Masternode Voting: A Fair Approach to Contested Resources

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out the first two apps on the Evolution platform: DashPay and DPNS (Dash Platform Name Service). DPNS will allow you to register a human-readable username on the Dash network (like @bobsmith95), and use them to send money (and more) without dealing with clunky long addresses.

But what happens if more than one person tries to register the same name, especially if they’re contesting a well-known handle such as @microsoft or @coca-cola?

This is where masternode voting comes in.

How it works

In Dash Evolution, users can store and query documents, which can have unique indexes. A unique index is a combination of properties that together must be unique. This becomes particularly important when multiple users want to claim the same resource, such as a username. To address this, Dash has implemented a decentralized solution: masternode voting. This system ensures that well-known people have a lower chance of seeing their names taken by people who want to impersonate them or otherwise prevent them from using their commonly-used handle. Here’s how it works:

1. Contested Resource Claim: When a user wants to claim a unique resource, like a username, they initiate a claim. This triggers a two-week contest period for that specific unique resource.
2. Joining the Contest: During the first week, other users can also claim the same resource. After the first week, no new claims are accepted.
3. Masternode Voting: Throughout the two-week period, masternodes (and Evonodes) vote on who should be awarded the resource. If a masternode is removed during this period, their vote is invalidated. Each vote is weighted based on their collateral. Masternodes are weighted 1 for 1000 Dash, and Evonodes are weighted 4 for 4000 Dash.
4. Voting Flexibility: Masternodes have the option to abstain from voting or lock a contested resource to prevent its use (meaning, prevent a username from being registered at all). They can change their vote up to four times during the contest.
5. Cost: Participating in a contest or initiating one costs 0.2 Dash.

Using this voting mechanism for contested resources strengthens the value proposition of using the Evolution platform (since there’s a lower chance your perfect username will be taken, for example), and the small fee associated makes sure that spammers and domain campers don’t have the incentive to try to buy up all the good usernames or other resources in advance.

By relying on decentralized voting, Dash upholds its commitment to community-driven decision-making and a stellar end-user experience.