Token economics

SPNX is an utility token that can be used to purchase cryptographic certificates (as NFTs) from a root node to give the buyer the ability to route the traffic via this root node.

Network participants that run root nodes sell cryptographic certificates (as NFTs) as a means for other participants to connect to the root node to route traffic between their nodes that do not have public IP addresses.

Non-binary trust. The trust provided by the certificates is non-binary (this is in contrast to regular trust that is binary) and the level of trust is determined by how many tokens the corresponding root node currently has. The root node that has a lot of tokens may increase the price of their certificates.

Certificate revocation. If a device owner is not satisfied with the service provided by the root node, it may voluntarily revoke the certificate. In this case only the time period during which the certificate was active is billed. This should discourage root nodes from providing subpar service.

Certificate lifecycle. Root node owners issue certificates for at least a month. They will receive tokens for the certificate only when the month passes or the client decides to revoke the certificate earlier. This should discourage root nodes from providing subpar service.

Staking. Both root node owners and regular users have to stake tokens to use the network. The staked amount is returned to them after a predefined time period. This incentivizes honest behavior of the participants in order for them not to decrease the prices of the token.

Incentive for DePIN devices’ owners. SPN provides a higher standard of security compared to the regular Internet. The real IP addresses of the nodes are hidden, DDoS attacks are not possible, the communication is always end-to-end encrypted, and mutual trust is established between endpoints via the cryptographic certificates, the communication between endpoints is only possible if the parties agreed upon creating a tunnel.

Incentive for root nodes’ owners. Root nodes’ owners benefit from selling excess Staex tokens via the cryptocurrency exchanges for profit. Non-binary trust gives root nodes’ owners the incentive to compete with each other and not sell all the excess tokens for profit.

Incentive for Staex. Staex runs its own root nodes and earns money the same way as other root node owners.

Governance. After a certain threshold root node owners’ may participate in SPN governance: determine how SPN software and SPN itself evolve.