Before I explain how we will earn money from nodes, it's important to have an understanding and idea of what they are and why projects pay for node installation.

A node is a device or point in a network that sends, receives, or relays data. These can be computers, smartphones, servers, and other devices.

Explanation using a real-life example:

Imagine a café. In this café, there are customers and waiters.

• Customers: These are nodes. Each customer can place orders (send data) and receive food (receive data).

• Waiters: They act as the connection between the customers and the kitchen, delivering orders to the kitchen and bringing food to the customers.

Now, let's consider an example with a web server:

When you enter a website address in your browser and press "Enter", your computer sends a request to the server, which is a node. The server receives this request, processes it, and sends back data (e.g., a web page) that you see in your browser.

1. Request Processing

   Nodes can quickly and efficiently handle numerous requests simultaneously. For example, when you visit a website, the server (node) processes your request along with requests from many other users at the same time.

2. Reliability

   Nodes help distribute the load. If one node fails, others can continue to operate, ensuring uninterrupted service.

3. Scalability

   Companies can add more nodes to handle a larger number of requests. This allows the system to grow and manage increased load.

The final income will always remain unknown because holding nodes can be unpredictable.

To estimate income, we can rely on past distributions of projects for holding nodes:

• Avalanche — participants in the testnet who ran a node in 2020 were able to earn up to 2000 AVAX tokens, which were valued at $268,000 at their peak.

• Aave — conducted a testnet where users who set up a node were able to earn up to $100,000 each in just two weeks.

• Graph — testnet participants earned around 33,000 GRT tokens, which were valued at nearly $80,000 at the market peak.

• Moonbeam — early node runners received around 50 MOVR tokens, worth over $24,000 at the heights of 2021.

• Celestia - you should have held the node for 3 months, you would have received between 54,000 and 108,000 TIA. At that time, this ranging from $178,000 to $2.2 million.

• Swarm - the project distributed drops for node maintenance ranging from $2,000 to $20,000, with monthly costs of $20.

  And that's just the bulk of the projects.

  What is IMPORTANT to realize:

  1. Nodes are not about instant income and might not even bring income for months. Patience and wise choices are crucial.

  2. Nodes are like investments. You pay monthly to maintain a server, and the project may reward you generously.

  3. If a project doesn't promise a reward for maintaining a node, don't expect anything.

  4. BUT! Projects might lie and later reward those who believed.

  5. Setting up a node doesn't require extensive programming knowledge, just some understanding and careful reading of the installation documentation.

  In the upcoming articles, I'll share what to watch out for when setting up a node and why some folks might be running one for nothing. Stay tuned!

  - Daria