Stokenet Goes Community: Who Will Run the Radix Testnet?

Overview

Stokenet, the Radix persistent testnet, is undergoing the same community handover as the mainnet infrastructure it mirrors. In March 2026, the Radix Foundation called on the community to take over the operation of Stokenet's critical services — following the same pattern as the Babylon Gateway RFP for mainnet.

The call-to-action thread on RadixTalk quickly became one of the most active governance discussions of the year, with 26 replies from infrastructure operators, validators, and developers debating requirements, costs, and funding models.

What Needs to Be Operated

For Stokenet to remain a functional developer environment, the community must provide the following services:

• 4+ validator nodes — independent operators required for network consensus
• Babylon Gateway + DataAggregator — the primary API layer used by wallets and dApps connecting to Stokenet
• Blockchain explorer — developer and QA tooling for inspecting testnet transactions
• Token faucet — drips test XRD to developers for deploying and testing smart contracts
• Developer console — the UI for deploying Scrypto packages to Stokenet

These services collectively form the developer infrastructure stack that Scrypto developers rely on daily to test dApps before mainnet deployment. Without them, Stokenet becomes unusable.

Infrastructure Requirements and Costs

Running the full Stokenet stack is non-trivial. The database alone requires significant storage capacity — the current AWS configuration uses 1.1 TB, though a 300 GB snapshot is available to accelerate initial node synchronisation. Operators can choose between:

• Bare metal: ~$150–200/month for a dedicated server with sufficient storage and bandwidth
• Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure): ~$450–500/month for equivalent managed infrastructure

The cost range reflects the tradeoff between control and convenience. Bare metal is cheaper but requires more operational expertise. Cloud deployments are more expensive but easier to maintain and scale.

Community operators have flagged that they will not self-fund indefinitely. The expectation — consistent with mainnet service RFPs — is that the Radix Foundation will provide funding to cover operational costs for community-run Stokenet infrastructure, at least during the transition period.

Context: The Broader 2026 Decentralisation Wave

The Stokenet handover is one thread in a larger tapestry of Radix Foundation infrastructure being transferred to the community in 2026. The same pattern has played out across:

• Babylon Gateway — open RFP for community/commercial operators to run the mainnet API layer (see wiki article)
• Connect Relay and Signalling Server — critical wallet infrastructure (see wiki article)
• Developer documentation — RFC proposing RADIX.wiki as canonical Scrypto docs host
• Radix website (radixdlt.com) — RFC to migrate from Webflow ($250/mo) to community-owned Astro site

In each case, the Foundation is methodically stepping back from centralised control of network-critical and developer-facing services, opening them to proposals from the community, commercial operators, and ecosystem teams.

Why This Matters for Developers

Stokenet is where Scrypto smart contracts are born. Every dApp on Radix is tested on Stokenet before it ever touches mainnet. If Stokenet degrades — inconsistent API availability, missing explorer, unreliable faucet — the developer experience breaks down and new dApp development slows.

Continuity of Stokenet infrastructure is therefore a direct indicator of Radix ecosystem health. The community taking ownership of it signals maturity: the network no longer depends on a single entity to keep its development environment running.

Get Involved

If you or your organisation has the capability to run high-uptime infrastructure, the Stokenet call-to-action thread on RadixTalk is the place to coordinate. Operators are encouraged to post their proposed scope, estimated costs, and SLA commitments. The Radix Foundation is monitoring responses and expected to announce a funding mechanism for qualifying operators.

Related resources:

• Radix Docs: Registering as a Validator
• RADIX Wiki: Stokenet
• RADIX Wiki: Gateway Service RFP
• RADIX Wiki: Foundation Operational Stack Transition