Author: Riyue Xiaochu Source: medium
First, understand node sales. Node sales are actually a new way of selling tokens. It is a way that benefits multiple parties. For projects, a decentralized network itself requires a large number of nodes. For project parties, node sales have also become a new way of financing. As for us retail investors, current projects are all launched at high valuations by institutions, and it is difficult for the secondary market to have good opportunities to make money. And participating in node sales means investing in the project before it goes public.
In general, from the perspective of node token rewards, CARV is the most generous, with 25% of the total reward nodes being the most allocated among the three, and releasing 12.5% of the total tokens in the first year of the bull market, which is more than twice that of the other two projects.
From the sales situation, Sophon sold 30,000 ETH and Aethir sold 40,000 ETH. CARV is about to start and is not expected to be too bad. You can use this as a reference.
1 Project Introduction
Aethir is a decentralized computing power platform. Aethir aims to build a scalable, decentralized cloud infrastructure (DCI). The network helps game and artificial intelligence companies, regardless of size, to deliver products directly to consumers, no matter where they are or what hardware they have. Aethir solves the problem of market fragmentation in a decentralized cloud way.
Sophon is an entertainment-centric ecosystem built as a modular rollup using zkSync's hyperchain technology. As a zkSync hyperchain utilizing ZK Stack, Sophon is designed to be customized for any high-throughput application, such as artificial intelligence and gaming applications.
CARV aims to build the largest modular data layer to provide data services for GameFi and AI. It revolutionizes the way data is used and shared by ensuring that privacy, ownership, and control are firmly in the hands of individuals, creating a future where data creates value for everyone. CARV already has 2.5 million registered users, 1.2 million monthly active users, and more than 750 game and artificial intelligence companies have integrated into the CARV ecosystem
2 Total Node Tokens
CARV's total token supply is 1 billion, and the reward for nodes is 25%.
Aethir's total token supply is 42 billion, and the reward for nodes is 15%.
Sopon's total token supply has not yet been announced, and the reward for nodes accounts for 20% of the total.
The total amount of Xai tokens is 2.5 billion, and 42.09% is given to DAC and nodes.
So 42.09% of Xai is given to nodes and DAC, but the overall rewards for nodes are also relatively large. Among the recent node sales projects, CARV has the largest total amount of tokens rewarded to nodes.
3 The first year of node token release
The first year is the most critical for the release of node tokens. Because the next year is likely to be a bull market, the price will be better. After that, we may enter a bear market, and the release of tokens is accumulating. In addition, institutions and teams have begun to unlock, so it is normal for the price of the currency to fall by 10 times. So the release of nodes focuses on how many coins can be mined in a year.
The 42.09% allocated by Xai is composed of two parts. The specific release of nodes is calculated based on the node release chart given by the official. The initial daily release of Xai is 1.712 million. When the circulation reaches 1.25 billion (the official estimate is 5-6 months after TGE), 856,000 will be released daily. According to calculations, Xai will release about 440 million in the first year, of which 85% will be used for node rewards, that is, 374 million, accounting for about 14.98% of the total
CARV's node reward is 25%, but its token release is faster. According to the official white paper, the release of CARV tokens in the first year is 50%, which is 12.5% of the total. It is basically the same as Xai.
Aethir's release rules are not clear, but it is stated that there is a 4-year release period. The node reward is only 15% of the total, and it is expected to be around 5%~7% in the first year. The fundamental reason is that Aethir has reserved a large part of the reward for computing power providers for mining.
Sopon's node rewards are released linearly over three years, and 27.78% is released in the first year, which is 5.56% of the total tokens.
For node token rewards, CARV releases 12.5% in the first year, which is the most among the three projects. The share of Aethir and Sopon given to nodes is only 5% of the total, which is relatively much less.
4 Redemption period of node tokens
After the node mines the tokens, you will not get the tokens immediately, but esXai, vATH, and veCARV. To convert them into tokens that can be bought and sold on the exchange, there is a certain redemption period.
For Xai, it takes 180 days to convert esXai into Xai, and there are two options. If you convert it in 15 days, you can only get 25% of Xai. 90 days can get 62.5% of Xai.
