On 12 June, Aethir is celebrating the first anniversary of the ATH token generation event (TGE). This isn’t just a one-year milestone. It’s a unique point in the history of decentralized cloud computing, allowing us to remind the community of the major accomplishments of the last year, spearheading AI and gaming innovation worldwide. We’ve built the only enterprise-grade GPU-as-a-service platform on the market, specializing in supporting innovators with premium compute resources on a global scale.
The ATH token is at the core of Aethir’s decentralized cloud, powering our DePIN stack and enabling our stakeholders to conduct transactions, pay for computing, and earn rewards for their contributions to the Aethir ecosystem. Before our TGE, we said that ATH is much more than just a cryptocurrency token, and during the last year, we showed precisely why.
Let’s look at Aethir’s post-TGE journey and walk through the evolution of ATH into the force that powers the world's largest decentralized cloud computing ecosystem.
The Role of ATH in Aethir’s Decentralized GPU Cloud
Unlike centralized, traditional GPU clouds, Aethir uses a decentralized Web3 infrastructure leveraging blockchain technology to facilitate premium computing power for AI and gaming enterprises. The ATH token is the Aethir ecosystem’s native currency, used for purchasing compute in Aethir’s DePIN stack. Furthermore, it’s used to reward ecosystem participants for supporting our daily operations. Checker Nodes, ATH stakers, Aethir Edge operators, and Cloud Hosts are all rewarded with ATH. Also, all compute in Aethir’s decentralized cloud needs to be staked with ATH. Our recently launched EigenLayer ATH Vault enables users to stake ATH in exchange for eATH, allowing Aethir to onboard new cohorts of compute providers.
However, ATH goes beyond Aethir’s core product functionalities and provides exciting ecosystem benefits to users, including our EcoDrops, rewarding the Aethir community with exclusive airdrops from our network of 150+ partners. Additionally, the ATH token is a multifunctional asset that can be used across various ecosystem partner platforms as a versatile digital currency.
The Road to Aethir’s TGE: The Largest Web3 Node Sale in History
The Aethir TGE wouldn’t have been possible without our historical Checker Node sale in March 2024. Aethir facilitated the largest node sale in Web3 history, distributing over 91,000 Checker Node licenses to 22,000+ community members worldwide. Our Checker Nodes enable users to earn daily ATH rewards for contributing to the stability of Aethir’s decentralized GPU cloud. Checker Nodes closely monitor all of our 430,000+ GPU Containers at all times to ensure each GPU provides optimal quality of service to our clients 24/7. Indexers pair the closest GPU Containers with our clients, while Checker Nodes monitor the GPU network to make sure every client gets premium cloud computing services. ATH rewards are distributed to node holders based on node uptime and performance.
The massive success of our Checker Node sale set the standard for Web3 node sales, accumulating $100 million worth of ETH for the Aethir ecosystem. After the node sale, the road to our TGE was the next major milestone.
An Epic TGE and Instant Staking Launch
On 12 June 2024, we launched ATH and our native staking platform, providing users with a unique staking model in two staking pools, ATH-AI and ATH-Gaming. During the token generation event, participants of Aethir Cloud Drop had the opportunity to claim their ATH allocations after an exciting month-long airdrop campaign. Users experienced a unique airdrop model pioneered by Aethir, allowing participants to claim special badges based on on-chain activity and traditional questing platform accomplishments. With Aethir’s mainnet launch, the Checker Node system came online, allowing node holders to earn ATH rewards by running their nodes by themselves or delegating them to one of our official Nodes-as-a-Service (NaaS) partners.
Launching our staking platform on the same day as the TGE introduced an attractive opportunity for users to instantly stake their airdrop allocations in our high-APR staking pools. A key characteristic of Aethir’s staking mechanism is that our high APRs are sustainable because ATH staking is directly tied to the stability of the Aethir DePIN stack. Furthermore, the previous 12 months are a testament to the sustainability of Aethir’s staking model.
Onboarding Retail Compute Providers Through Aethir Edge
As part of our long-term strategy to enable everyone to become a compute provider in Aethir’s network, we launched Aethir Edge, our consumer-grade cloud computing device. Aethir Edge allows users to provide computing services to our AI and gaming clients and earn daily ATH rewards. We’ve distributed 66,000+ Aethir Edge devices worldwide, empowering retail users to access Aethir’s decentralized cloud as part of our compute provider network. It's a device that can directly channel GPU power through Aethir's network to end-users through a stable internet connection. With cutting-edge hardware tech powered by Qualcomm processors, users can contribute their idle GPU power through Aethir Edge and play a crucial role in Web3 cloud computing decentralization.
Aethir’s User Portal: A One-Stop Shop for Our Community
The Aethir ecosystem has many sides, from Checker Nodes and ATH staking pools to Aethir Edge devices and exciting EcoDrops from our partners. To simplify our community’s user experience and offer streamlined access to Aethir’s decentralized cloud, we’ve launched the Aethir User Portal, a one-stop shop for the Aethir ecosystem. Our community deserves a simple way to engage with various aspects of Aethir’s decentralized cloud without any required tech knowledge. That’s why the Aethir User Portal brings decentralized cloud computing directly to our users, providing a smooth user experience and showcasing our vision of universal decentralized cloud computing available to everyone.
Expanding Horizons: Onboarding New Cloud Hosts Leveraging ATH
As we launched ATH and all of our core utilities, including Checker Nodes, staking pools, and Aethir Edge devices, the Aethir ecosystem grew astonishingly, with dozens of new partners and clients leveraging our DePIN stack. That’s why we started onboarding new cohorts of GPU providers, also called Cloud Hosts. We’ve opened up Aethir’s decentralized GPU cloud to everyone with idle GPUs that fit our strict criteria for high-performance computing. Through our New Horizons program, we introduced another way for our community to join Aethir’s decentralized cloud as GPU providers who can earn ATH tokens for their role in supporting our vast network of clients.
Supporting AI and Gaming Innovation with Aethir’s $100M Ecosystem Fund
One of Aethir’s key advantages over competitors is that, unlike most DePIN projects, we have actual revenue streams from dozens of paying clients. This enabled us to launch our $100 million Ecosystem Fund to support AI, Web3, and gaming innovators with premium GPU compute grants in our global computing network. Aethir’s Ecosystem Fund shows our dedication to supporting industry-wide innovation with the infrastructure needed to create and launch the AI and gaming projects of tomorrow. As part of our ecosystem support strategy, we’ve announced compute grants for five batches of AI agent innovators (batches 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), along with one batch of RWA trailblazers.
The fund is divided into several grant programs, including Aethir Catalyst, two ecosystem grant programs with XAI and XPLA worth $10 million each, and a special gaming grant program worth $1 million in cooperation with Xsolla. Furthermore, we’ve launched an AI grant program in collaboration with Polyhedra and announced our Ecosystem Fund’s support for the Avalanche Foundation’s infraBUIDL(AI) Program. Additionally, The Blockchain Center Abu Dhabi (ADBC) joined Aethir’s Ecosystem Fund as an exclusive regional partner for the MENA region.
ATH Goes Multichain
Aethir is a globally available decentralized GPU cloud computing network with GPU Containers distributed in 94 countries worldwide. Just like our compute is available across different regions, the ATH token needs to be available on different leading blockchains to ensure cross-network access for our clients and community members. We teamed up with LayerZero to leverage their omnichain technology and make ATH a multichain cryptocurrency. Furthermore, we expanded ATH’s reach to the Solana blockchain, one of the hottest AI ecosystems on the market. This step simplifies onboarding and purchasing compute power in Aethir’s DePIN stack while leveraging Solana’s famously low transaction fees.
Expanding ATH Ecosystem Utility
As the Aethir ecosystem grew exponentially during the past year since our TGE, we’ve constantly expanded ATH utility across our network of AI, Web3, and gaming partners. We introduced innovative ATH use cases that allow our community members to reap additional benefits from participating in Aethir’s decentralized cloud.
