Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions about FlameWire.

Overview & Core Principles

What is FlameWire?

FlameWire is an open, permissionless infrastructure layer that turns the routine act of reading blockchain data into a decentralized public utility. Operating as its own subnet on Bittensor, it coordinates a global network of full-archive nodes and automatically routes each JSON-RPC call to the fastest, nearest node for the caller.

Who is FlameWire for?

• Developers & dApps — Seeking unified endpoints for multiple chains
• Foundations — On-board your chain with transparent costs
• Miners — Monetize existing nodes and earn ALPHA emissions
• Validators — Score miner performance and steer rewards toward the most reliable miners

What are the core principles?

• Decentralization-First — Infrastructure remains with community members, not centralized providers
• Radical Transparency — Emissions, buybacks, and treasury operations visible on-chain continuously
• Performance Without Compromise — Full-archive nodes across regions deliver promised latency
• Censorship Resistance — Distributed miner network prevents single-party blocking

What problem does FlameWire solve?

FlameWire tackles three systemic risks in blockchain RPC infrastructure:

• Concentration Risk — A single provider outage or account suspension can freeze entire dApps and the value they secure
• Censorship & Opacity — Centralized operators control which calls get served and keep fee flows hidden
• Performance Trade-offs — Developers choose between slow self-hosted nodes or fast third-party APIs with incomplete data

What chains are supported at launch?

Bittensor at launch, with Ethereum and Sui coming soon. The architecture is designed for seamless additional chain integration.

Architecture & Technology

How does FlameWire route JSON-RPC calls?

Client calls to https://gateway-dev.flamewire.io/public/rpc/{chain} (or with /{api-key} for authenticated requests) are automatically routed to the fastest, nearest node for the caller.

How are miners registered?

Node operators sign in at My Nodes, enter their node's WebSocket URL and hotkey, then sign verify:[hotkey] with the node key using subkey to verify ownership.

How does FlameWire ensure no single point of failure?

FlameWire coordinates a global network of full-archive nodes operated by hundreds of independent miners. Requests are automatically routed to the fastest, nearest node for the caller.

How does the billing and credits system work?

JSON-RPC calls burn prepaid credits. Developer fees accumulate in public wallets, are swapped daily into ALPHA, feed the treasury, and allowances reset every 24 hours for stakers.

How does FlameWire compare to centralized RPC providers?

Tokenomics & Economic Model

What is the ALPHA token?

The subnet's native token, hard-capped at 21 million with a Bitcoin-style halving schedule. Used for validator bonding, miner rewards, governance, and unlocking RPC free-tier credits.

How is ALPHA supply distributed?

Total 21 million ALPHA allocation: 41% to miners, 41% to stakers, and 18% to the core team.

How do emissions and buybacks work?

About 82% of daily ALPHA emissions reward miners and stakers. Pay-as-you-go fees collected in multiple cryptocurrencies are swapped daily on-chain into ALPHA and burned, creating deflationary pressure proportional to usage.

How are developer fees processed?

Developer payments land in public wallets, are aggregated once per ~24h epoch, swapped into ALPHA via a multisig, and then immediately sent to the treasury/burn address.

What is the tokenomics loop?

Increased API demand burns more credits, triggering daily buybacks that reduce ALPHA circulation, creating supply scarcity that improves staking economics, incentivizing more node deployment and further demand growth.

Developer Onboarding & Usage

How do I get started?

Sign in at FlameWire App via Google Auth. After signing in, you'll be redirected to the API Keys page with the create modal open — just enter a name for your key. New users receive free credits to start using the platform.

How do I send a JSON-RPC request?

POST to https://gateway-dev.flamewire.io/public/rpc/{chain}/{api-key} with Content-Type: application/json and a JSON-RPC body:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "system_health",
  "params": []
}

For non-authenticated requests, omit the API key from the URL.

How can I check my credit balance?

Navigate to Billing to see your available and reserved credits. To track how credits are being spent, visit Usage.

Miner & Validator Operations

What incentives do miners have?

Miners earn 41% of the daily ALPHA emissions, distributed pro-rata based on each miner's performance weight.

What are the hardware requirements?

For Bittensor (currently supported): 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe SSD, and 500 Mbps bandwidth. All drives must be NVMe with latency under 100 µs and ≥100k IOPS. See the full Hardware Requirements page for Ethereum and Sui specs (coming soon).

How is miner performance scored?

Each node receives an individual score based on three weighted metrics:

• Correctness (40%) — Binary score; node must return correct data for all validation tests
• Uptime (30%) — Ratio of passed health checks to total checks performed
• Latency (30%) — Response speed relative to other nodes in the network

What is the role of validators?

Validators act as quality-control oracles: they probe miner metrics, aggregate scores into a weight vector, and submit set_weights transactions on-chain.