Some NIX users have probably heard of the idea of transitioning NIX consensus currently based on Proof of Work to one based on a Proof of Stake model. This decision was evaluated by the team in order to set and achieve a higher level of network security.
The NIX team officially announces that a PoW to PoS switch will be implemented within the next 4 weeks via a network hardfork. The block/time at which the switch will take place will be shared with the public accordingly. Via this change, NIX becomes the only coin running BTC core 0.16 with PoS consensus, functional masternodes and privacy system.
The main purpose of transitioning consensus models was to ensure proper network security and stability. With a PoS consensus model, network vulnerability decreases radically compared to our current model.
Users will be able to stake any amount of NIX they are holding, yet users who are supporting the network by running Ghostnodes will not be able to stake via PoS. This gives all users on the network an opportunity to stake their coins accordingly.
The new NIX specifications once PoS has been implemented are detailed below:
- Staker reward: 1.5% guaranteed inflation (~2.28 NIX / block).
- Ghostnode reward: 8.44 NIX.
- Development fund reward: 1.28 NIX.
- Total Block reward: ~12.01 NIX.
- Block time: 2 minutes.
- Block halving every 4 years.
As it can be noticed, inflation decreases significantly. It is important to state that block reward was altered because staking ROI and inflation would be too high if original NIX specifications were to be kept. We foresee around 30–50% of the circulation will be engaged in Ghostnodes while about 30–40% will be active in staking. Because of this, the 1.5% inflation accounts to around a 5% staking ROI which meets our criteria. All numbers stated above are not final and are subject to change.
In order to make this change possible, when the time comes, a new version of the wallet will be released so that the PoS consensus can be supported. So far, configurations for PoS has been tested successfully on local networks. The team will push this transition to testnet soon to simulate a main-network swap.
Once PoS has been successfully implemented and launched, the NIX team will update the roadmap to have a more accurate timing of events.
Originally published at nixplatform.io on August 18, 2018.
