What a masternode actually is
A masternode is infrastructure: a server that performs network functions — signing, mixing, governance or API services — in exchange for rewards, usually requiring collateral (a bond) that can be slashed for misbehaviour.
The mental model that matters: you are being paid to run reliable infrastructure, not to hold a coin. The economics are closer to a small hosting business than to speculation.
The cost side everyone underestimates
Collateral is the big one — it is locked capital, not spend, but it is exposed to the token's price. Then there is hardware, bandwidth, uptime obligations and the time cost of watching alerts.
Slashing risk is real: nodes that sign invalid blocks or go offline at the wrong moment can lose a percentage of collateral. 'Set and forget' is how people learn this expensively.
Reward math, honestly
Rewards come from inflation emissions and sometimes fees. The honest calculation is reward-per-day minus power, bandwidth and amortised hardware — divided by the collateral value at risk. Many advertised APYs collapse under that arithmetic.
The site publishes worked examples with real numbers and dates so readers can check the assumptions instead of trusting a headline APR.
Questions
Is this financial advice?
No — it is education. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, run or delegate anything.
What is slashing?
A protocol penalty that destroys part of a node's collateral for misbehaviour or downtime — the core risk of running infrastructure.
Do I need technical skills?
Running your own node needs sysadmin skills; delegating avoids operations but introduces counterparty risk.
How are the numbers sourced?
From protocol documentation and on-chain parameters, cited per entry with dates — parameters change, so check the source.