Running a node involves two types of fees:
1. Network service fee
A 20% service fee is taken from your node earnings on each settlement.
This fee is collected by the Hermes smart contract and added to the Mysterium Delegation Pool.
Stakers earn rewards from this pool. These rewards are based only on real network usage.
No new MYST tokens are created, so rewards are inflation free. Value is redistributed from actual payments within the network.
2. Blockchain transaction fees
When you withdraw your earnings through the Polygon network, you pay a small blockchain transaction fee.
These fees are usually minimal, often just a few cents.
👉 In short: node runners pay a 20% network fee, which funds the Delegation Pool and provides inflation free earnings to stakers, plus a very small transaction fee when withdrawing.
📖 Learn more in Staking your MYST tokens, or check the Delegation Pool dashboard to stake MYST.