The rule of Aethir is that if you redeem it within 30 days, you can only get 25%, and the default redemption is 180 days.
For CARV, it takes 150 days to convert veCARV into CARV. For the same two options, if it is converted in 15 days, you can only get 25% of XAI. If it is converted in 90 days, you can get 60%% of CARV.
The node release of Sopon has not been announced.
In general, the three projects have a relatively long redemption period, and the three projects are basically the same. If you want to distinguish, CARV will have a slight advantage. Its 150-day redemption is one month shorter than XAI and ATH's 180 days.
5 Unlocking of other tokens in the first year
In addition to the rewards of nodes, we also need to consider the unlocking of other tokens. Because the release of other tokens will increase the inflation rate.
In the token distribution, in addition to the node mining part, it is often divided into three parts. One part is what the project needs, such as market making, operational activities, etc. This part is often released in large quantities during TGE, so there is no need to pay too much attention. The second part is ecological rewards, community, foundation, etc. This part often requires Dao voting due to the long-term development of the project. The third part is the release of institutions and teams. This part needs special consideration.
In this regard, Xai is not very friendly. Teams and institutions start unlocking 6 months after TGE, releasing about 1.5% of the total tokens per month. The reward tokens of the nodes are open for redemption about 2 months after TGE, plus a redemption period of 6 months. This means that the team and institutions are a large number of chips that circulate in the market before the nodes.
CARV investors start unlocking 6 months after TGE, and the team starts unlocking 9 months after TGE. The unlocking conditions are better than Xai, and it should be noted that the redemption period of CARV's node mining tokens is 5 months, so the node tokens are unlocked earlier than investors.
The chips of Aethir and Sopon institutions and teams have a 12-month lock-up period. However, in Aethir's token model, 35% of the total amount is GPU, which is released synchronously with the nodes, which means that twice as many chips as the nodes are unlocked together.
6 Node Sales
In terms of node sales, Xai has sold 35,155 nodes, with a sales amount of 13,080 ETH, worth 400 million US dollars, and the average cost of the node is 0.372 ETH. The node price has risen from the lowest 0.133 ETH to 1.43 ETH, an increase of more than 10 times.
Aethir has sold 74,040 nodes, with a sales amount of 41,627 ETH, worth 130 million US dollars. The average cost of a node is 0.56 ETH. The node price has risen 14 times from the lowest 0.1259 ETH to 1.8232 ETH.
Sophon has sold 121,261 nodes, with a sales amount of 31,087 ETH, worth 96 million US dollars. The average cost of a node is 0.256 ETH.
For node sales, XAI can be said to be the beginning of this round. Most of the projects selling nodes are learning from XAI. However, the data of XAI itself is not good because the market was not very hot when XAI was sold. And because XAI is the first time, many people have concerns about this form. Moreover, many people who participated in the GALA node in 2021 have not yet recovered their investment. However, after XAI was listed on Binance, the benefits of participating in the early nodes were lucrative, which brought many users to the projects that later sold nodes.
Aethir's node sales not only benefited from XAI's money-making effect, but also when the AI sector was at its peak. As for other projects with good quality, the possible results are between XAI and Aethir.
7 Summary
1 From the perspective of the project, Aethir, Sopon, and CARV are not in the same track and cannot be directly compared. But each has its own advantages. Aethir belongs to the AI track and has scarce GPU computing power, which is the hottest sector at the moment. Sopon's project is more like a game that was quickly put together while the market was good. But it has a project done by the original founder of zksyc, and its popularity and resources in the circle are very rich. CARV has accumulated for many years, growing rapidly, with a large number of users and ecological projects.
2 From the perspective of node sales, CARV is the most generous, with 25% of the total reward nodes allocated the most among the three, and released 12.5% of the total tokens in the first year of the bull market, more than twice the other two projects.
3 From the sales situation, Sophon sold 30,000 ETH and Aethir sold 40,000 ETH. CARV is about to start, and it is not expected to be too bad. You can use this as a reference.