ELI5 what are masternodes, and what benefits are they to entire community...?

[MeSoCorny]

I don't know how to mine. I just can't figure out any of it. However, I did buy into a coin for 2100 coins recently that has begun moving up, but is still in the early stages. It is a community coin so everything is voted on within the community for it. They are instituting "masternodes" in the next few weeks and everyone is discussing what to set the price at. Many of the bigger hodlers that bought in/ mined super early when it was like 2 cents want a masternode of $25k coins to own one. Others say it should be affordable to everyone at a $1k to $5k this early in its inception.

So my question is, does the price of a masternode benefit everyone on the ROI aspect, or just those holding a masternode? Just because I don't know if this information is necessary towards an answer, the total count is 21 million, with 15 million currently on the market, and the price is fluctuating between $1 and $1.50 currently.

Thanks in advance.

[surfinonmyownwavebaby]

Masternodes are another way to secure the network and keep the blockchain moving forward. You have POS, POW, and other methods this is no different and it is essentially a POS system on steroids. With POS anybody can enter the network and secure it by using their coins the more you have the better. Masternodes is the same thing except they have a set coin amount (generally large amount) and those nodes are meant to secure the network. The benefit of having masternodes is that the community isn't liable to the 51% attack like they are in POW but the downfall is definitely the rich get richer. Good system and I overall like it but I prefer POS myself.

[MeSoCorny]

Masternodes are another way to secure the network and keep the blockchain moving forward. You have POS, POW, and other methods this is no different and it is essentially a POS system on steroids. With POS anybody can enter the network and secure it by using their coins the more you have the better. Masternodes is the same thing except they have a set coin amount (generally large amount) and those nodes are meant to secure the network. The benefit of having masternodes is that the community isn't liable to the 51% attack like they are in POW but the downfall is definitely the rich get richer. Good system and I overall like it but I prefer POS myself.

Thank you