# The Waku Network (landing page) > _**Note:**_ the public Waku Network replaces the previous experimental shared routing layer based on a default pubsub topic (`/waku/2/default-waku/proto`). If your project is currently using this or any other shared pubsub topics, we encourage you to migrate to the public Waku Network with built-in DoS protection, better scalability, etc. The Waku Network is a shared p2p messaging network that is open-access, useful for generalized messaging, privacy-preserving, scalable and accessible even to resource-restricted devices. Some of the most prominent features include: 1. DoS/spam protection with privacy-preserving [Rate-Limiting Nullifiers](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/64/#rln-rate-limiting) 2. Scalability by [sharding traffic](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/64/#network-shards) into 8 pubsub topics 3. [Automatic shard selection](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/64/#autosharding) based on content topic 4. [Services](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/64/#default-services) for resource-restricted nodes, such as historical message storage and retrieval, filtering, etc. This page will help you participate in the Waku Network. The full network specification is available [here](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/64/). ## Why participate in the Waku Network? 1. Applications or projects can build decentralized communication components on this network, benefitting from the fault-tolerance of shared infrastructure, the out-of-the-box censorship resistance of a p2p network and the privacy-preservation of Waku protocols. 2. Supporters of public goods and decentralized infrastructure can run their own nodes to support the network. 3. We are also working on incentivization vectors to encourage more node operators to provide services to the network. ## Prerequisites The following are required to participate in the Waku Network: **To run a Waku Network node:** - an Ethereum Sepolia node, either yours or from a third party. You can [follow this guide](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/blob/a0ef3c2fbf7fa7fa63b5c07821d0db63444b1510/docs/tutorial/pre-requisites-of-running-on-chain-spam-protected-chat2.md#3-access-a-node-on-the-sepolia-testnet-using-infura) to get one for free from Infura. This is used for interaction with [the on-chain RLN membership contract](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/17/). **To publish to the network:** - a wallet with some Sepolia ETH (<0.1 Sepolia ETH). This [guide](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/blob/a0ef3c2fbf7fa7fa63b5c07821d0db63444b1510/docs/tutorial/pre-requisites-of-running-on-chain-spam-protected-chat2.md#1-create-a-sepolia-ethereum-account-and-obtain-its-private-key) explains how to obtain a Sepolia wallet and [fill it with some Sepolia ETH](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/blob/a0ef3c2fbf7fa7fa63b5c07821d0db63444b1510/docs/tutorial/pre-requisites-of-running-on-chain-spam-protected-chat2.md#2-obtain-sepolia-eth-from-faucet) through a faucet. This is used to register the [RLN membership](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/17/#setup-and-registration) necessary to publish to the network. ## Running a Waku Network node Follow [this guide](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku-compose#readme) to run a [nwaku](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku) node in the Waku Network. Use the Sepolia node and wallet you obtained above.