Aethir

$ATH

6/4/20242 min read

Project Overview

Akash is an open network connecting individuals with excess CPU/GPU power to those needing these resources, offering a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud services. Launched by Overclock Labs in 2018, anyone with spare computing power can lease it out via Akash. Developers can customize configurations and pricing for applications and AI training. Akash uses smart contracts for efficient resource allocation. Mainnet 1 was launched in 2020, with upgrades in 2021 (Mainnet 2) and 2023 (Mainnet 6), adding GPU support and a stable payment mechanism.

Token Information

  • Token Name: $AKT

  • Total Supply: 388,539,008

  • Circulating Supply: 61.69%

  • Current Market Cap: $986 million

  • Token Distribution:

    • 34.5% - Investors

    • 27% - Team

    • 19.7% - Fund

    • 8% - Ecosystem Rewards

    • 5% - Testnet

    • 4% - Operations

    • 1.8% - Public Sale

Token Utility

  • Staking and Consensus: $AKT holders can stake tokens to participate in PoS consensus, become validators, secure the network, and earn block rewards. Staking is also required for governance voting.

  • Leasing Transactions: Tenants use $AKT to pay for resources in the Akash decentralized market, while providers earn $AKT as incentives.

  • Ecosystem Incentives: Akash employs a progressive inflation model, starting with higher rates to boost early ecosystem growth, gradually reducing to control supply. Inflation-generated $AKT rewards validators.

  • Transaction Fees: Akash charges fees (USDC 20%, AKT 4%) on market transactions, using these to buy back and burn $AKT or distribute to validators, enhancing $AKT scarcity.

  • Community Governance: Stakers earn rewards and can vote on community proposals, influencing long-term ecosystem decisions.

Team Overview

Founders Greg Osuri and Adam Bozanich are renowned open-source developers. CEO Greg Osuri has built IT infrastructure at IBM and founded AngelHack. CTO Adam Bozanich has led software development at WeWork and Symantec, holds a U.S. patent for network protocol fuzz testing, and specializes in security analysis.

Funding

  • March 30, 2020: Akash Network raised $2 million, with investors including Digital Asset Capital Management and George Burke.

  • February 1, 2024: Completed a later stage VC round (amount undisclosed).

  • 2024: Completed a private secondary transaction (amount undisclosed).

Project Performance

Akash has allocated over $400 million in on-chain incentives. A pilot proposal includes $5 million (in $AKT) for GPU incentives, expected to attract 1000 A100 GPUs with 95%+ utilization. CEO Greg Osuri noted high GPU usage rates: nearly 100% for high-end GPUs and over 50% for mid-to-low-end GPUs, supported by ongoing partnerships.

Key Partnerships

  • Developer Tools: Partnered with Brev.dev to expand using Akash’s GPU infrastructure.

  • Metaverse: Partnered with Passage to launch the first virtual world on Akash’s GPU infrastructure.

  • Healthcare: Partnered with Solve.Care for faster, cheaper, and secure patient data management.

  • Blockchain Infrastructure:

    • Partnered with Chia for Akash providers to earn from Bladebit Disk storage.

    • Partnered with Polygon to offer decentralized infrastructure for dApp developers.

    • Partnered with Kava Labs for decentralized hosting in the Kava ecosystem.

    • Providing decentralized cloud services to Helium, the largest IoT network.

    • Partnered with HashQuark, Asia's largest staking service provider.