GIN, one of the best known masternode hosting platforms, announced over the weekend that it is suspending its masternode hosting services. In a sign that the recent resurgence in the market has not benefited all areas of the crypto space, the hosting platform put the decision to scrap its platform down to a “recent drop in number of hosted nodes” which has rendered the ability to continue to run the platform “financially impossible”.
GIN Announces Shutdown of Masternode Hosting Platform! @gincoin_crypto https://t.co/O0QPEnSklQ
— Masternode.Buzz (@Masternode_Buzz) July 27, 2019
Changing Environment for Masternodes
In the announcement, GIN stated their opinion that the masternode landscape has “changed a lot in the past year”, citing the growth of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanisms as a reason why masternode operation is reducing in the space – staking is far easier that running a masternode for the everyday user, and does not require the use of a third party like GIN. While the value of the GIN coin isn’t indicative of the popularity project as a whole, it does seem to mirror it to a point – the coin peaked at $13.61 shortly after launch in June 2018, before spending the next year on a downward trajectory, being worth $0.17 shortly before the announcement. The announcement itself cut another 70% off the price within hours.
Masternode Platforms Experiencing Tough Times
According to GIN the token has an alternative use other than as a currency on the platform, and the team said in the communication that “GINcoin and GEA Protocol will be the focus of our remaining activities related to GIN.” They also admit to being “exhausted by the whole situation”, but state that there may be chances to run a related platform down the line. The dissolution of the GIN platform adds another casualty to the one-click masternode concept following the collapse of the NodeBase project last month, which promised to provide the same service. While there were many victims of the 2018 crypto winter, it seems that victims of the 2019 resurgence aren’t in short order either.
