Skulk · the network's computers
Run a node. Any computer will do.
A node is a computer running the Vulpine wallet with "Run a node" switched on. It keeps copies of the network's records, fetches what the network asks for, proves it keeps them, and is paid in sats to your wallet. It is not mining.
What you need
Today's nodes do light work: small downloads, hashes and short messages. A computer from the last several years is plenty.
- A computer
- Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), a Mac on macOS 13 Ventura or newer (Apple Silicon or Intel), or 64-bit Linux (Ubuntu 20.04, Debian 11 or newer). A phone can hold a wallet but cannot run a node.
- Processor
- Any 64-bit processor. The node's work barely shows next to a web browser.
- Memory
- 4 GB at least; 8 GB is comfortable. The wallet itself uses a few hundred megabytes.
- Disk
- About 1 GB for Vulpine, plus the space you give the node: 1, 2, 5 or 20 GB. All of the network's records fit in well under 1 GB today, so 1 GB is plenty for now; the larger sizes are for as the network grows.
- Internet
- A connection that stays on; home broadband is fine. The node only reaches out, so there is nothing to open on your router and no fixed address to get. It uses little data: the largest download is its first copy of the records.
- Power and sleep
- Plugged in and awake. The node rests while the computer runs on battery and stops while it sleeps, so set the computer not to sleep while it is plugged in if you want it working around the clock.
- Vulpine, open
- The node runs inside the desktop wallet. Leave Vulpine open; minimized is fine. On Windows and Linux, closing its window stops the node.
- A Vulpine wallet
- The node is paid at your wallet's receiving address. Open the wallet once after switching the node on, so the node knows where to send its pay.
What you do not need
- a mining machine
- a graphics card
- a server
- port forwarding
- a fixed IP address
- an account anywhere
Turn it on
Four steps, a couple of minutes.
- Install Vulpine on the computer, from the download links.
- Open your wallet, or make one. It is free.
- Open Skulk on the wallet's desktop and choose Run a node.
- Pick the space it may use, then press Turn the node on. It starts within a minute, and the screen shows what it has kept, fetched and proved, and what it has earned.
It is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off at any time. It runs under a key of its own that holds nothing, so it never touches your wallet's coins. On the network map it shows as a pin at its state or country; nothing says whose it is.
What it pays
Each job is proved before it is paid: a transaction proves itself by its id, and a node is asked at random for a hash only a real copy can give.
3 satsfor each transaction it fetches for the network
5 satsfor each spot check it passes
20,000 satsthe most one node earns in a day
every 6 hourspaid once 2,000 sats are due, in one published transaction
It is early. With the handful of nodes running now, a node earns from a few hundred to a few thousand sats a day, and there is more to do, and more to earn, as the network is used. Later the network plans to pay nodes for keeping people's private files, running apps and running AI; bigger disks, more memory and a graphics card will count for those. Today, any computer will do.
Mining is something else
Only BSV mining machines (SHA-256 ASICs) can mine; a computer or a phone cannot do it usefully. If you have mining machines, point them at the network's pool from Skulk's Mine side: stratum+tcp://api.vulpinenetwork.com:3333.
Get the walletSee the network map
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