How many validators does crypto have?
There are thousands of validation nodes for a major blockchain such as Bitcoin and Ethereum 1.0.
Ethereum appears to be doing well on a number of technical counts, judging by recent blockchain data. The number of network validators on Ethereum's beacon chain is now over 350,000. The beacon chain was launched in Dec 2020 to much fanfare.
Ethereum 2.0 validators will be earning up to 10% annually for staking. 32 ETH needed to become one. In order to become a validator on the Ethereum 2.0, one is required to maintain 32 Ether, worth more than $5600 at publishing time.
According to Solana Beach, there are currently 1,161 validators on Solana, giving the network a Nakamoto Coefficient of 19. This means that the top 19 validators control enough staked Solana to collude and attack the network if they wanted to.
| Network | Validator Count | % of Supply Staked |
|---|---|---|
| Cardano (ADA) | 2,977 | 69.60% of 33 billion circulating supply |
| Avalanche (AVAX) | 1,199 | 49.38% of 246 million circulating supply |
| Ethereum Beacon Chain | 309,169 | 8.2% of 119 million circulating supply |
To become a full validator on Ethereum 2.0, ETH holders must stake 32 ETH by depositing the funds into the official deposit contract that has been developed by the Ethereum Foundation. ETH holders who wish to stake do not need to stake during Phase 0: they can join the network as a validator whenever they wish.
Becoming a validator is a complicated topic, but we can boil it all down to three steps: choosing a blockchain network, acquiring the right hardware and software, and running and maintaining your node. The key feature that makes blockchain technology so revolutionary is decentralization.
Validators can earn aproximately a 5% annualized reward rate. Solana's initial inflation rate is 8% annually, decreasing by 15% YOY, reaching a long-term fixed inflation rate of 1.5% annually.
So, can you make money running a lightning node? The most obvious answer is “Yes,” but your profit might not necessarily be expressed in satoshis. You can earn BTC by forwarding transactions from other Lightning nodes through your node.
In exchange, a validator earns revenue in two ways: Charging a commission on the rewards generated by the stakes they hold. A smaller fee for the votes submitted as 'leader' - this is typically very small unless the validator also holds a lot of stake.
Is Solana failing?
Solana has suffered its fifth outage of 2022, and the year is only five months old. A bug-related consensus failure was the culprit this time. The Solana network is not having a good year, having suffered full or partial outages at least seven separate times over the past 12 months.
The numbers, therefore, are very different, in particular from third place onwards: bitcoin (BTC), in fact, confirms its leadership with 9461 nodes, demonstrating that once again it is the most decentralised project in the crypto world.
Cardano is a worthy comparison to Solana because of its uniqueness among other cryptocurrency tokens and coins. The Cardano network features a secured and two-layered architecture that allows processing transactions and deploying smart contracts, thus, harnessing its potential interoperability.
For example, if you wanted to stake Ethereum as an independent validator using Bitfinex, you can currently earn $755 monthly or $8,948 annually.
A validator is a virtual entity that lives on the Beacon Chain and participates in the consensus of the Ethereum protocol. Validators are represented by a balance, public key, and other properties. A validator client is the software that acts on behalf of the validator by holding and using its private key.
Collin Myers, head of global product strategy of ConsenSys at the launch of the Ethereum 2.0 network, said that “validators with 32 ETH can expect to earn up to 4.6 to 10.3% in annualized returns.” On average, investors in Ethereum, can expect to earn around $29.17 in a day from staking.
Why stake ETH for Ethereum 2.0? The primary reason why many people would want to invest in Ether is to obtain the APR, or annual percentage rate, which can range from 6% to 15%. With the minimum need of 32 ETH, you may expect to earn anywhere between 2 and 5 ETH at current prices.