Powering Web3 with CERUS

Earn Rewards Through Community-Owned Blockchain Infrastructure

Cerus Nodes

9 min readDec 13, 2022

CERUS — Coming Soon

Are You Ready To…

➡️ EARN rewards

➡️ GOVERN a protocol

➡️ POWER the blockchain

Introducing CERUS 🐂

CERUS is a Web3 protocol for community-owned node infrastructure on the MetisDAO blockchain. Equipped with a user-friendly front-end, this ecosystem of decentralized Verifier and Sequencer nodes will pay regular rewards to CERUS NFT holders.

Although 2022 has been a rough year for crypto, CERUS is designed to weather all conditions and provide consistent rewards to you if you hold the CERUS NFT and $CERUS tokens.

There are 3 driving factors behind the development of CERUS in this moment:

Bear markets are an opportunity to build
The tokens needed to stake for operating a node on the blockchain are at their lowest prices
Crowdfunding can subsidize the high cost of staking and maintaining blockchain nodes

CERUS Mission

CERUS seeks to power Web3 with community-owned Verifier and Sequencer nodes enhancing decentralized blockchain infrastructure, strengthening networks and distributing dependable rewards to investors. The CERUS protocol is built to sustain the Web3 economy and provide access to persistent benefits for its community.

Value

The premise behind CERUS is simple — offer maximum value to both the network and its community. We do this in 3 ways described below:

Scaling Networks

Crowdfunding can raise funds quickly to scale blockchain infrastructure at an exceptional rate

Decentralizing Infrastructure

CERUS expands the amount of distributed Verifier and Sequencer nodes needed to run an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain network

Democratizing Node Rewards

Designed to lower the financial and technical barriers most face in running a node resulting in increased access to available rewards

Protocol Overview

The CERUS protocol will build node infrastructure to power, scale and secure blockchain networks and generate revenue through node reward systems. A portion of these rewards will be used for protocol maintenance.

Furthermore, node rewards will be distributed to investors who hold CERUS NFTs and the CERUS token labeled $CERUS from here on.

Hence, the CERUS ecosystem will be composed of the following components:

Metis Verifier Nodes
CERUS NFTs
$CERUS Token
Metis Sequencer Nodes (to be announced)
Metis Ranger Nodes (to be announced)
Metis VIP Verifier Node System (to be announced)

To achieve its goals of sustainable rewards for the community, strong protocol health and being the gold standard for blockchain decentralization, the CERUS protocol will begin its journey with the Ethereum Layer 2 solution Metis.

Metis — Smart L2

Metis is a Smart Layer 2 (L2) blockchain network built on top of Ethereum, a Layer 1 (L1). Inspired by optimistic rollup technology, Metis offers near instant and very low cost transactions while still being secured by Ethereum’s consensus mechanism and expansive system of Validator nodes.

Metis Node Infrastructure

Smart L2 infrastructure is made up of

Verifier nodes
Sequencer nodes
Ranger nodes (more on this in the future).

Sequencers

The Sequencer node processes transactions on the L2 chain and submits the Merkle roots of the transaction and state data to L1. It submits the full transaction data off-chain to Memolabs. Currently, Metis has one Sequencer node but is working on decentralizing its infrastructure thus creating a pool of community operated Sequencer nodes, which CERUS will also build.

Verifiers

Verifiers keep an eye on the Sequencer to not provide false or invalid data. Memolabs provides the transaction data to the Verifier to check if the Sequencer is being honest. The Verifier node infrastructure is currently a pool of 100 synced peer nodes operated by community members who earn rewards from Metis.

Rangers

Rangers are able to sample a range of blocks and validate
the state roots according to the transactions assigned periodically. With both decentralized sequencing and a healthy pool of L2 rangers, Metis will greatly shorten the required proofing window to further enhance network efficiency. In the future Metis will offer rewards to Ranger node operators.

➡️ Click here to learn more about the Metis Smart L2 internal structure.

Metis Andromeda Verifier Node Program

Presently, Metis offers monthly rewards to Verifier node operators (and later Ranger + Sequencer node operators). The current Metis Verifier node program requires the node owner to stake a minimum of 200 $METIS in order to become a trusted Verifier Node and therefore be eligible for the $METIS monthly reward, which is currently a variable between 20–25 METIS per month. This represents a financial barrier for many investors and Metis community members.

Additionally, approximate monthly costs of the node and its related infrastructure (public cloud, FW, RPC Endpoint, etc) is around $150/month. A Verifier node operator would need up to 10 months for a 100% ROI.

But investors can rely on the CERUS protocol as it is designed to cut down ROI to 10 months for its membership NFTs while being sustainable and saving holders from the extensive technical labor. The innovative approach to the CERUS rewards program will be described later in this article.

But first let’s see how the CERUS node service is broken down…

CERUS Node Service

Typically node based services and its rewards are limited to big investors due to the large cost of starting up and the substantial technical knowledge needed to maintain the nodes. CERUS nodes is changing that.

Anyone can now benefit from node reward systems. Here’s how to take advantage with CERUS ⬇️

CERUS Nodes

CERUS nodes will be built from funds in the CERUS Treasury at any point in time based on treasury health, the Metis nodes rewards program accepting more nodes for the network, and upon community voting. CERUS is starting the project with 6 Verifier nodes.

