June 3rd marked a historic milestone for Pocket Network: the successful launch of Shannon, the protocol’s most ambitious and comprehensive upgrade to date. This release has officially positioned Pocket as the world’s first permissionless API network, unlocking a decentralized future for data access across blockchains and APIs.
Shannon Unleashed
The June activation of Shannon completed Pocket Network’s transition from the legacy Morse Chain—a blockchain-specific relay network into a general-purpose coordination layer for open data services, spanning blockchains, APIs, AI models, and more. It marks a strategic shift toward modularity, permissionless participation, and sustainable token economics.
Shannon delivers four major upgrades:
- Permissionless participation on both supply and demand sides
- Support for every open-data type beyond RPC
- Automatic revenue sharing for data publishers
- USD-pegged compute-unit economics eliminating token-price volatility
Let’s Look Back at the Shannon Journey
What began in 2017 as a bold vision to decentralize RPC, born from early explorations of Ethereum’s scaling limits, L2s, and plasma channels, led to the launch of Morse in July 2020, Pocket’s sovereign Tendermint-based L1, which proved the model but exposed rigid gateway approvals and POKT-denominated billing.
By late 2021, private R&D had shifted toward a next-generation upgrade, and in January 2022, a public whitepaper first sketched Shannon’s modular, stake-based future. In summer 2023, a focused research sprint—including off-site workshops and proof-of-concepts—zeroed in on Rollkit + Celestia as the ideal “micro-rollup” foundation.
That August, the forum’s “GANDALF (Decrease MaximumChains)” thread crystallized the need to shatter Morse’s caps and opaque economics. By June 2024, PUP-34, “Let’s Go Shannon,” had secured permissionless staking, USD-pegged compute unit pricing, and on-chain burn logic through DAO governance.
Public stress-testing followed: Alpha TestNet in July 2024 validated compute-unit billing and QoS filters, and a Beta TestNet phase refined burn-and-rebate schedules and upgrade hooks. On March 28, 2025, Grove soft-launched Shannon, producing the first blocks, onboarding explorers, validators, and tooling, while a May 6 Migration Announcement set a 14-day prep window for key and stake migrations.
Finally, on June 5, 2025, Cosmovisor executed a zero-downtime cutover: all nodes and staked POKT migrated seamlessly into Shannon’s modular Cosmos-SDK runtime, fulfilling Pocket’s long-held vision of a fully permissionless API layer.
Highlights of What Shannon Makes Possible
Permissionless Gateways
Shannon removes the gatekeeper role by allowing anyone to stake POKT and instantly deploy a Gateway. This change transforms Pocket Network into an open marketplace where supply and demand meet without centralized approval, empowering developers and operators worldwide to participate seamlessly.
Cosmos-SDK Architecture
Rebuilt from the ground up on the Cosmos SDK, Shannon benefits from standardized modules, Tendermint consensus, and Cosmovisor for seamless upgrades. It enables horizontal scalability, allowing validator sets and Gateway infrastructures to grow independently without monolithic bottlenecks.
Compute Unit Pricing
Service fees are now priced in compute units (CUs), pegged to USD, with one billion compute units equaling one USD (i.e., 1 billion CUs = $1). By decoupling relay costs from market fluctuations in POKT, Shannon delivers transparent, predictable pricing across the network, unaffected by token price volatility.
On-Chain Burns & Volume Rebates
Every compute unit used results in an on-chain burn of POKT, making the token deflationary as usage scales. High-volume Gateways receive rebates, offering discounted rates and better margins for those serving significant traffic.
Expanded Data Services
The scope of Pocket Network under Shannon is no longer limited to blockchain RPCs. Developers can now route any open data source, such as AI inference, Web2 APIs, indexers, or oracles, through the same infrastructure. This universality transforms Pocket into a general-purpose data fabric, backed by configurable SLAs suitable for enterprise deployments.
Modular Governance via TLMs
Governance under Shannon is fully modular. Tokenomics, rewards, upgrade logic, and protocol behavior are controlled by Token Logic Modules (TLMs), each of which is independently adjustable via on-chain proposals. This enables community-led evolution without the need for hard forks.
