Testnets are a fun activity that crypto projects carry out, and sometimes reward their participants. This can be interesting for both beginners who do not want to invest a large amount of savings in the cryptocurrency market, as well as for more experienced market participants who enjoy testing their skills in an interesting project with potential rewards.



However, many people believe that these activities are simple, but in reality, participants must invest a lot of time and effort in order to receive any rewards from projects. It is important to understand the essence of terms like "testnet" and "node" before considering the possibilities of making money through these activities.

A testnet is a type of environment that developers use during project testing, allowing bugs to be eliminated and all functions and developments to be checked without using real cryptocurrency or risking the main network. Currently, there are many testnets available, ranging from technical ones where participants help write programs for possible rewards, to interface testing where bugs need to be found on a platform.

Test networks are divided into two types: incentivized and non-incentivized. Incentivized testnets offer rewards such as project tokens, allocation on sales, access to early versions of the application, and prizes for top performers, while non-incentivized testnets do not offer any rewards.

Conducting a testnet is not only beneficial for the developers of the project, but also for the participants who have the opportunity to earn money. Nodes, on the other hand, are regular computers that run a certain program and constantly run, responsible for confirming the authenticity of transactions in the network. There are two types of nodes: full nodes and lightweight nodes.

A centralized node is a type of node that can only be launched by a small group of people such as a project team or individuals closely related to it. In contrast, a decentralized node can be run by almost anyone, which improves the overall security of the network.

There are several reasons why participating in such activities can be beneficial. Firstly, it provides a great opportunity to get involved in top projects at their initial stages and receive rewards for doing so. Secondly, participation in various projects allows individuals to gain experience which can be useful in future activities. Thirdly, it offers an opportunity to become a validator in the main network, earning a percentage of the commissions from processed transactions. To do so requires network users to delegate project tokens to the node, and in some cases this is done by the team (often with hundreds of thousands of dollars). Solana, KiChain and Mina are examples of projects where this is true.

Lately, I've been trying to participate in various crypto projects to gain experience and earn rewards. So far, however, my attempts have only been successful with Aiden/Eden, which has given me enough to rent several servers for future experiments.

Recently, I had to set up 3 nodes for Keep, which was relatively easy following the instructions, apart from one issue.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as successful with HOPR. In the first testnet, my node wasn't selected by the bot, and in the second, I was banned from Twitter for posting a wallet address, which caused my results on the leaderboard to stop updating.

While not all testnets offer payment, it can be extremely satisfying to earn even $100 for 15 minutes of work, especially without having to invest anything. However, participating in technical testnets can be more complicated as it requires running a node - special software that runs on a constantly turned-on computer. This requires some technical knowledge, such as working with Linux OS and renting a virtual server with the installation of a software package.

Nodes can be classified as either centralized or decentralized, complete or lightweight, depending on who can run them and what data they store. Regardless, participating in testnets requires a computer, a virtual server, and patience. While the cost of virtual servers starts at $5, the expenses will depend on the project requirements, with some testers spending up to $150 a month on Solana.

It's impossible to predict the duration of a testnet, but the process can last up to a year, although most testnets typically run for 1-3 months. By participating in technical testnets like Solana, participants may get a chance to enter the main network and receive tokens on a monthly basis, with Solana participants receiving around 100 tokens per month.