Strengthening Astar Through Decentralization

topimage

One of the core values at the heart of Astar Network is decentralization. Decentralization is not just an ideal—it is the foundation that supports the network’s resilience, efficiency, and long-term sustainability. As nodes spread across the world and more diverse participants join, Astar becomes stronger, fairer, and more trustworthy.

The Peers Program is a concrete initiative to advance this decentralization. By bringing together the power of our community, we aim to grow Astar into a truly global and sustainable network.

Purpose

This program is designed with two primary objectives:

  1. Promoting decentralization across the Astar Network
    The goal of this program is to promote decentralization within the Astar Network by expanding community‑driven node operations across the globe. We aim to encourage participation from diverse regions and build a structure that enhances the network’s robustness and sustainability.

  2. Developing future technical talent
    Another objective of this initiative is to foster the growth of technical talent by enabling participants to experience firsthand how individual contributions—though small on their own—can collectively form a significant part of the Astar Network ecosystem.
    Therefore, while blockchain nodes are generally expected to run on machines with relatively high specifications and high availability, this program recommends operating archive nodes on comparatively lower‑spec machines.

Target Regions

The regions we are focusing on are listed below. However, the initiative remains open to participants from all regions.

  • South America
  • Africa
  • West Asia
  • South East Asia (Partially achieved in the season 1-2)
  • Australia (Partially achieved in the season 1-2)

Map

Issues and Improvements

The issues identified in Seasons 1 and 2, along with their improvement points, are as follows:

ISSUE: Prerequisite skills for node operation
IMPROVEMENT: Although building an archive node is relatively simple, operating a node generally requires knowledge related to Linux system administration. Therefore, the ability to perform basic Linux operations has been added as a requirement.

ISSUE: Node hang-ups and unexpected shutdowns
IMPROVEMENT: Especially on ARM architectures, machines with only 4GB of physical memory have difficulty maintaining long-term continuous operation. For this reason, machines equipped with 8GB or more memory are recommended.

Participation Requirements

  • The program is open to anyone
  • 5 candidates minimum from priority regions
  • up to 5 candidates in any region
  • The participants will be selected by this program manager(tksarah) at this stage.
  • The node must be an archive node
  • The node must run without big interruption (no need for 100% uptime but at least 80% is asked)
  • The node must be connected to Telemetry
  • The node has to be run on a Raspberry Pi 4/5 or other small ARM‑based machines, and x86_64 machines are also supported
  • The machines should have at least 4GB of RAM, with 8GB or more recommended
  • Since we have confirmed that the requirements are fairly challenging for non‑technical participants, we ask that candidates have at least some basic experience with Linux.

Program Milestones

Year Month Description
2026 January Recruitment of Season 3 participants, Recruiting 10 Astar Node Runners
2026 June Review of Season 3 mid-term results (confirmation of remaining rewards, decision on continuation proposals)
2026 December Final review of Season 3 results and coordination for the Season 4 recruitment

Rewards Allocation

This reward is provided to help offset a portion of the monthly costs associated with operating a node, such as hardware and utility expenses, rather than covering the full amount.

Peers Program Reward Conditions

  • 100% reward for availability exceeding 80%
  • If no on-chain identity is registered: 50% deduction applied
  • 50% reward if availability is below 80%
  • Rewards are 30% during recovery (resync).
  • No reward if the node is not running or is inactive

Nodes that remain inactive for an extended period or frequently go offline and fail to stay synchronized will receive zero rewards.

Reward Basis

  • Base reward amount is USD 30, paid in ASTR tokens
  • The final reward value is adjusted based on the Astar price, using the EMA30 value of the following month.
  • Price reference

Payment Schedule

In principle, reward amounts are calculated based on the node’s operational rate from the previous month and disbursed within the current month.

Funding

The rewards will be distributed from the wallet balance secured during the previous season. Depending on future operational needs, additional proposals may be considered if necessary.