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Veres One Nodes

Nodes are responsible for providing computational and storage resources for the Network. As the system is permissionless, any person or organization may run one or more Nodes.

What is a Node?

A Node on the Veres One Network contains a record of every event that has has made its way into the Veres One Blockchain over time. It is connected to many of the other Nodes in the Network and can "gossip" events to other Nodes in the Network. When a Node receives an event, if the Node is an Elector, it may suggest that an event is included in the blockchain. If 2/3rds of the Network sees the event, and it is valid, then the event will be included in the blockchain.

A node contains a programmatic interface that developers can use to submit new events to the Network as well as query the blockchain history and its current state.

Running a Node

Anyone may run a node by using the instructions provided by the Veres One Node Software.

Electors

An Elector is a special type of Node in the Network that can suggest events for inclusion in the blockchain. There are often many electors for a particular block in the blockchain and these electors are randomly chosen per block to increase Network security. A constantly shifting set of Electors means that it is far more difficult for an attacker to disrupt the normal operation of the Network.

Becoming an Elector

Since Electors hold a position of privilege on the Network, they must go through a lightweight approval process where the individual or organization running the Node provides contact information, such as a phone number and email address, so that they can be contacted in the event of an emergency. This is done to reduce the number of bad actors in the Network and ensure that the Node operator may be notified in the event of an emergency.

To become an Elector you must:

  1. Log into your Node.
  2. Go to "Administration/Elector".
  3. Fill out every field that is required.
  4. Click the "Request Elector Credential" button.

An individual from the Veres One Project will check the information submitted and, if approved, will transmit the Elector Credential to your Node. Your Elector Credential will not be active until you log back into your Node and activate it.