Marlin is a layer-0 protocol focussed on network-layer performance, security and robustness. Amongst its several applications, it speeds up block propagation to enable higher throughput. A swarm of Marlin nodes compete with one another to transmit blocks from producers to receivers of various blockchains. Incentives as with any other decentralized protocol are crucial to bootstrap the demand and supply side of this bandwidth marketplace. This article introduces FlowMint, a novel token distribution mechanism to bootstrap the Marlin ecosystem.

Highlights

• Marlin nodes require Marlin tokens to be staked to join the network and propagate blocks of different chains.
• FlowMint is a mechanism by which users with ATOM, DOT, IRIS, MATIC, NEAR etc can participate in the Marlin network and acquire Marlin tokens.
• 20% of the genesis supply of Marlin token MPOND will be distributed to different blockchain communities over the next 24 months via FlowMint.
• Holders of eligible platform tokens who stake or delegate towards eligible validators shall be awarded MPOND which they may use to run a Marlin node or participate in governance.
• Tokens are not required to be locked in any new contract. Native chain delegations are used. MPOND shall be credited directly into the accounts of delegators.
• FlowMint begins on December 15, 2020.
• Next steps:
  • Validators should get themselves whitelisted to ensure that they and their delegators are eligible for the stakedrop.
  • Delegators and/or token holders should familiarize themselves with the necessary steps to best leverage this opportunity.

The Goal of Marlin

Peer-to-peer applications require networks to enable communication between peers. The decentralized nature of the Internet imposes performance overheads on applications built on top of it impacting scale and user experiences. Web 2 tackled these challenges using specialized overlay networks such as CDNs and SD-WANs. The Marlin protocol was developed to bridge the gap between the performance and scale achieved by Web 2 and the security and decentralization demanded by Web3.

The Marlin Network

The Marlin Network comprises of different kinds of nodes from resource-intensive sentry nodes to extremely light relay and caching nodes. The sentry nodes are the nodes responsible for verification of data that enters the network to prevent spam. As a result, they are required to run or have extremely low latency access to full nodes of corresponding blockchains to ensure the validity of blocks and transactions they introduce into the network.

On the other hand, caching and relay nodes simply store and forward the data they receive. While sentry nodes sign attestations certifying the validity of content, relay nodes simply ensure the existence of a logical attestation chain. Together, the caching, relay and sentry nodes ensure that they provide low-latency global coverage by using minimal resources while eliminating spam.

The Validators

Validators are important stakeholders in the Marlin Network as not only are they primary producers and consumers of blocks of various blockchain networks but also suitable candidates to run sentry nodes given their prevailing need to operate full nodes of those chains.

Marlin reduces the barrier to entry for blockchains and validators to try it out by acting complementary to a blockchain’s native P2P stack instead of trying to substitute it. Validators are required to run gateway nodes which are effectively dumbed down blockchain clients with only an active networking module. The gateway nodes peer with the validator node and act as a bridge between it and the Marlin Network isolating the validators from introduction of new code. The setup of an existing validator and Marlin gateway node effectively makes a Marlin sentry node reducing the cost of operation for validators.

The Marlin Token

Marlin nodes are required to stake Marlin tokens to join the network and relay data. The token, based on Ethereum, provides node operators the ability to earn fees from users to relay content and additional inflationary Marlin tokens in subsidies.