This article originally appeared in our February Newsletter.
In January’s “News From the Bunker” newsletter, we mentioned Peerplays Witnesses were voted back from 45+ to just over 20. What we failed to mention is exactly what it is a Witness does. As a current or future PPY token holder, it’s in your best interest to have this answer because it is Witnesses who run the Peerplays blockchain. There isn’t enough room in a newsletter to fully explain the role of a Witness, so we’ll start with the fundamentals.
The primary duty of a Peerplays Witness is to bundle transactions into blocks and sign them with their signing key. They keep the blockchain alive by producing one block every three seconds.
Witnesses also have the authority to integrate - or reject - any changes to the blockchain software that are published. It is a lot of responsibility, and their actions have an overarching effect on all PPY token holders. That is why Witnesses are voted in - and voted out - by token holders, whose voting power directly correlates to the number of tokens in their Peerplays wallet.
It’s your responsibility as a token holder to learn about Witnesses and vote accordingly.
And…. what better way to learn more about the Witness role than to chat with a real one? Feel free to check out the dedicated Peerplays Witness Channel on Telegram and engage directly with the stars of the show: https://t.me/PeerplaysWitness