Each node is broken into 100 portions represented by NFTs. Investors can purchase an NFT, or 1/100 of a node, for 2 METIS. This is a far-cry from the 200 METIS that is typically required to be eligible for node rewards. Of the METIS tokens that are rewarded to each

Once up and running, the nodes will be automatically sustainable as the METIS monthly rewards will cover the nodes fees expenses. 70% of rewards revenue will go directly to the holders wallets, and 30% will go to the CERUS Treasury (which will cover node maintenance fees).

The CERUS treasury will be a pool of funds that CERUS members (NFT holders) will manage through the protocol’s DAC infrastructure (more on this below).

The primary goal of CERUS is to maintain a healthy balance of sustainable holders’ rewards and protocol revenue. A strong, sustained revenue for the protocol’s treasury will allow for building more nodes and offering higher rewards.

Funds from this treasury will go to building more nodes to increase rewards, scale networks, enhance blockchain security, and decentralize node infrastructures and whatever the CERUS community proposes and votes on. Treasury management decisions will be facilitated through our governance token and NUVO reputation system integrated into the protocol.

More details on the CERUS treasury below…

CERUS Treasury

A majority of the rewards that go into the treasury in the first few months of the protocol will be reinvested into more nodes owned by the protocol. This will enable higher SUSTAINABLE APR as the protocol grows and expands.

The amount of $METIS rewards that needs to be used to pay for maintenance costs will be dependent on the price of $METIS. Due to the volatile nature of the current market, it is difficult to estimate what the price will be, but a confident estimation is that we will need at times up to 15% of Protocol Node rewards (will be much less as $METIS price increases) to go to paying our associated costs. Our treasury spending is on the blockchain and transparent for the community to see how revenue is being used.

Portions may be swapped into m.USDC and/or m.USDT to ensure proper risk management against market volatility.

Calculations are subject to change and will scale according to market conditions to reassure protocol health and sustainability.

CERUS NFTs

CERUS NFTs will be linked to nodes, which will split its rewards into 100 portions as mentioned above. Each node will be assigned to 100 NFTs, at a minting price of 2 $METIS each (price may change as protocol develops). Since we are starting with 6 nodes this means there will be 600 NFTs available to mint for our genesis collection. We have reserved 100 WL spots for the community labeled the Bull List. Due to the scarcity of the NFTs, Bull List reservations for the genesis mint are extremely valuable.

Protocol Royalties

The CERUS Protocol will receive 5% from royalties on every resale of the NFTs in the secondary market. The royalty revenue will go to the CERUS treasury for members to manage and develop the protocol.

More information about our genesis NFT collection will come in later articles. We will have previews of their images and which marketplace(s) they will be available on.

$CERUS Tokenomics

➡ $CERUS will be a native utility token on the Metis Andromeda network.

Max Supply — 5,000,000

Sell Tax — YES (5%)

Buy Tax — NO

Add Liquidity Tax — NO

Remove Liquidity Tax — NO

Token Allocation

The max supply of 5,000,000 $CERUS tokens will be allocated as follows:

Protocol Development = 9% — 450,000
Marketing = 9% — 450,000
Staking = 20% — 1,000,000
Initial LP = 10% — 500,000
Liquidity Reserve = 10% — 500,000
Angels Investors Round = 7% — 350,000
Early Bird Round = 8% — 400,000
Public Sale = 10% — 500,000
Airdrop = 6% — 300,000
Team Allocation = 11% — 550,000

$CERUS Utility

Stake to Earn — Users will be able to stake $CERUS and earn more $CERUS as rewards. During promotional periods, or due to governance voting, $METIS rewards will also be distributed.

Stake to Govern — CERUS will delegate key decisions to the community for management of the protocol. Governance power will be provided through staked $CERUS token. (See Stake for Reputation to learn how to boost governance power)

Stake to Contribute — Members who have a certain amount of $CERUS staked will be able to work on restricted protocol tasks and earn payments in $CERUS, $METIS or USDC.

Stake for Access — Any future expansion of nodes will come with a new NFT mint.

Priority list for these mints will be: 1. Holders of a minimum amount of $CERUS staked 2. Holders with a certain amount of time staked 3. $CERUS holders with no minimum amount 4. Public mint

Stake for Reputation — The longer you stake, the more CERUS reputation power you can earn to boost your APR and governance power.

Deflationary by design

$CERUS is designed to be deflationary to ensure a controlled supply over time. Token supply will decrease as it’s burned on each trade and NFT sale.

Sell Tax Distribution

$CERUS will have a sales tax in place for any sale of the CERUS-METIS LP.

Sell tax: 5% (This percentage can be adjusted once Community Voting is implemented)

All taxes will go to the CERUS treasury for members to manage.

Becoming a DAC

CERUS aims to be one of the first Decentralized Autonomous Companies (DACs) on the Metis Andromeda network through KORIS. Once the DAC Portal is launched on KORIS, CERUS will use the tools to run an efficient business on the blockchain distributing tasks to contributors for token allocations and implementing decision-making power through voting.

Reputation Power System

Contributors and investors of the CERUS protocol will also have the ability to earn Reputation Power through the integration of Nuvo. To learn more, visit their website here → nuvosphere.io.

The CERUS Bull Run Is Just Beginning 🐂

Stay tuned to the CERUS Medium for upcoming articles that will go deeper into the tokenomics, NFTs, and how CERUS will scale blockchains, rewards, plus more. Until then, you can learn more about CERUS in our whitepaper. ⬅