So, What’s Next? Jump In and Help Shape Shannon
Now that Shannon is live, you have a world of possibilities at your fingertips, whether you’re holding POKT, running a node, writing your Relay Miner code, or simply rooting for the network. Shannon’s fully open data fabric lets anyone stake tokens, spin up a Gateway, build on our data fabric, shape protocol economics, and join a vibrant community of contributors.
Ready to dive in? Here’s a clear guide showcasing how you can contribute to Shannon, all the way through to launching your Shannon-powered integration.
1. Acquire And Stake Your POKT
In Shannon’s ecosystem, POKT serves as both fuel and stake. To participate fully, you’ll begin by acquiring POKT and then staking it. This process not only secures your Gateway’s permissions but also entitles you to predictable, USD-pegged compute units rewards under the new model.
- Acquiring POKT
POKT is the native token that fuels Shannon’s economic engine, used to pay for relays (via on-chain burns) and to lock in your right to operate a Gateway. Holding POKT also opens the door to governance participation and future protocol incentives.
Pocket’s official docs maintain a live list of centralized exchanges, OTC desks, and multi-chain bridges where you can buy POKT:
- Exchanges & OTC: Purchase on any of 14+ exchanges—including KuCoin, Gate.io, Upbit, Bybit—or arrange large trades via OTC.
- Wrapped POKT (wPOKT): For Ethereum users, wPOKT lets you bridge POKT to DeFi ecosystems via Uniswap and other DEXs.
- Staking POKT
In Pocket Network, staking POKT is the fundamental way to lock value into the protocol. You bond tokens to run a node or a PATH Gateway, earning POKT rewards for each relay served, and gain voting power in on-chain governance. Your stake underwrites the network’s reliability, aligning incentives between operators, developers, and the broader community.
For clarity, in this section, we’ll focus exclusively on demand-side Gateway staking under Shannon’s model.
What Gateway Staking Means on Shannon
Gateway staking on Shannon is a seamless on-chain process that converts your POKT into a pre-paid balance of compute units (CUs), each pegged to USD. When you stake, your tokens are immediately credited to your Gateway with a precise CU allotment, so you always know precisely how many relays you can serve before your balance runs out.
As your PATH Gateway processes requests, those CUs burn automatically to fund node rewards. When you choose to unstake, your POKT enters a 21-day unbonding window, during which your CU balance remains intact, but tokens cannot be withdrawn.
Staking grants immediate, permissionless access, a direct share of relay revenues, volume-based rebates for high throughput, and on-chain governance voting rights. Soon, applications will also be able to delegate CU allowances directly to Gateways, streamlining billing and access even further, all in two simple steps.
Shannon’s gateway staking model is centered on three core objectives:
- Minimal Friction: A single on-chain stake transaction pre-pays your compute-unit balance, which then burns automatically as relays are served—no extra calls or manual burns required.
- Price Stability: Compute units are pegged to USD, so your operational costs remain constant even if POKT’s market value fluctuates.
- Skin in the Game With Instant Access: Your Gateway goes live the moment you stake—no approval is required—and you can top up or unstake in a single transaction, ensuring seamless and uninterrupted operations.
Gateway Staking Mechanism on Shannon
c. Data-Source Staking
Shannon extends staking beyond Gateways and Suppliers by empowering anyone to onboard and monetize new data feeds. Here’s how it’ll work:
- Permissionless Addition: Instead of applying off-chain, you’ll stake POKT on-chain to register your data source directly in Shannon.
- Pre-Paid Compute Units: Your stake converts into USD-pegged compute units (CUs) just like Gateway staking, so you know exactly how many requests your feed can handle.
- Automatic Rewards: As consumers access your data, CUs burn on-chain to fund your rewards—no manual fee claims or DAO proposals needed.
- Unified Economics: Data-source staking leverages the same “mint = burn” model and 21-day unbonding window as other Shannon actors, ensuring consistency across the network.
What’s Next
Detailed parameters, including minimum stake amounts, volume-rebate tiers, CLI/UI flows, and QoS tooling, are still in development. Once the full spec and tooling are released, you’ll be able to follow the same simple, on-chain staking steps that Gateways and Suppliers enjoy today.
2. Run a Pocket Node
Running a Pocket Node means operating a Supplier under Shannon’s architecture. It involves provisioning infrastructure, installing the node software, staking POKT, and ensuring high uptime and performance. While the core steps mirror Morse, Shannon enhances the experience with Cosmos-SDK modules, Cosmovisor for seamless upgrades, and on-chain economics.
