules. User’s transactions can be spied on by a third party. Generally, they are just more vulnerable than full node users. Running the latter guarantees the user won’t face any of these situations. However, not every beginner could be bothered to go all out and run a full node since their first day in the blockchain: it requires time and costs money. And the most important thing is, there is a solution to this problem.

NOWNodes is an innovative service from the creators of ChangeNOW that allows you to connect to the blockchain via a public full node without having to pay a fee. You can choose from a wide range of the most popular cryptocurrencies. The service offers unlimited access to German-located full nodes of these cryptos and claims to provide secure and reliable connection via RPC protocol. NOWNodes has recently announced the launch of supporting the Groestlcoin and Verge full nodes.

The creators of NOWNodes suggest that their service will be of use for young entrepreneurs, students and blockchain beginners, who often have limited resources. Without having to spend anything on running their own full node, they can put their time and money into “making their project the best it can be”. Among NOWNodes’ claimed key features, there are also powerful servers that work non-stop, a high connection speed (1GB per second), and the possibility to start working with the service immediately. 

The full list of cryptocurrencies supported by NOWNodes includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), DigiByte (DGB), Dogecoin (DOGE), Verge (XVG), Groestlcoin (GRS), ZCoin (ZXC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), and Dash (DASH). The service’s accounts can be found on most popular social media and blogging platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Medium), the SMM management being active and helpful, always ready for feedback. While the platform hasn’t gotten much development yet, it is important to remember it is relatively new — moreover, it has already gained a few positive reviews in the blockchain enthusiast community.

Getting started with NOWNodes is easy: just connect to the full node of your choice and start working. The service claims to offer security and reliability and sounds like a good way to try and find out if you like working with blockchain without having to put much effort into setting up your own cryptocurrency full node.

NOWNodes, an innovative platform that gives its customers unlimited access to major currencies’ full nodes, has an exciting announcement! Today we have started to support the Verge public node. 

Verge is an open-source privacy coin. Verge’s mission is to empower people around the world by bringing blockchain transactions into everyday life. NOWNodes is happy to take a part in such a mission by supporting the Verge’s full node so people in the community can use it!

NOWNodes is a project powered by ChangeNOW, non-custodial crypto swaps service. As of right now, NOWNodes supports nodes for four major currencies: BTC, ETH, GRS, and, obviously, XVG!

Our goal is to support much more and we are planning to add several nodes per week.

As for the details on Verge’s node: the servers are located in Germany and the node will be available 24/7: non-stop, fast, and reliable. The connection speed is mind-blowing 1 GB/sec.

Stay tuned to get updates: on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord.