Following the execution of [Tornado Cash 10th governance proposal](https://tornadocash.eth.link/governance/10), anyone can become a relayer for Tornado Cash users.
The only condition to be included on the Tornado Cash UI is to lock a min. of `300 TORN`\*. To remain listed, it is needed to keep enough TORN locked (\~`40 TORN` at the moment in April 2022) to be able to pay back the transaction fee to the staking contract.
Relayers form an essential & necessary part of the Tornado Cash ecosystem. Their use guarantees privacy as they solve the infamous “fee payment dilemma” : how to pay fees for token withdrawals from a pool while maintaining anonymity?
Therefore, relayers act as third parties and manage the entire withdrawal. They pay for transaction fees by deducting them directly from the transferred amount. They also charge an additional fee for their services.
Since the implementation of the [Relayer Registry proposal](https://tornadocash.eth.link/governance/10), the protocol collects a fee directly from the relayer’s staked balance through the `StakingReward` contract for each withdrawal. This fee percentage may vary from one pool to another and is also subject to change through on-chain governance.
Currently, it is fixed at `0.3%` . Some pools remain without fees, either because the instance is too small to assign a fee (0.1 ETH, 100 DAI/USDT, 1000 DAI/USDT), or because there is not enough liquidity on Uni v3 (all cDAI instances).
Anyone can become a relayer for the protocol in **6 simple steps** through a [Relayer Registry User Interface (UI)](https://relayers-network.tornadocash.eth.limo).
Before you commit to sharing part of your journey with Tornado Cash users as a relayer, you need to understand & accept all potential risks of being a relayer for the protocol.
* For each relayer, calculate a score based on its staked TORN and its fee. The higher the stake, the higher the score is; the higher the fee, the lower the score is. For Ethereum mainnet, the formula used to calculate the score is `stake * [1 - 25*(fee-0.33)^2]`; for sidechains, the formula is `stake * [1 - 11.89*(fee-0.01)^2]`.
The first concrete step is to run the Tornado Cash Relayer software for Ethereum Mainnet on your computer. All steps are outlined in the protocol's github. To complete this task successfully, you will have to carefully follow [these instructions](https://github.com/tornadocash/tornado-relayer#deploy-with-docker-compose).
It is strongly recommended that you use your own RPC nodes. Instructions on how to run full nodes can be found [here](https://github.com/feshchenkod/rpc-nodes).
You also have the option to add subdomains with their corresponding TXT records to support chains other than Ethereum. Sidechains relayers use a different version of the Relayer software. The complete requirements with instructions are found [here](https://github.com/tornadocash/tornado-relayer/blob/light/README.md).
Tornado Cash Nova uses its own version of the software. If you wish to become a relayer for Tornado Cash Nova, you will find instructions to follow [here](https://github.com/tornadocash/tornado-pool-relayer#deploy-with-docker-compose).
With the implementation of a decentralized relayer registry, a staking condition has been introduced as a requirement to become listed on Tornado Cash UI. Keep in mind **staking TORN is now necessary to be added to the recommended list of relayers.**
The minimum staked amount is currently set by Tornado Cash governance at **`300 TORN`**. This threshold can be changed by Tornado Cash governance at any time.
When a relayer is used in the Tornado Cash pool, a small amount of TORN is automatically collected from this staked balance by the `StakingReward` contract. This element is essential to keep in mind as relayers will need to keep enough TORN locked (\~`40 TORN` at the moment in April 2022) to be able to pay back the transaction fee to the staking contract.
The collected fees are subsequently distributed among DAO members with lockedTORN tokens locked. TORN are usually locked to participate in on-chain governance (submitting & voting on proposals). You can find more information both on this [forum post](https://torn.community/t/proposal-relayer-registry-setting-parameters-after-audit/2134) & in the [Staking TORN documentation page](staking.md).
