A Comprehensive Look at the Ethereum Destruction Leaderboard "Nameless Master" StrongBlock

Author: iambabywhale.eth

Since Ethereum adopted EIP1559, over 2 million Ethereum have been burned, and the amount of Ethereum burned has become an indicator for many to judge project popularity. When the Ethereum burn of certain projects suddenly ranks high within a day or an hour, it indicates high interest, either due to significant contract interactions or users rushing to participate, leading to increased Gas fees.

According to data from ultrasound.money, among the top ten contracts by total burn since the launch of EIP1559, besides well-known names like OpenSea, Ethereum transfers, MetaMask, Uniswap, and USDC, there is a project called "StrongBlock," which has burned more Ethereum than notable projects like SushiSwap and Axie Infinity, yet it is rarely mentioned. Today, let's talk about this "invisible giant."

Node-as-a-Service (NaaS)

StrongBlock positions itself as a Node-as-a-Service (NaaS) protocol, primarily providing incentives for users who run full nodes for public chain projects. Unlike most staking service providers, StrongBlock's main goal is to increase the number of full nodes in the blockchain network to enhance decentralization.

Currently, StrongBlock supports blockchains including Ethereum and Polygon (with plans to support Fantom), and its model includes establishing nodes through StrongBlock or joining StrongBlock's incentive program with self-established nodes (which has been paused since early 2021). If users want to establish a full node through StrongBlock, they need to pay approximately $14.95 per month (paid in Ethereum), and this fee must be paid manually; the protocol does not automatically deduct it. If users do not pay this fee within 30 days, the protocol will automatically take the node offline.

In addition to the operational costs of maintaining the node, users establishing nodes also need to pay an additional 10 STRNGR tokens, of which 10% goes to the protocol, and the remaining enters the incentive pool to provide rewards for future node builders.

According to official data, the number of nodes incentivized by StrongBlock has exceeded 470,000, and the total amount of Ethereum burned by the protocol contract has surpassed 34,000.

Team Members

StrongBlock raised $4 million in funding led by Pangea Blockchain Fund and Magnetic Capital in 2019, and most of its team members come from Block.one, including former Senior Vice President of Technical Operations David Moss, former Vice President of Product Thomas Cox, former Vice President of Infrastructure Brian Abramson, and former Senior Director of Technical Products Corey J. Lederer.

StrongBlock Token Economic Model

The project's token economic model has undergone two changes. In the initial version launched in August 2020, the token issued by the project was named STRONG, with a total supply of 10 million tokens, of which 42.5% was allocated to the community; 24.2% to project shareholders; 24.8% to developers and the project team; 3.5% reserved for future team and shareholder members; and 5% reserved for the community treasury. The tokens allocated to the community were primarily used to incentivize node builders, STRONG token stakers, and liquidity providers in DEX.

However, this token economic model was only in place for less than three months. In November 2020, the project team made significant changes to the token economic model, reducing the total token supply by about 94%, with a maximum supply of 535,000 STRONG tokens, approximately 330,000 allocated to nodes, liquidity providers, and community incentives; about 96,700 allocated to StrongBlock's shareholders and the creators of the economic model; and about 100,000 allocated to the team. Additionally, a portion of the 10 STRONG tokens paid by new node builders will also be burned to achieve a deflationary economic model.

In summary, StrongBlock's incentives for node builders come from two sources: the continuous release of rewards and the STRONG tokens paid by subsequent node builders when establishing nodes.

The project team drastically reduced the total token supply by nearly 95%, likely due to poor feedback in the early stages of the project. As of January 2021, there were only 3,146 nodes established through StrongBlock and participating in the incentive program, but by the end of 2021, this number exceeded 200,000. Shortly thereafter, on March 16, 2022, the number of nodes doubled again to 400,000. Each node builder needs to pay 10 STRONG to establish a node, meaning that during this period, new users purchased over 4 million STRONG tokens, nearly 8 times the total token supply, which may be one reason for the high Gas consumption of the project contract.

Now, the project team realizes that just Ethereum and Polygon have brought such significant traffic, and if they further increase the supported chains, the total supply of just over 500,000 tokens is far from sufficient, but the old token contract cannot be modified. Therefore, the project team recently announced an update to the token contract, changing the token name from STRONG to STRNGR, with a 1:1 exchange between the old and new tokens. Additionally, StrongBlock will launch a Layer1 blockchain compatible with EVM called StrongChain and issue an additional 10 million STRNGR tokens for the construction of the new blockchain.

The new blockchain StrongChain will be used to establish a new node market, and the DApp for building nodes will migrate to the new chain, creating a token bridge to allow ERC20 format STRNGR tokens to bridge to StrongChain, ultimately forming an "infrastructure DeFi" market.

For the additional 10 million tokens to be issued on the new chain, 60% will be allocated to the StrongChain protocol, and the remaining 40% will be evenly distributed among the market, liquidity, community rewards, and the community DApp Grant program.

Conclusion

Before launching the StrongChain plan, the economic model set by StrongBlock itself seemed unreasonable, as the rewards came solely from the tokens continuously released by the protocol and the STRONG tokens paid by new users, with a significant portion used for providing liquidity. Users seeking rewards had to constantly sell tokens or provide liquidity to ensure that subsequent users could purchase tokens to establish new nodes.

However, with the continuous development of many new public chains based on PoS consensus mechanisms, the anticipated arrival of Ethereum 2.0, and the launch of StrongChain, providing a DeFi market at the infrastructure level may add a new narrative to the circulation and supply-demand of the tokens.