We have all been really excited about the smartcash masternodes and a lot of nodes have been set in just about a couple of months already, the node holders getting healthy payouts!! All good!! But why exactly are you getting paid from the nodes? It's not like you're "staking" your smartcash in the node, because as I said in one of my earlier posts, Smartcash blockchain does not run on the Proof of Stake algorithm.

So, are the nodes similar to smart rewards, in the sense that the smartcash team is just being extra generous? Nope.

This is because the masternodes are actually contributing to the blockchain. In other words, by setting up a masternode, you are actually becoming a part of the Smartcash blockchain. You are providing service to the smartcash blockchain and are being rewarded a portion of the block rewards for you service to the blockchain, a "proof of service" rewards if you may!! But exactly what service are you providing to the blockchain by setting up your masternodes, how are you improving the blockchain?

What exactly are these masternodes?

Masternodes are essentially decentralized servers that are connected to the network. You must have noted that you had to set up a VPS (virtual private server) as an important step of setting up your masternode and it's absolutely essential that your VPS doesn't have a downtime of more than 1 hour in a day. This is essential because this server is the most important contribution you are providing to the blockchain, you are helping to increase the number of servers. These servers need to be up and running to maintain a certain minimum level of performance and functionality of the blockchain.

Why are servers important?

Let's take Youtube for example, a very simple example. What is the function of youtube....why is it there....why do you use youtube? To watch videos. But one day you wake up, and the servers of youtube are all down. Will you be able to access the site and watch that video you wanna watch at that moment? No. You have to wait till the servers are back up, because the servers are where the data is stored, the servers in other words, are what serves you the data, in case of youtube, the videos. So the more the number of servers available for youtube, the less likely it is for all the servers to be down at once, ensuring you are always able to access the videos, whenever you need it!! Similarly when you skype your friend, the data (in this case your voice and image/video) is being moved around by the skype servers, you upload a picture to facebook or steemit from your laptop, and you can access the same from your friend's laptop, because the data (the pictures in this case) is stored on the facebook or steemit servers and providing you with it whenever you call for it.

So what's the function of a blockchain? What's the function of a server, i.e. what is the data stored on a blockchain?

TRANSACTIONS.

You wanna buy some smartcash on an exchange? Transaction.
You wanna withdraw from an exchange to your wallet? Transaction.
You wanna pay for something with smartcash? Transaction.

It must be pretty obvious by now what the masternodes are doing on the smartcash blockchain, or any blockchain for that matter.

Masternodes are like connections between transactions. The nodes run the network and do the transactions. This is why it is important, and absolutely essential to have a lot of servers, aka masternodes on the smartcash blockchain as the Smartcash roadmap 2018 is very merchant focused. And as I have said in my post on transaction fees and confirmation times having fast, instant transactions is not optional if we are looking for widespread merchant adoption. It is a MUST HAVE.

But how are the nodes speeding up transactions?

Let's imagine there are 4 guys at a local KFC waiting in line to order form the menu (data stored on the server) and there is only one person serving (aka the server) these 4 customers. And let's imaging another KFC two streets down where there are 4 guys again, waiting to order, but here there are 4 people serving the customers. Which KFC will be able to process the orders (aka transactions) faster? Do the math if you're SMART enough!! (See what I did there 😜)

So now it's self explanatory why increasing the number of masternodes is so important for us if we're to achieve the merchant focused goals and the instantpay features in the Smartcash Roadmap 2018.

How has smartcash fared in terms of the number of masternodes enabled when compared to the most popular masternodes out there?

The DASH and PIVX masternodes are probably some the most popular ones out there. DASH kind of introduced the concept in a fancy way and PIVX was actually a fork of DASH. Their masternodes have been around since early 2016/mid 2016....so over a year or two already!! And to put this into perspective, smartcash masternodes have only been around for less than 2 months!!

Affordable Masternodes!!

Smartcash has made it very affordable for anyone to setup a masternode and start contributing to the blockchain, while also earning decent payout for the service. At 30 cents, a smartnode costs you about $3000. This makes setting up a node extremely alluring and more and more people are setting up the nodes and starting to help smartcash move closer towards achieving it's merchant focused goals!! Compare this to over $50,000 for a pivx masternode and over $600,000 for a DASH masternode!!

