Did you know that SPLINTERLANDS - TCG auto battler - has its own node called Node License? If you follow the play2earn gaming scene and have seen some of the node sales like Gala Games, you know that they are great passive income generators.
So, in this post we will see what the Splinterlands Node License is, find out if it is already working, what the returns are and also talk about some existing problems. If you want to know more about it, follow along because it has A LOT of information!
I'll be much appreaciated if you or give any ( PIZZA ??, PGM ??, LOLZ ??, ALIVE ??, etc ). Thanks and have good reading! ??
[ENGLISH VERSION]
What is a Node License?
The Splinterlands team plans to have a Layer 2 Hive network to run the game in the future. In this network, the main token will be SPS. In it, for transactions to be validated, validators are needed, which will be Node Licenses.
As the team is focused on the new player experience, onboarding new users and changes to Ranked, this development of the Blockchain Network will only come later.
The Node License is an NFT on the Hive blockchain network, which allows users to operate a node on the upcoming Splinterlands blockchain. In total, 60k Licenses will be made available in phases, where the cost will increase as more nodes are sold. Currently the first Tranche has ended and we are in the second. However, due to the drop in token value and the delay in implementing Layer 2, only 5008 Nodes were sold and sales remained stagnant until then.
It will be possible to use multiple licenses with a single SPS validator software. Which means you won't need to run the code separately, which could allow other people to "stake" a specific node, but this is speculation. If this is not the case, you will have to rent a Cloud PC and it will cost more than the License reward.
How much does it cost? What is the Return on APR?
How much does it cost? | Currently you can purchase a node through the website for a little over 100k $SPS ($2500), or buy on Hive's secondary market, the Hive Engine, which trades secondary tokens. In this second option you can get the cheapest for 1510, approximately $500, that is, a big discount in relation to the price being officially sold, which shows the lack of interest in the item.
What is the APR %? | Nodes receive a share of the SPS Pool, even though they do not have a role that helps the ecosystem. Regarding the value on Hive Engine, he receives a daily reward of $0.59 (4 vouchers and 18.7 SPS), which currently represents 43.3% APR. An interesting value when compared to another safer investment, since in this case we depend on the interest in the tokens. But can the value of the Node rise?
Can Node Licenses appreciate in value? As?
Vouchers | The reason each node pays 4 vouchers/day is because the Pool of 20k vouchers is divided between 5008 nodes. For those who don't yet know, vouchers are used to receive discounts on promotions carried out by the game company, such as Promo Cards or Packs. In addition to the Node, you also get Vouchers when staking $SPS.
So, as they are used by the players themselves to acquire new cards and promotions and as the company accepts them at a value of $0.20, if we have new promotions the value could reach this range, and we would be talking about 6x the current value from $0.03. As in the APR, the voucher represents approximately 10%, considering that the SPS remains in the current price range, then we would have 60% of APR coming from the vouchers and 30% coming from the SPS, reaching 90%. At this point, users can start considering having a Node License. Because in circulation we have 12Million and 40K being minted, this quantity may not be enough for current demand.
We can see the Voucher rising more easily due to player demand for in-game items and promotions in their favor. On the other hand, this is more difficult to happen with SPS.
SPS | As we have a lot of SPS mined and many being printed daily, we would need new players wanting, for example, to stake it for it to increase in value.
On the other hand, for the Node License this represents another path of possible appreciation, because if the SPS also increases in value, which is more difficult due to the amount that should be burned, we have net 330 million tokens, the value of the APR would also rise and this time much more as they represent 30% of the APR. If it goes to $0.05, which would be 2x the current price - which could happen with new players or with the bullrun - the APR would reach 70% already, which would be very good.
What are the Problems?
Demand | As we saw at the beginning, we are only in the second Tranche of Nodes, in which 5008 of 60k were sold, a very low value. This means that there is no demand for nodes, investors do not believe in the return of Splinterlands Nodes, at least not now.
There is this demand problem, because if you look at other play2earn gaming platforms that sell nodes, they sell out quickly, but the same did not happen here.
Liquidity | Every investment has some assumptions and one of them is that it has liquidity. In the case of Node License it is not very liquid, but still, at least 1 comes out per day, on the worst day. If you want to sell quickly, on Hive Engine there are 8 purchase offers, after that it's over!
If it is a value that you may end up needing and that is more liquid, this is not a good investment for you. But if that's not important to you, still look into the project further.
Delivery | The Splinterlands developer team has improved in delivering what was promised, but this was not the case. In the case of the node itself, if I'm not mistaken, the splinterlands mainnet was already working with the nodes operating.
Reward | There is a mystery in Splinterlands about what will happen in a few years when the SPS issuance comes to an end, how nodes receive part of the rewards from this SPS Pool, it is not known if this will continue afterwards, it will depend on the DAO. Remembering that until then, the amount of SPS in the pool will be reduced by 1% every month.
