One of thefirst fifty.
Sanect is a privacy-first EVM Layer 1 with sub-second blocks and a shielded pool built on a custom Noir circuit. Genesis validators build out the multi-region topology on mainnet and carry a permanent badge and a slot on the validator set — not a name in a CSV. This page is honest about what you get and who it is for.
Stake at launch
Genesis validators receive a 100,000 SNCT grant from the validator-grants bucket — it covers the 1,000 SNCT minimum self-delegation many times over, so you produce blocks within an hour of setup.
Mainnet allocation
Each active genesis validator receives 100,000 SNCT from the Validator Grants bucket — 5M reserved for the genesis 50, no vest. A further 45M open discretionary reserve funds new partnerships post-launch.
Permanent on-chain badge
A soulbound NFT badge minted to your validator operator address on onboarding. It stays on chain forever and signals you were here from the start, regardless of whether you keep operating later.
Direct line to engineering
Private Telegram channel with engineering. Early warning on upgrades, a chance to review releases before they ship, and a real human on the other end of your weird block-time outliers.
Public profile
Your validator URL and moniker shown on scan.sanect.com/network/nodes — a free credibility signal that helps you recruit delegations.
Co-design what’s coming
Validator working-group input on the Phase 4 FMD indexer, anonymity-bot policy and validator economics before they lock in. Your voice goes into the doc.
- You can run a 24/7 node on a real machine — NVMe VPS, bare metal, or a home server with a good uplink
- You have operated at least one validator before — Cosmos, Ethereum, Solana, anything
- You know your way around Docker, basic Linux and reading container logs
- You are comfortable being publicly listed with a moniker and a contact handle
- You can respond to a Telegram ping within ~24 hours for chain-upgrade coordination
- Free-tier Heroku/Railway-only operators — the chain needs real infrastructure reliability and real disk latency
- “Set and forget” operators who don’t read announcement channels
- Validator-as-a-service businesses looking to onboard delegators first — there will be a separate cohort
- Operators who can’t share at least a pseudonymous identity — we need to coordinate upgrades
What your node should look like.
Shared ZFS pools and network block storage hurt finality. Block time matters here; local NVMe is not negotiable for a genesis seat. Railway, Heroku and shared-storage providers are fine for RPC nodes but not for a genesis validator.
Five steps.
Apply
Applications are open. Submit below; we respond within 5 business days with a yes, a not-yet, or a no.
Onboard
Spin up a mainnet node, publish your RPC via the CLI wizard, receive the grant and register the validator from the staking dApp. Telegram welcome and private-chat invite within the same week.
Operate
We monitor uptime and propagation latency from the explorer dashboard, and a per-validator scorecard shows your standing in the top 50.
External audit
The external audit of the chain and the privacy module is underway. Validators may be asked to test specific scenarios.
Co-design
Working-group calls on the FMD indexer and anonymity-bot policy; release review before upgrades ship.
Two channels, same review.
- 01Public moniker you’d use
- 02Region / datacenter you’d host in
- 03Hosting provider & instance type (e.g. Hetzner CCX22, Vultr HF, bare metal)
- 04Prior validator experience (which chains, how long)
- 05Pseudonymous or real-name identity you’ll operate under
- 06Telegram handle for coordination
- 07EVM address you’ll use as your validator operator account
- 08Anything else we should know
Do I need to put up real money?
No. The 100,000 SNCT genesis grant covers the 1,000 SNCT minimum self-delegation. You are contributing infrastructure and time; we are contributing the stake and the allocation.
What is the mainnet allocation size?
100,000 SNCT per genesis validator, no vest, drawn from the 5M reserved out of the 50M Validator Grants bucket. The other 45M of that bucket is an open discretionary reserve for new partnerships post-launch. See tokenomics.
Can I run on Railway / Heroku?
For an RPC-only node, yes. For a genesis validator, no: shared-tenant block storage adds ~300 ms to block time per validator. Local NVMe disk is required.
What if I miss blocks during a reboot?
signed_blocks_window is 10,000 blocks with min_signed_per_window at 50%. A 30-minute outage is well inside; a multi-hour outage jails you, and unjail is a single call from the staking dApp, with no penalty beyond the missed rewards.
What happens to my badge if I stop operating?
The badge is soulbound and permanent. It says “Genesis Validator on sanect mainnet” — a historical fact, not a continuing entitlement. The 100,000 SNCT genesis grant is yours once distributed; your seat in the active set is decided by stake like everyone else’s.
Can my company or DAO apply?
Yes. Use the entity’s name as the moniker and a designated operator’s Telegram handle for coordination. Same eligibility.
How do you choose if more than 50 apply?
Honest order of preference: geographic diversity, prior validator track record, hosting quality, response time during the application thread. Not first-come-first-served; not highest-stake.
Ready to be validator #N?
Pick the channel you actually check. We respond within 5 days.