So, is that all a masternode does? Just speeding up transactions?

Well that's pretty awesome as it is, but no. That's not all the masternodes do. They actually give transactions instant confirmations (well, making the transactions fast and instant) which also improves the security of the blockchain. Because, as I have mentioned in the post on transaction fees and confirmation times the faster we can get the confirmations on a block and the transactions in that block, the lesser chance and time the hackers will have to attack the blockchain and having such a vast number of masternodes already in just 2 months, and the fact that this number will only keep growing and growing, smartcash is making it's blockchain almost impossible to hijack!! Again, this is absolutely essential for widespread merchant adoption. No merchant an no buyer will be willing to wait for 5-6 minutes for the transaction to go through, or be at a risk of losing their funds. They'd just prefer using cash if there's risk of getting their transactions hijacked, and by working towards increasing the number of smartnodes, smartcash is working it's way towards instant confirmations and improved security for the blocks.

Smart-Voting and Decentralization : Update your Commonsense!!

Okay, since we have spoken so much about masternodes today, let's just see how much importance masternode holders are actually given by the originators of masternodes!! In DASH, the masternode holders are the ONLY ones that are allowed to vote on their projects. That's how much importance is given to those who set up their DASH masternodes, that's how important a masternode is. But this type of voting makes the DASH regulation quite centralized to be honest. Let's face it, how many people can actually afford to have a masternode costing over $600,000!! Not many!! Smartcash on the other hand allows you 1 vote if you have one smartcash. I wonder how many of us can afford an $0.3 vote in smartcash community projects.....hmm 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

Okay, there were a lot of arguments that the 1 smart equals one vote doesn't make smartcash decentralized either, as they claim to be. They say if Smartcash truly wants to be decentralized everyone should have an equal say. Well of course, that would be the ideal decentralization IF WE LIVED IN AN IDEAL WORLD WITH PERFECT HUMAN BEINGS AND NO PEOPLE WHO WANTS TO HARM OTHERS!!

But surprise!! WE DO NOT LIVE IN AN IDEAL WORLD and there are people around who'd mess things up if it were up to them to make important decisions and there are people who will try to harm others (more on this in a bit) and so we need a more Realistic Decentralization.

For example, if you live in a democratic country, what does your government tell you every election? By giving you the right to vote, they are decentralizing power!! You get to vote once every 5 years and that's decentralization? You don't get to vote on what bills get passed...what projects the govt spends YOUR money on, but it's okay to call that decentralization of power?

So what in Smartcash everyone doesn't get to have an equal say? At least you get to have a say in EVERY project!!

As a matter of fact, it makes sense to not have an equal say. It makes sense to have a more realistic approach to decentralization.

If someone who hasn't invested in smartcash, or doesn't know anything about the community, just received a tip somewhere had an equal say as someone who has taught themselves about how smartcash works, what the community is all about and actually invested and holds decent amount of smart, HOW the hell is that fair?

Or even worse, if someone wants smartcash to not succeed, a competitor maybe, just bought a a few smartcash, in a hundred different accounts....and had an equal say as people who are working their arses off to make this project a success, imagine the destruction they could have carried out!!

So use your common sense fellas!! 1 SMART = 1 Vote doesn't make smartcash a centralized currency, it's gives us a reality check and provides us with Decentralization that is sustainable. What you guys want, everyone having an equal say and only then smartcash will be truly decentralized, sounds wonderful, only in theory. It is not sustainable.

Alright guys, it's 1 am here and I've been outside sightseeing all day.....got back at 10 pm, exhausted and @teutonium sent me a DM asking if I'm alive coz I didn't make a smartcash post in 3 days, which truly is very unlike me 😆 Then I realized, I HAD to get this post done!! I've been thinking about these topics for a few days now and unless I let this post out (and my thoughts along with it) I'd go crazy pretty soon, and i wouldn't be able to work on other posts, like my next entry for the meme contest!! Thanks a bunch to @blockchainlib for answering my questions tirelessly and explaining me and teaching and providing resources over the last few days!!

I should probably go to sleep!!

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