Some thought's about keeping my SPS-License / Validator Node running...

The SPS Validator network has been running for a few weeks or rather a few months now... Today I asked myself whether I still need the server that I rented back then, which is still completely sufficient in terms of resources - I mean because of the costs. I actively helped to test the SPS Node software and to report problems. After some time, the network was made available live for everyone and my validator node still slipped very far back, because you have to vote many great active players or even non-players to the front. Anyway, with my current ranking of 41 in the SPS Validator Ranking, I make a ridiculous 50 SPS a day... That's three times nothing and just covers the costs I incurred for the server back then. Then I have a single SPS license that earns me 24.56 SPS a day. Well, let's put it this way... for this license to pay off, I have to have it staked for at least 1392 days. Or rather 3.81 years.

Since I don't see any movement in the SPS token, I assume that the price of the SPS token will no longer rise - not to where we once were. So I simply asked ChatGPT to give me specific instructions based on the facts currently available. And the result is exactly what I thought it would be...

1. Current earnings from your SPS License:

• SPS per day: 24.56 SPS

• Price per SPS: $0.008775

• Daily earnings: 24.56
  _{24.56SPS×0.008775USD/SPS=0.2151USD/day}

• Monthly earnings: 0.2151 USD/month
  _{0.2151USD/day×30days=6.453USD/month}

If you sell the SPS License for 300 USD, this would be a one-time income.

2. Earnings from your Validator:

• SPS per day from Validator: 50.77 SPS
• Price per SPS: $0.008775
• Daily earnings from Validator: 50.77
  _{50.77SPS×0.008775USD/SPS=0.4454USD/day}
• Monthly earnings from Validator: 0.4454
  _{0.4454USD/day×30days=13.362USD/month}

3. Cost of the Server (Validator):

• Monthly cost of the server: 13.10€ (converted to USD, assuming 1 EUR = 1.09 USD)
  13.10EUR×1.09=14.29USD/month

4. Net earnings from Validator after server costs:

• Net monthly earnings:
  13.362USD/month−14.29USD/month=−0.928USD/month
  (you are losing about 0.93 USD/month)

5. Alternative option (Investing the 300 USD in HBD):

If you sell the SPS License for 300 USD, and then invest it at an APR of 15%, you would earn:

• Monthly earnings from HBD investment:
  300USD×15%/12=3.75USD/month

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Conclusion:

• Keeping the SPS License and Validator:
  The Validator's monthly earnings are nearly offset by the server cost, leaving you with about 0.93 USD in losses each month.
  In total, you would earn around 6.45 USD/month from the SPS License and lose about 0.93 USD/month from the Validator.

• Selling the SPS License:
  Selling the SPS License for 300 USD and investing it at 15% APR would generate a return of about 3.75 USD/month.

Final suggestion:
Given the monthly loss from the server, selling the SPS License and investing the 300 USD at 15% APR seems like the better option. You'd earn more with less ongoing cost and risk.

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To put it in a nutshell - I don't want to make a minus at the end of the day for running a server so that you can sign blocks decentrally. Alternatively, I can simply use the PeakMonsters service from @asgarth and no longer have to worry about a node endpoint. The license still looks good for now - but it doesn't knock my socks off either. Anyway - I'll have a look at it for a week and then see what has happened to my ranking in the SPS Validator Witness List. You can vote for my SPS Validator node

louis.sps

https://peakmonsters.com/validators
https://thespsdao.github.io/SPS-Validator/validator-nodes?node=louis.sps

Ah, and I almost forgot... I have just missed 1 block, where others in the top 30 have missed 1.7k blocks or many have missed blocks in the lower hundreds. Just for the record.