As we discussed in Part 1 of our Growth Mining series, Merit’s growth mining is one of the most innovative and interesting things about the Merit protocol.
In case you didn’t get a chance to read the guide to invites and waitlists, which was the first part of our series on Growth Mining, now might be a good time to take a look. Here’s a primer, just in case:
We’ve received a number of questions from advanced users seeking to understand the underlying principles of Proof-of-Growth and how they can ensure that they have the best chances of winning growth mining rewards.
Before we dive deeper into this topic, it’s worth noting that you can go deeper into the Merit protocol by reading the source code at Merit’s open-source code repository.
Of course, we understand that reading source code isn’t for everyone, and that’s the reason for providing some higher-level guidance in this article. In Part 3, we will take a deeper look at the inner-workings of Proof-of-Growth. In this article, we will focus on the actionable tips and tricks that advanced users may want to utilize to earn a higher community growth score.
When people first discover Proof-of-Growth, they often assume that the way to maximize performance is to invite as many people as possible. This is untrue. In fact, for most users, this can actively detract from your performance.
It’s important to understand that the number of invite tokens is limited. So, if you simply give your tokens away without vetting who you bring in, you risk potentially wasting them. The Merit algorithm takes many factors into account as it examines the blockchain, including the stake, activity, and growth-mining of the people you bring into the network.
The Proof-of-Growth algorithm takes into account both growth behavior and stake behavior. In some ways, the two are inexorably linked. Our belief is that both behaviors are beneficial to the ecosystem and, as such, should be rewarded. This approach also allows all types of users to benefit.
The important thing to understand about staking in Merit is that it is built on the notion coin age. Coin age means that your coins are of maximum-value to your growth score when they have reached maturity, which takes about 30 days. This approach also ensures that superfluous behavior or faking activity is discouraged.
With Growth Mining, you are rewarded for being a steward of the network. Because Merit invite tokens are relatively scarce, it’s important to consider the fact that your new invitee may not receive one for a little while. If you know the person you are inviting, and you are confident that they can be a positive member of the community, you might consider passing along some extra invites to them.
This will empower the new member of your community to get started on growing their community right away. Giving them a faster on-ramp to growing their community will benefit you also, since their Merit community is also part of yours.
Growth mining takes more into account than just the number of wallets that you have invited to the network. The Proof-of-Growth algorithm evaluates the activity, growth, and balances of the wallets that you have brought into the community. Inviting empty or dormant wallets will have limited to no effect on your growth score. As such, it is in your best interest to help your invitees be successful in the Merit network. It pays dividends to help your community learn how to use Merit, how to build their own community, and how to transact. The more active they are, the better it is for everyone on the network, including you.
Not all of us are natural extroverts. And, of course, many of us are not comfortable sharing things on Social Media. If that describes you, then don’t worry – you can still earn Growth Rewards with Merit. The Merit community is growing relatively quickly, with new people joining Discord, and creating accounts all the time. We also have a great Invite Application on the website that is connected with the #invites channel on Discord. If you stay active on these channels, you will be able to add new users to the community that way.
As you may have gleaned from the above tips, the algorithm really works to promote the behaviors that make the network stronger, healthier, and more successful.
Merit’s Proof-of-Growth algorithm is ever-evolving. With guidance and feedback from the community, we plan to continue improving it in the years to come.
We hope that you learned something new that helps you on your journey to increasing your growth score and growth rewards.
Onward and upward!
Merit is invite-only. You can apply for an invite below and get an answer from the Merit Community in less than 15 minutes.
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