Beyond ETH: Marlin gateway and relay now available for Polkadot

Marlin is blockchain-agnostic and there couldn’t be a better way to illustrate it than actually integrate it with new chains. The Marlin Larvanet has been operational for about 4 months with its gateways and relays functioning smoothly for the Ethereum blockchain. We are now happy to announce the availability of gateway and relays for the Polkadot network. In short, 

1. Marlin node operators will now also be able to transmit Polkadot data.
2. Polkadot validators and full nodes can install the Marlin gateway to interact with the Marlin network

Installation

Set up of both the gateway and relay software is made easy with marlinctl. As before, installing the gateway is independent of installation of the relay. Although, it's perfectly okay to be running both simultaneously either in the same or different machines. In fact, if you are both a Polkadot validator and Marlin cluster operator, it would be a good idea, performance-wise, to have a Marlin relay node colocated (in the same datacenter) with the Polkadot gateway and validator.

Gateway

Instructions to run the Polkadot gateway are available at https://docs.marlin.pro/books/polkadot-gateway/page/overview-f76.

For the best results, it’s advised to run the gateway as close to the Polkadot validator as possible. The gateway consumes minimal resources and is cheap to operate.

Relay node

Instructions to run a Marlin relay node that can transmit Polkadot data can be found at https://docs.marlin.pro/books/polkadot-relay/page/overview-a87. Note that the same physical node can run relays to serve Ethereum, Polkadot and eventually several more chains. However, the relay node software for each chain runs in its own environment and is independent of the other. As a result of this abstraction, each cluster serving a different chain is independent of the other even if they comprise of relay nodes running in the same machine and thus require a separate delegation of at least 0.5 MPond.

Incentives

Similar to the case with Ethereum, Flowmint will be extended to incentivize the installation of gateways while staking rewards will also be dedicated towards clusters that serve the Polkadot network.

Flowmint

MPond from Flowmint is currently distributed amongst DOT delegators of every Polkadot validator which registers. The distributions will now be limited to only delegators of those validators which install the gateway starting June.

Staking rewards

Staking rewards in the form of POND are currently distributed amongst delegators and operators of Marlin nodes which serve Ethereum. A governance proposal has to be passed to divert a percentage of the rewards towards nodes that serve Polkadot giving POND and MPond holders a new choice of activity to pursue. The percentage of rewards to reallocate will be a subject of discussion once the proposal is put up for debate. Ideally, the rewards should correspond to the average revenue the network expects to generate by serving the new network.

Separately, a Marlin testnet will be made available for Marlin node operators to calibrate their nodes for Polkadot without requiring the minimum delegation of 0.5 MPond. As always, feel free to share your queries with us on Discord. This is an important milestone in testing the Marlin network’s capability to serve multiple chains simultaneously. We look forward to hearing your feedback and experience.

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