Decentralized Nodes: florentina57 | ValidAndina

[florentina57]

Hello everyone!

Who am I, and how did I get here?

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am florentina57, a newcomer to the Dotsama ecosystem and maintainer of the ValidAndina Polkadot and Kusama nodes in Bogotá and Lima.

I am thrilled to share that I recently participated in the 1st wave of PBA-X and applied to the 2nd cohort of the Web3 Foundation’s DN Program. I am very thankful and excited to report that my 2 Kusama nodes have been selected and are already validating! They are achieving excellent performance, despite their high latency to regions more densely populated with nodes.

ValidAndina BOG KSM: JMB89sS8GfRN4ebiQ8xMVVowwnzQ6oD1iXrxPP6WjsXTJXb

ValidAndina LIM KSM: FELETDtt5cdxYmqTudCkeqLPGqbM8VRU37fgxB4ctoXARgh

Why are my nodes different?

My strategy to further contribute to the decentralization of both networks is threefold:

• Geographical: 2 bare-metal servers in Latin America, each hosting 1 Polkadot and 1 Kusama node, for a total of 2 Kusama and 2 Polkadot nodes
• OS: my nodes run on Rocky Linux (RHEL), differentiating them from the more common Debian-based setups
• Infrastructure: hosted in 2 different and highly reputable Tier III Data Centers

What can you expect from me?

• Commitment: offer reliable and high-performing Kusama and Polkadot nodes in LATAM
• Specific: I concentrate exclusively on the Dotsama ecosystem

As an individual operator validator, I can dedicate my full attention to providing powerful, reliable, and secure operations that strengthen both networks while offering nominators the opportunity to diversify their validator pool.

My goal is to maintain my Kusama nodes in future cohorts of the DN Program by excelling in performance and diversification, while also securing spots for my Polkadot nodes in the next cohort.

How can you help me?

Meanwhile, my Polkadot node in Peru—a country underrepresented in the network—is accepting nominations. It is hosted in the most secure and reliable data center in Lima, operated by Cirion.

ValidAndina LIM DOT: 13f1iU967VsBeRxueqs9zrJV6JZ1EmEP6A1QTatThBcYbxqE

How can you contact me?

I appreciate your time and am grateful for any feedback or questions.

I look forward to interacting with you on Element, Twitter, or in person at the Web3 Summit in Berlin this summer!

[florentina57]

A lot has changed since I wrote my first forum post 8 months ago.

To start, I would no longer say I’m a newcomer, and I’m happy to say that many of you now know who I am. It’s been a pleasure working with you throughout these months and meeting you, many IRL, and I’m looking forward to the new adventures we will embark on together.

My ValidAndina nodes in LATAM have been successfully in the active set for months now. I am extremely grateful to the Web3 Foundation’s DN program for selecting and nominating them during cohorts 2, 2.1 and 3. Together we have demonstrated that geographical decentralization is possible and that the presence of validator nodes in other regions is not just a dream, and that these nodes can have excellent performance despite latency.

A few days ago we learned that cohort 4 of the Decentralized Nodes program will not be taking place, but my nodes in Bogotá and Lima will still be hosted there as long as the operation can at least cover the fixed costs for infrastructure, which is expensive in the region.

The reason I decided to become an active member of the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems is because I truly believe in decentralization and web3 values and meeting so many of you this year has been very exciting for me, since we share the same vision.

In an effort to ensure that ValidAndina nodes can stay in the active set once the W3F nominations are removed on January 13th 2026, I invite you to nominate my nodes as well as those of other validators who are contributing to decentralization.

You can often see ValidAndina on the PAPI staking dashboard with high APY (sustained between 12 and 13%)

You can also check my nodes’ performance on Turboflakes where both my Polkadot nodes remain on the 1st page of the top 100 Validators Performances (DN) and among (ALL) they are in the top 10%.

Polkadot:
ValidAndina LIM DOT: 13f1iU967VsBeRxueqs9zrJV6JZ1EmEP6A1QTatThBcYbxqE
ValidAndina BOG DOT: 16mrcAndMguy3wqfuLNubgxxeyWQHjYAdqRbj26Vb2gYtszK

Kusama:
ValidAndina LIM KSM: FELETDtt5cdxYmqTudCkeqLPGqbM8VRU37fgxB4ctoXARgh
ValidAndina BOG KSM: JMB89sS8GfRN4ebiQ8xMVVowwnzQ6oD1iXrxPP6WjsXTJXb

If you have any questions, I’m always available via element, TG, Twitter or in person.

-Florentina

[florentina57]

I would like to start by thanking the community for the continued support. So far 3 out 4 ValidAndina nodes in LATAM have lost their DN nomination as part of the expected sunsetting of the program. The 4th one will also follow in the upcoming days.

The 2 Kusama nodes have remained in the active set thanks to the support of nominators

The 2 Polkadot nodes will go out of the active set, one tomorrow, the other in the coming days, despite having accumulated numerous nominations.

Today “ ValidAndina BOG DOT”:
16mrcAndMguy3wqfuLNubgxxeyWQHjYAdqRbj26Vb2gYtszK
is estimated to be in slot 642 and there are 600 nodes in the active set.

Over the past 11 months I have been committed to providing exceptional validator performance in LATAM, despite latency and expensive infrastructure costs in the region, and I am very proud of what we have achieved.

I hope to continue securing the network from LATAM and would like to ask you to consider adding my nodes to your list of validators.

It would be a shame if both Polkadot and Kusama returned to having the majority of the nodes in Europe and North America.

Please support me and other committed validators who strive to contribute to a more decentralized network.

This is the panorama at the moment on Kusama:
ValidAndina BOG KSM
ValidAndina LIM KSM

This is the panorama at the moment on Polkadot:
ValidAndina BOG DOT
ValidAndina LIM DOT

Consider nominating Polkadot node:

“ ValidAndina BOG DOT” 16mrcAndMguy3wqfuLNubgxxeyWQHjYAdqRbj26Vb2gYtszK

which is very close to staying in the active set and would allow my operation to continue.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this year in the DN Program, including the W3F, who made it possible to see nodes in every corner of the world

My dream is to continue seeing this with the support of the community and all tokenholders

[florentina57]

@florentina57

Consider nominating Polkadot node:

“ ValidAndina BOG DOT” 16mrcAndMguy3wqfuLNubgxxeyWQHjYAdqRbj26Vb2gYtszK

which is very close to staying in the active set and would allow my operation to continue.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support ValidAndina nodes in LATAM on Kusama and Polkadot.

After the end of the W3F’s DN program, my 2 Kusama nodes continue validating in the active set thanks to the support of the community

For Polkadot, today is the last day of ValidAndina LIM DOT in the active set.

If you would like to support my operation, please consider nominating ValidAndina BOG DOT instead.
16mrcAndMguy3wqfuLNubgxxeyWQHjYAdqRbj26Vb2gYtszK

Fixed costs for infrastructure in LATAM are high and unfortunately KSM rewards alone will not be enough to cover them, having 1 Polkadot validator active again would allow me to keep the operation going.

I am very proud that we have shown it is possible to have nodes in other regions. Thank you so much for your help and for supporting geographical and OS decentralization of both networks