Staking on a Pocket Node is distinct from Gateway staking. While PATH Gateway staking “pre-pays” compute units on the demand side, node runners on the supply side stake POKT to validate and relay data to those Gateways. Here’s what that involves under Shannon:
Supply-Side Staking
- Minimum Stake: Shannon raises the bar for node runners from 15,000 to 60,000 POKT per node, aligning incentives with network health and removing legacy multiplier logic.
- Unbonding Period: Any unstaked POKT enters a 21-day unbonding window, during which your node continues earning rewards but cannot withdraw tokens.
- Why It Changed: A higher stake requirement strengthens security, standardizes economics, and supports Shannon’s modular runtime.
Running your Supplier Node
Running a Supplier node on Shannon gets you into the network’s supply layer: you’ll be operating the software that validates relays, earns node rewards, and helps keep the fabric resilient. The section below provides a quick practical setup guide to follow to set up your supplier node.
Quick setup
- Prep a Linux server and install the Pocket control tooling.
- Create on-chain keys, fund them (testnet faucet or mainnet transfer), and prepare your staking payload.
- Stake/register your Supplier address on-chain to activate the node.
- Launch the node / PATH stack and verify it’s relaying via the network explorer or /healthz.
For the full, up-to-date quick-start (commands, config templates, and testnet faucet links), follow the official quick-start guide in the Pocket docs
Tools And Improvements for Node Runners
With your Supplier node live and staked on Shannon, you already benefit from a set of operational improvements that streamline onboarding, automate provisioning, and simplify governance. Other improvements include:
- F-Chains II subsidies — The Foundation’s F-Chains II program is active, subsidizing low-traffic and experimental Suppliers to guarantee baseline throughput and improve economics for new operators.
- Igniter framework (available now) — Igniter automates provisioning, staking, and deployment so you can stand up a node with minimal manual steps.
- Keplr & IBC integration (live) — Keplr wallet support and IBC connectivity let you manage keys, stakes, and governance votes directly from your wallet and across Cosmos chains.
These live features reduce manual overhead, lower the barrier to entry, and let node runners focus on reliability and scale rather than repetitive setup tasks.
Build with Shannon
Shannon equips developers with a sharper tool chain and predictable pricing so that you can ship integrations faster. Whether you connect via a hosted Gateway or spin up your own, use the resources in the table below to tap into Shannon’s censorship-resistant data layer and start shipping the next wave of Pocket-powered apps. Some of the tools are:
| Purpose | Tool / Resource | What You Get | Where to Find it |
| Explorer & Metrics | POKTscan Shannon Explorer | Real-time relays, CU burns, stake stats, price feeds | Poktscan |
| PATH Gateway Deployment (Helm) | PATH Helm Chart + Helper Script | Canonical Helm chart that installs PATH, GUARD (auth/routing), and WATCH (Prometheus + Grafana). Includes values.yaml examples, RBAC notes, and optional ConfigMap/Secret configuration for production clusters. | Grove Docs – Helm |
| PATH Gateway Quick-start (Docker) | Quick Start Guide <10 min | Copy-paste steps to create a config, run ghcr.io/buildwithgrove/path:<tag> in Docker, verify /healthz, and test a Shannon relay—perfect for local pilots or CI pipelines. | Grove Docs – Quick Start |
| How to set up a PATH Gateway | PATH – Save on RPC | RPC cost-saving patterns, PATH quick-starts, Docker/Helm deployment recipes | Pocket Network Blog |
| Run a Supplier / Pocket Node (Shannon) | POKT Node — Shannon Node Guide | Shannon node quick-start, staking & registration steps, health/monitoring links | Pocket Network Blog |
Final Thoughts
Shannon is no longer a roadmap item—it’s the network you’re interacting with right now. By removing manual approvals, stabilizing costs, and embracing a truly modular architecture, Pocket Network has laid the foundation for an open-data economy that anyone can join and help grow.
Whether you stake to launch a Gateway, run a Supplier node, or build the next dApp on top of Pocket’s universal data fabric, every contribution moves the ecosystem closer to its “from billions to trillions” vision.