What is an Active Node List (ANL)

By: Geeq  on Mar 23, 2021

Every Blockchain Application on Geeq Has Its Own Network

Every instance of a GeeqChain on Geeq’s multi-chain platform is validated by its own permissionless network of nodes.

Note: The term active node list (ANL) was referred to in older articles and has been retired. The term is no longer in use, although the themes of these concepts have been retained and are implemented in other forms.

How to Join an Active Node List

To join an Active Node List (ANL), a node must send a join transaction and post a Good Behavior Bond (GBB) to the chain’s system account. As long as the node does provably honest work, it is paid automatically in $Geeq for its honest services.

All nodes are treated equally, follow the same rules, and compete in terms of the accuracy of their ledgers.

The Size of the Network is a Choice Variable

Geeq’s security model does not depend on having a large network of nodes. Geeq’s Proof of Honesty provides security by re-engineering decentralized consensus in order to protect the honest user’s tokens, regardless of the existence or proportion of malicious nodes.

Geeq also keeps the focus on efficient communication and information networks. Proof of Honesty validates blockchains with a rotating hub-and-spoke model that does not require many nodes and keeps transaction costs low.

Therefore, the size of the network of nodes is a choice variable. The size of the validation network may be chosen by a blockchain or blockchain-based application. For example, some blockchain applications may prefer many copies of the blockchain to be widely available, whereas other blockchain applications (such as IoT blockchains in a remote area) may only want or have access to a small number of nodes.

Tracking Active Nodes

The Active Node List (ANL) is a list maintained in the Current Ledger State (CLS) with a record of the node’s Public Key, its Fee Account, node status, and IP address.

Technical Details

Please see the entry for the Genesis Block to learn more about how nodes on the Active Node List are tracked by the protocol.

How to Leave an Active Node List

An honest node may send messages to suspend activity or exit at any time, although Proof of Honesty is intended to run as a background process on an ordinary computer with the average bandwidth of a home in the US. We expect a node owner to be able to leave their node running all night as well as while they are using their computer for other activities.

If an honest node leaves voluntarily, then by protocol a transaction will occur for its Good Behavior Bond to be returned to its Fee Account.

The other way to leave an Active Node List is to be ejected for dishonest behavior, in which case a node forfeits its Good Behavior Bond.

Used in a Sentence

We are trying to make it as easy as possible to work as a node in an Active Node List for a decentralized blockchain system. There is one rule: Be Honest. 🙂