Note: This article was written by Anders Bjork of WAX Guild.
Resources Introduction
On WAX, transactions are free and do not charge gas fees. However, depending on how much you use the WAX blockchain, you may need to stake some WAXP in exchange for resources. Staked WAXP can increase the daily resource quota required to perform more operations. If you want to get these WAXP back later, just unstake them.
If you are an active user, then you will have to lock/stake some WAXP tokens for the period of time you are active on the WAX Blockchain, ensuring that all block-producing guilds have enough physical resources on their hardware for you to trade.
There are 3 different resources on WAX, namely CPU, NET, and RAM. They are 2 different types of resources, where RAM is a resource used for physical storage, and CPU/NET is a resource used for operations.
RAM is used for tokens, NFTs, smart contracts, NFT market listings, and more. In short, anything that needs to be added to the blockchain table requires RAM, which is physical storage on the hardware. In some cases, RAM is paid for by DApps and games, but if DApps and games don't pay, then you will have to add RAM to your account.
A brief overview of the different resources
To provide a deeper understanding of each resource and how the WAX Blockchain works, I will go into more detail about each resource.
RAM: For blockchain storage
CPU and NET: used to pay for operations on the blockchain
CPU and NET are replenished 24 hours after the operation is performed. For example, if you perform a WAXP transfer operation at 13:37, your resources will be "used up" and you will not be able to use them again until 24 hours later, at 13:37 the next day.
RAM must be purchased, either directly in the wallet or on a block explorer (which we’ll cover in more detail later), and a 0.05% fee is charged for each purchase or sale of RAM.
What is RAM?
RAM is storage space, think of it like a bookshelf or a computer hard drive. So if you want to store something on the blockchain, you need to buy enough storage space to meet your needs.
Whether it is acquiring new tokens, creating new NFTs, uploading smart contracts, or listing NFTs on the market, RAM is needed to store these things. Until the listed NFTs are purchased and the stored NFTs are destroyed, RAM will continue to be needed.
If you plan on uploading smart contracts on an account, you will have to buy a decent amount of RAM, because only then will you have enough space to do everything you want to do.
I hope I have explained RAM clearly. Of course, one thing I need to reiterate is that every time you buy and sell RAM, you will be charged a 0.05% transaction fee.
Where is RAM stored?
When you buy RAM on the WAX Blockchain, you are actually buying storage in the RAM of the servers that run the WAX Blockchain. These servers are operated by Guilds, which you can see in this list: https://wax.bloks.io/. In fact, there is a cap on the amount of RAM that WAX users can buy, so RAM is very scarce in the long run.
At the time of writing, WAX maxes out at 128GB, but this will likely change soon as RAM inflation means that each block in WAX increases the available RAM on the blockchain.
What is the main purpose of RAM?
Currently, most of the RAM is used by WAX accounts, because accounts are stored on the blockchain, so each account created is using RAM. Another big part of RAM usage is NFTs, each NFT creation requires several hundred bytes of RAM, and when more than 80 million NFTs are created, a lot of RAM will be used.
Large DApps also require large amounts of RAM to enter tables in smart contracts. For successful DApps running on WAX, purchasing RAM is the largest cost expense.
RAM is a resource, but it’s more like a token
The main difference between RAM resources and CPU/NET resources is that CPU/NET resources are earned by staking WAXP tokens, but RAM must be purchased, like buying another token for WAXP tokens. As mentioned before, there is a 0.05% cost associated with buying and selling RAM. So, if you sell RAM later, you may get more or less WAXP than you originally paid, it all depends on the market price of RAM and the current supply.
What are CPU and NET?
CPU and NET are the foundation of the WAX blockchain and represent the fees associated with any action you want to perform on WAX. The main difference between WAX and fee-based blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum is that you don’t actually pay for transactions, but rather you stake WAXP to earn resources for the duration of your use of the blockchain.
The CPU/NET will be replenished after 24 hours of use, so each time an operation is performed, there will be a cool-down period. After the cool-down period, the used CPU/NET resources can be used again.
In simple terms, CPU is the frequency at which operations can be performed, while NET represents the size of data that can be performed. When you use DApps and NFT marketplaces on WAX, you will need a lot of CPU compared to NET.
CPU is measured in time
The concept of CPU can be a little hard to understand at first, but it's actually pretty simple. Whenever you want to perform an action, you push it to the blockchain through your wallet, which then reaches the block producers (guilds), who process the transaction, put it into a block, and sign it. In short, the amount of CPU you use is the time it takes the block producers to process that action.
Therefore, the cost of operations may vary from block producer to block producer depending on the physical CPU they use and the type of operation you perform. Most block producers will use around 5ghz of physical CPU to sign blocks, although this may change in the future depending on factors such as increased RAM capacity and other hardware on the WAX Blockchain, but we won’t get into that now!
How many CPUs do you need?
Unfortunately I can’t give a specific number on this. The more you use WAX, the more CPU you’ll need, and the more WAXP you’ll need to stake. However, many DApps will pay for user resources, such as Atomichub and projects based on the main WAX team, which pay for user resources and allow users to use these resources for free. At the time of writing, Atomichub covers the CPU/NET required to list and purchase NFTs, making this very smooth and easy.
Some games will pay for some of your resources, while others will not, requiring you to stake WAXP to obtain resources. To obtain NET resources, it may be sufficient to stake 1-10 WAXP, but this may change in the future.
Where can I stake WAXP to get CPU/NET?
One way to do this is to do it directly in your WAX Cloud Wallet. Go to wallet.wax.io and click on the Resources tab. You can then see how much resources you are using and easily stake more WAXP.
Another way is to do it on the block - wax.bloks.io/wallet/resources/stake
To stake on the blockchain, simply log in, go to the link above (or go to "wallet > stake CPU/NET"), enter the account you want to stake and the amount you want to stake, and sign. You can of course stake for other accounts, but you will most likely need to add your own account name in the form below.
Unstaking WAXP from CPU/NET
To unstake WAXP, you need to make sure the resources you want to unstake have been replenished, that is, 24 hours have passed since the last time you spent that specific portion of WAXP. If you don't plan to unstake all of your staked resources, you don't have to worry about this.
Unstake is easiest on the blockchain: wax.bloks.io/wallet/resources/unstake
Login Block
Select the account you want to unstake from the drop-down menu.
Enter the amount of WAXP you want to unstake from CPU/NET
Signing the transaction
Wait 72 hours for the release to be completed
It takes 72 hours to unstake WAXP, which is a detail that many people tend to overlook. So, if you go to the block 72 hours after signing the unstake, you will be able to see these WAXP under the "refunding" account.
*Friendly reminder: This article is for popular science purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice!
