If master nodes go away.

[AaronH]

One of the weaknesses called out in DRK is the semi-centralized master nodes. What happens if the pool of master nodes dries up? There will be some level of attrition from the current pool of MN’s. Assume price goes to $100USD per DRK and many of the MN’s are taken down due to politics (large portion of them are in the US). Setting up new MN now costs $100,000. Relatively few people can/will risk that kind of money. What happens to anonymity as MN’s grow fewer and fewer?

Reading how to setup a MN, it seems like it’s just a config option and 1000DRK transfer to ‘enable’ that status. As a backup option is it possible to lower the fee? What if the fee were removed and anyone could just enable MN status? Is there a risk in having more MN’s, would it bog down the network?

Just thinking out loud.

Aaron

 

[fernando]

If any country or isp were to forbid masternodes people could always start them somewhere else. If the number of masternodes goes down the reward goes up, so I'm sure they would pop up again. If a masternode costs 1 million usd but there are only a few and the return is high, someone will find a way to put it up.
You are right about the 1000 drk, they are not needed for the job. The limit is not only about status. Too many masternodes would slow the network, but also having that limit makes it difficult for anyone to try to control the network.

 

[vertoe]

Wait what, arent the 1000 DRK required to fund the darksend pool and used to generate darksend transactions?
I thought darksend wont work without these coins?

BTW 1 MN = 15k USD not 100k lol (I wish we already hit 100$ per DRK)...

 

[fernando]

Wait what, arent the 1000 DRK required to fund the darksend pool and used to generate darksend transactions?
I thought darksend wont work without these coins?

I don't think the darkcoins are needed, they stay in the wallet. In fact, I think the cold storage option is in the works (it was possible before because of a bug, it was not a feture). I believe Evan said that it was an entry barrier to make it difficult to take over a big part of the network. It could be set at any level, but 1000 drk seemed a good compromise between making it expensive and accessible so we could have many masternodes.