San Francisco, CA August 26, 2020 — Mina Protocol, a lightweight framework for the Web 3.0, announces its intention to onboard hundreds of new founding members into its Genesis Token Program by pairing those new to node operation with its Technical Ambassadors. Mina’s Genesis Token Program prepares participants to be block producers for mainnet. By making it easy for anyone to run a node, Mina aims to ensure high decentralization upon mainnet launch.
“We are proud that 30% of our community comes to us having never run a node before, but we know there is more we can do,” said Evan Shapiro, CEO and Co-Founder of o1Labs, the team behind Mina Protocol. “The number-one thing people new to crypto need is a safe zone where they can ask questions and where being a beginner is encouraged.”
To support those new to node operation, Mina is launching a novel Mentor Nodes Program that pairs aspiring node operators with its Technical Ambassadors. The Mentor Nodes Program will be the gateway to receiving a Genesis grant, one of the industries most generous tokens grants with 66K tokens available to each eligible member. The greater goal of this initiative is to expand the overall crypto ecosystem, foster gender and racial diversity of node participants, and make node operation more accessible to beginners.
Mina’s Technical Ambassadors hail from 15+ countries, including China, United States, Russia, Korea, India, Indonesia, France, and Turkey. At least ten languages are represented with Technical Ambassadors speaking Chinese, English, Russian, Hindi, Kannada, Turkish, Korean, Spanish, German, and Bahasa Indonesian, among others. This breadth of languages and countries will support Mina’s efforts to continue to build a global, decentralized pool of node operators and community members.
Mina makes node participation easy and accessible to anyone through choices made in the design of the protocol itself. Deployment of recursive zk-SNARKs ensures the blockchain always stays the same size — about 20 kilobytes (the size of a few tweets). This unique application of zero knowledge proofs enables Mina to remain lightweight and easy for anyone to participate as a node. Additionally, Mina’s consensus mechanism allows for unlimited validator slots, and the documentation and tooling makes it easy for people who are new to crypto to get started. Participants in Mina’s Mentor Nodes program will receive step-by-step support throughout upcoming testnet releases, where users can complete challenges, rank on the leaderboard, and become eligible for a Genesis grant of 66,000 tokens.
Apply to the Genesis Mentor Nodes program: bit.ly/MinaGenesis
Apply to the Technical Ambassadors program: https://github.com/MinaProtocol/coda-grants
For media inquiries, please contact Kili Wall at (310) 260–7901 or Kili(at)MelrosePR(dot)com
About Mina
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is and always will be about 22kb, the size of a couple tweets, ushering in a new era of blockchain accessibility. With its robust decentralized network and open-programmable currency, Mina is powering a more efficient and fair Web 3.0 so anyone can participate, build, exchange and thrive. Mina is a project of o1Labs, a leader in verifiable computation.
About Mina Protocol
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is about 22kb, the size of a couple of tweets. It is the first layer-1 to enable efficient implementation and easy programmability of zero knowledge smart contracts (zkApps). With its unique privacy features and ability to connect to any website, Mina is building a private gateway between the real world and crypto—and the secure, democratic future we all deserve.
