Due to the discussion about adding Masternodes to the Gridcoin blockchain. (Rob's proposal is not looking good in the polls) It made me ponder about how much computing power and network resources we need for Gridcoin to reach its goal of giving everyone who contributes to BOINC Gridcoins. I think that we could start by figuring out how much we are currently using with our 3,000 active members and come up with a per member figure to determine the overall amount needed for the entire BOINC system. (Maybe a descriptive function?) In addition, the way in which this infrastructure increase would be carried out would matter as well. In regards to Gridcoin blockchain network infrastructure, I have determined a few routes.
Physical Servers:
I am a fan of having physical servers for blockchain services because it increases the amount of computing available and they are cool.
Something like this for home users.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4U/8048/SYS-8048B-TR4F.cfm
Something like this if you have a rack and proper cooling.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/7U/7089/SYS-7089P-TR4T.cfm
Cloud Servers:
But of course we can always utilize cloud servers. Anyone know of cloud providers that have free trails like google cloud? (I used my 300 USD Google trail on Amicable Numbers)
Current Volunteers:
The final option would be to just continue to use the system we already have and that (for the most part) is working for all of us participating. This would be assuming that the number of nodes would continue as a function of overall community size.
To evaluate these options, I was thinking that we need to describe them in terms of cost to the users (general community and node operator), cost to the Gridcoin foundation (if any), and potential impacts to coin value (both in terms of GRC:BTC and GRC:USD or respective currency unit).
On a side note, I know not of a blockchain that accounts for network resources used. (Like I upload X MBs of data to other wallets and receive X amount of coins or even just acknowledged within the chain). Maybe Gridcoin could be the first to incorporate accounting for network resources utilized? Let me know if this is innovative or has been done before.
