First and foremost, why do people even care about masternodes?

Well, it's potentially a way of getting passive income through cryptocurrency. When you hear this phrase in the crypto space, it's usually tied to a scam.

However, masternodes are not necessarily scams. It's a way for people to support a blockchain project when you don't have the time (or other resources) to trade or active research to find the best new coins.

At its core, a master node is just a server or node in a blockchain network, but they have some special features that make them different from normal nodes. These features include:

• Adding more privacy to the transactions
• Increasing transaction speed
• Voting and governance for different changes to the network
• Executing smart contracts

Dash - being one of the earliest masternode coins, implemented this protocol and, since then, many other blockchain projects have copied its source code.

What are the requirements to get a masternode?

Well, you have to stake a lot of your coins. The actual amount of coins varies from project to project.

You also need a Linux server running 24/7 to serve as your masternode and a dedicated IP address so that the other nodes on the network know how to reach that server.

There may also be other unique requirements depending on the coin, but the above-mentioned requirements are prevalent throughout. 

Hope this helps!