github.com/nearprotocol/stakewars ↗

About nearprotocol/stakewars

Stake Wars Episode II is NEAR Protocol's incentivized testnet program designed to onboard and validate professional node operators before the protocol transitions to its MainNet Restricted phase. Participants compete through a series of technical challenges that test their ability to deploy nodes, manage staking pools, monitor infrastructure, and maintain high uptime on NEAR's BetaNet network. The program offers significant incentives, including 10,000 NEAR tokens monthly for validators selected to join MainNet Restricted, plus 1 Million NEAR tokens distributed through community challenges and contributions.

The repository serves as the central hub for the Stake Wars initiative, hosting five progressive technical challenges that range from initial node deployment and staking pool configuration to advanced topics like CI/CD pipeline automation and dynamic stake management. Participants must complete these challenges while maintaining their validator status and demonstrating network stability. The repo includes supporting documentation like a leaderboard tracking validator uptime, guidelines for selected participants, troubleshooting resources, and a registry of active validators.

The program targets professional validators and node operators looking to participate in NEAR's ecosystem governance and earn staking rewards. Success in Stake Wars provides a pathway to MainNet Restricted with approximately 50 validator seats available, along with foundation grants and token delegation to help new validators maintain their positions. The initiative emphasizes learning through practical implementation, community collaboration via Discord and Telegram channels, and quantitative metrics like block generation and uptime alongside qualitative measures like responsiveness to network updates.