O3 Labs applies to operate a NEO Consensus Node

O3 Labs, developer of the O3 Wallet, has announced that it has applied to host a consensus node on the NEO MainNet. The application follows NEO Global Development’s recently published guidelines on the process of becoming a consensus node.

O3 NEO TestNet Node

As part of the application process, O3 Labs will be expected to operate a consensus node on the NEO TestNet for 6 months. O3 Labs state that its node “has been running on TestNet for a month already without any issues.” O3 Labs expects there to be a period of voting after an appropriate audition on the NEO TestNet, and is turning to the community for support to get voted in.

O3 Labs stated that it would like to “help NEO move forward,” and that “One of the points of improvement often raised by the [NEO blockchain] community is decentralization of the consensus nodes.”

Voting is currently available through the NEO-GUI, and support for NEO’s on-chain voting mechanism is expected to be added to other wallets in the future. Due to the expected six-month trial period, May 2019 would be the earliest probable date for O3 Labs to seek addition to the NEO MainNet.

For its part, NEO Global Development (NGD) is still actively developing its voting mechanism. NGD states that the upcoming 3.0 version of NEO “will make adjustments to the voting mechanism.” The NEO token grants its owners the right to govern the NEO blockchain, so voting power is proportional to the amount of NEO held.

The O3 Labs announcement can be viewed in full at the following link:https://medium.com/o3-labs/o3-neo-consensus-node-433aec01f0a0