VeChainThor Node Tokenization and Mobile Wallet Update

8 min readDec 4, 2018

Back in 2016, VeChain successfully implemented the first blockchain based anti-counterfeiting and traceability solution for luxury bags, in which we assign a cryptographically generated unique ID to each piece of bag, register it on the blockchain and trace the information of the product, logistics, and ownership throughout the supply chain. Does this concept sound familiar to you? Yes, by giving an item a unique ID on the blockchain the product becomes a non-fungible token which can be operated by multi-parties and be transferred between blockchain addresses.

Following VIP180 — fungible token standard, we published VIP181 — non-fungible token standard for developers to follow and create non-fungible tokens on the VeChainThor Blockchain. In relation to the new standard, VeChain Foundation has tokenized the Status of VeChainThor Nodes including Economic Nodes and Economic X Nodes into VIP181 tokens. This is an ideal scenario to implement the standard and significantly enhance the user experience of the VeChainThor Node program. We hope more developers will follow and develop dApps based on VIP181 tokens.

By tokenizing VeChainThor Nodes and open sourcing the smart contracts, node holders, third-party developers and the community in general can all benefit in different ways:

Node addresses and tiers information is public on the blockchain available for inquiry or integration into third-party applications.
Node holders are able to change the node address by transferring the node token.
Node holders can eventually exchange the Node tokens for the liquidity which holders might have been looking for.
Other Non-Node holders can potentially participate in node ownership, which will eventually move all nodes into the hands of the community members who want them the most.
Node upgrade and transfer is now done through smart contract functions, which allow any third party developer to build applications and user interface to support these functions.

The VeChainThor Node token smart contract is now open source and it has been independently audited by Slowmist with a satisfactory result. We welcome third-party developers to create dApps that support or leverage the new VeChainThor node token features, which we believe is one of the best ways to engage with the active VeChain community members.

With the introduction of VeChainThor Node tokens, we also updated the VeChainThor Mobile Wallet to version 1.3.0. This version makes the Mobile Wallet the first application supporting the new functionality, which will be available for download on December 5th. Please note while the new version supports more functionality, all the rules in the VeChain Economic Node and Economic X Node remain unchanged.

The new features are as follows:

The Display of VeChainThor Node

Once you upgrade to version 1.3.0, if you hold a VeChain Economic X Node or VeChain Economic Node, it will be displayed in the “Collectibles” section under your node address. Each address can only own one VeChainThor Node at a time.

When clicking on the VeChainThor Node, you will be able to see detailed information about the node including node ID, node type, minimum VET requirement, VTHO reward rate, node activity history. You can initiate “Designated Transfer” or “Public Auction” operation to the Node or check the public node trading market.

In the next version upgrade, same as VIP180 tokens, the VeChain Foundation may integrate third-party VIP181 non-fungible tokens in the VeChainThor wallet. More details will be announced as we get closer to the next version release.

Node Upgrades

As seen in previous versions, users can apply to upgrade their node in the “Rewards” function when their address meets the minimum VET holding requirement. When the user does so, the node will upgrade to the next tier after the maturity period. In the latest release, the node upgrade is executed via a smart contract, so you will be prompted to input the wallet password and sign approval for the smart contract transactions. Your VeChainThor Node is not able to be transferred or put on auction during the maturity period.

Node Downgrade or Drop

This part works exactly as the previous version, if the user’s VET holding falls below the minimum requirement, the node will either be downgraded (Economic Nodes) or permanently dropped (Economic X Nodes). Since now the VeChainThor nodes are tokenized, when this happens the node token either has the type changed or is destroyed automatically by the smart contract.

Collect VTHO rewards

The VeChainThor wallet will continue to support the collection of VTHO rewards. However, instead of a weekly scripted distribution, the collection and distribution of VTHO rewards will be executed via the smart contract whenever a user triggers it.

To claim your VTHO rewards in the new version, go to the ‘Rewards’ page, and your accumulated unclaimed VTHO orbs will be displayed. When you click ‘Collect Reward’, the VTHO reward distribution smart contract will be executed and the VTHO will be sent using MTT protocol within a few hours. A flat fee of 40 VTHO will be deducted by the smart contract every time you trigger the collection to pay for the transaction fee on the blockchain.

VeChainThor Node Exchange

Common Rules in Node Exchange

While users can choose from Designated Transfer and Public Auction, some common rules are applied to both methods:

The node holder must keep the minimum VET corresponding to the node tier till the node ownership is successfully transferred, otherwise the order will be automatically canceled and the node will be downgraded or dropped depending on the node type listed.
Once the recipient address successfully receives the node, there will be a 4 hours time window before the service resumes the monitoring of the minimum VET holding on the new node address. Therefore, the recipient must make sure the new node address meets the minimum VET holding. The actual time window might be slightly shorter than 4 hours depending on the blockchain and system condition, you are highly recommended to meet the minimum VET holding as soon as possible after receiving the node.
Nodes cannot be transferred or put on public auction during the maturity period; also nodes are not available for upgrade during the process of transfer or auction.
If the recipient address currently owns a VeChainThor Node, they will not be able to receive any additional node.
After a node ownership is transferred to a new address, there will be a 24 hour cooldown period before another transfer can take place.

Designated Transfer

The node holder can transfer the ownership of the node token to any designated address. To initiate a transfer, the node holder needs to input the receiving address, set a sales price (the sales price can be set as 0, for example, when you transfer the node to another address of your own) and sign off on the smart contract transaction with the wallet’s password. The node transfer transaction will only be valid for 4 hours.

The recipient wallet will see the node pending for payment (if the sale price is not 0) and claim. If the recipient wallet does not claim the node via the smart contract within 4 hours or rejects it, the transfer will be canceled.

Public Auction (Fixed Price and Dutch Auction)

The node holder can choose to put the node on the market for public auction. There are two types of public auction, Fixed Price and Dutch Auction.

In the Fixed Price Auction, when initiating the order, the node holder needs to set a sales price greater than 0 and a valid period for the order from 1 to 7 days (default value is 3 days).

If the node holder would like to sell the node using Dutch Auction, the node holder needs to set a starting price, the lowest price, and a valid order period between 1 and 7 days (default value is 3 days). When the node is put on Dutch Auction, the price will decrease every 5 minutes in a linear manner until the lowest price is reached.

A user will be able to see the nodes available for purchase on the trading market. If the node is on Dutch Auction, the current price will be displayed.

In both cases, the node purchase opportunity is based on the first come first serve principle. After the first user successfully purchases the node, the ownership will be transferred and it will no longer be shown on the trading market. If no one purchases the node, the order will be automatically canceled after the valid period.

A few important notes, please read carefully

Upon this upgrade, the node management is done via open source smart contracts in the decentralized manner. All the information and operation is transparent on the blockchain. Therefore, VeChain will NOT be able to interfere any of the operations pertaining to node type, node transfer or auction. Users are responsible for any operation that is authorized by their private keys.
The above transaction parameters are based on the Foundation’s recommended configuration. The VeChainThor Node token smart contract supports more flexible configuration for third-party developers to explore and build more applications to support the VeChainThor Node functions.
For Node Upgrades, Designated Transfers and Public Auction functions, if the VeChainThor Node address is stored on a cold wallet, you must update the VeChainThor App on the cold wallet before you can sign off on the smart contract transaction initiated from the hot wallet using the observe wallet function.
VeForge support for the VeChainThor Node token functionality will be available soon by Totient Labs.