Snapshot providers
Snapshot hosting is itself a protocol service. Any qualified participant may become a snapshot provider.
What they do
- Generate compressed snapshots without interrupting marketplace operation
- Publish integrity hashes, a state root and signed metadata
- Maintain download availability and high bandwidth
- Retain multiple historical snapshots
Stake
Required, as an infrastructure commitment. Publishing corrupted snapshots is listed among malicious behaviours subject to governance-approved slashing.
How they earn
Nothing. Downloads are free and the role carries no compensation, by decision — serving a snapshot is a marginal cost on infrastructure a node operator already runs and is already paid for. There is no revenue in a standalone snapshot service and none is planned.
Requirements
- Advertise the capability through the service registry
- Publish complete snapshot metadata including snapshot height and state root
- Sign every snapshot; clients verify signature, compatibility and state root before importing