Pocket Network

Key features

• Permissionless relays across 60+ networks Anyone can supply or consume API services with no allowlists or gatekeepers, across more than 60 networks including Solana, Ethereum, and Cosmos chains. Open access is the network's core distinction from allowlisted RPC providers.[1][2]

• Shannon protocol on the Cosmos SDK The Morse-to-Shannon mainnet transition completed on June 3, 2025 as a full protocol rebuild to a Cosmos SDK and CometBFT stack. The Shannon implementation is open source and MIT licensed, with the catalogue tracking the pokt-network/poktroll repository at v0.1.35.[1][2]

• RelayMiner supplier software Suppliers run RelayMiner server software alongside Postgres, backend data nodes, and a domain, and the software claims onchain rewards for every relay the supplier's staked service serves. Official step-by-step setup guides cover popular chains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Cosmos.[1][2]

• Pay per request in compute units Access costs follow usage instead of a flat subscription: applications pay per relay in compute units that carry a fixed dollar value. Gateways can add their own pricing on top, and developers can also publish data services that earn from relay traffic and portal subscriptions.[1]

• Gateway aggregation for applications Gateways aggregate supplier capacity into application-ready endpoints, with Nodies, Grove, Liquify, Chainstack, and Vulkan listed on the official site. Teams can also start or join a gateway rather than building directly on the protocol.[1]

• Full data services beyond RPC Shannon expanded the network from limited relays to full data services, including APIs, ETL pipelines, and AI model training data transformation. Developers publish data services that agents and applications pay for per request.[1][2]

• Stake-backed crypto-economic security Suppliers stake POKT to guarantee honest service, and the network reaches consensus through checkpoints roughly every four blocks, about fifteen minutes. Payments for served relays settle onchain in POKT under the protocol's buy-and-burn and deflationary design.[1]

• MIT-licensed, DAO-governed stack No license is needed to build on the protocol, and the Pocket DAO decides its direction through forum proposals voted on by POKT holders. The official site reports a community of more than 30,000 members.[1]

Who will love it

• Multi-chain teams avoiding lock-in Application teams that need RPC access across many chains and want no single-provider dependency fit best: permissionless supply across 60+ networks is exactly the redundancy story Pocket sells.[1][2]

• Operators monetizing backend capacity Infrastructure operators with spare server capacity and the ability to stake POKT fit the supplier role, earning per relay served through RelayMiner with documented setup guides.[1][2]

• Open-source and DePIN-aligned projects Teams whose architecture or values favor decentralized physical infrastructure and MIT-licensed open protocols will love the DAO governance and no-license-needed building terms.[1]

Who should avoid it

• Supplying is heavier than consuming Joining as a supplier means staking POKT, running RelayMiner with Postgres and backend nodes, and surviving a proof-of-service trial period. Teams that only need RPC access should stay on the gateway consumer side rather than supplying.[1][2]

• Usage bills scale with traffic Per-request pricing means high-traffic applications must model compute-unit spend against flat-rate RPC plans. The fixed dollar value of compute units helps, but gateway markups and exact stake economics were not published on the pages reviewed.[1]

• Young, still-evolving stack The Morse-to-Shannon transition completed on June 3, 2025, and the RelayMiner documentation describes itself as bleeding edge and still in development. Suppliers should expect evolving setup instructions and changing tooling rather than a settled mature platform.[1][2]

Alternatives and compatibility