Pocket Network adds support for Fantom

Pocket Network has added support for the highly scalable Fantom blockchain, which has a vast number of use cases for DeFi, crypto dApps, and enterprise applications, Bankless Times learned from a press release.

Pocket is a middleware protocol that makes unlimited blockchain bandwidth available through a globally distributed network of 44,000 full nodes to applications in Web3 across 45 blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Fuse, Avalanche, and Harmony.

Node runners can earn from servicing FTM traffic

Supporting Fantom within the Pocket Network enables developers to mint Fantom RPC endpoints for their applications directly from the Pocket Portal. This allows node runners to earn $POKT for servicing Fantom traffic from applications, tools, services and protocols for the first time.

Michael O’Rourke, Co-Founder and CEO of Pocket Network, commented:

Centralized RPC providers are often susceptible to single points of failure that can bring down service. After successfully whitelisting support for the Fantom network with the 0049 Relay Chain ID, we’re proud to announce that Pocket Network is bringing decentralization to Fantom and, for the first time, providing incentives and rewards for node operators.

Bringing true decentralization to RPC

Adding Pocket Network support for Fantom blockchain brings true decentralization to Fantom’s remote procedure call (RPC), allowing Pocket’s middleware protocol to decentralize the RPC layer and provide a second layer of full-node incentives via its native blockchain protocol token $POKT.

Inbuilt load balancing

As with most centralized blockchains, applications are limited by a certain number of requests per day. Pocket Network solves this by offering load-balancing built-in at the protocol layer to provide an extra layer of redundancy that centralized RPC providers can’t replicate.

Thanks to Pocket Network, a pool of highly-available Fantom nodes are ready to serve Fantom applications (and RPC aggregators), performing hundreds of millions of relays daily.

Michael Kong, CEO of Fantom Foundation, said:

Having Pocket Network’s decentralized RPC on Fantom brings us one step closer to a future built on censorship-resistant and decentralized infrastructure.

Alberto Jauregui, Ecosystems Developer at Pocket Network, added:

Prior to now, there were no full-node incentives on Fantom––only Fantom validator nodes could earn $FTM rewards for validating blocks and maintaining consensus. Supporting Fantom not only provides a resilient and reliable RPC service for developers but also creates an extra stream of income in the form of POKT for full-node runners while making the Fantom network more robust at the same time. It’s a win-win for Fantom applications and nodes, demonstrating their dedication to building the infrastructure for a more democratic and efficient future, true to the maxim of decentralization.