Our partners from MetaStreet launched Yield Pass, an innovative platform pioneering the NodeFi concept that unlocks additional yield opportunities for Aethir’s Checker Node holders. Through our partnership with Plume, we formed an RWAI GPU initiative that will enable the tokenization of GPU computing for AI workloads. On the other hand, we teamed up with GAIB to launch an innovative GPU tokenization pilot program on the BNB Chain, enabling direct tokenization of enterprise-grade GPUs and their revenue streams and allowing investors to access GPU-backed assets. To enhance our GPU-as-a-service network’s stability and simplify financial transactions for all parties in Aethir’s decentralized GPU cloud ecosystem, we introduced AUSD, our native stablecoin, built on Maitrix’s cutting-edge platform for intelligent stablecoins.
The Checker Node Buyback Program
The Aethir Checker Node Buyback Program allows holders of Checker Node NFTs to sell their NFTs back to Aethir Foundation at a fixed price. The buyback program is part of Aethir’s broader strategy to strengthen the Aethir ecosystem by enabling users to support onboarding new compute cohorts into Aethir’s decentralized cloud infrastructure and earn valuable incentives. Users can sell their Checker Nodes to Aethir Foundation in exchange for eATH (EigenATH), which is used to support Aethir’s decentralized cloud computing infrastructure. All compute in Aethir’s GPU cloud is staked with ATH, which is precisely what eATH is used for. When Checker Node holders sell their nodes back to Aethir, they directly support our network's fresh cohorts of GPU compute by holding eATH. When holding eATH, users continue to earn ATH rewards, which is the main benefit for eATH holders.
The Checker Node Buyback program went live on the 27th of May on this official link and is still available for interested participants: checkerbb.aethir.com
Aethir’s EigenLayer ATH Vault: The Pinnacle of ATH Utility
Aethir’s collaboration with EigenLayer introduced the most innovative utility of the ATH token so far. We’ve enabled ATH stakers to directly contribute to onboarding new compute cohorts and Cloud Hosts into Aethir’s DePIN ecosystem. We launched pre-deposits for the EigenLayer ATH Vault, allowing users to stake ATH and mint eATH to maximize their rewards. ATH stakers can now provide the staked ATH required for new compute cohorts, thus allowing us to service more clients and supercharge the growth of AI and gaming innovation. Each user who pre-deposits their ATH in the EigenLayer ATH Vault will join Aethir’s journey to support the most innovative AI and gaming enterprises with premium, decentralized, scalable, and cost-effective cloud computing. The genius of eATH is that it acts as a liquid staking receipt token that accumulates ATH rewards throughout its lifecycle, allowing holders to redeem accrued ATH rewards once their staking period ends.
Check our EigenLayer ATH Vault and stake your ATH to mint eATH here: user.aethir.com/stake/eigenlayer
Over 150 AI and Gaming Partners: The Largest Decentralized Cloud Ecosystem
During the past year, Aethir has built the largest DePIN ecosystem on the market, encompassing 150+ partners from across the globe. We onboarded numerous AI, gaming, and Web3 trailblazers into our ecosystem, all leveraging Aethir’s premium, scalable cloud computing services. Aethir has become the backbone of AI and gaming innovation in the Web3 sector, ensuring our partners always have uninterrupted access to reliable, secure, and cost-effective GPU computing. This massive amount of trust in Aethir’s DePIN stack is the best indicator of our reliability and quality when it comes to supporting innovators with the decentralized infrastructure needed to move the boundaries of AI and gaming.
Aethir: The Catalyst for Universal Cloud Computing
The past year since our TGE has been an epic journey, with numerous industry-shaping innovations that show how Aethir is setting the stage for universal cloud computing. Aethir isn’t just another GPU DePIN. We are the force that’s creating new standards for decentralized cloud computing and proving that distributed GPU cloud architecture is a viable, cost-effective, and scalable solution for enterprise use cases. Our focus on AI, Web3, and gaming demonstrates Aethir’s expertise in supporting the most innovative GPU-intensive applications on the market in a frictionless manner with the power of decentralization.
Aethir’s GPU cloud is powered by ATH, the digital currency that fuels our ecosystem and enables stakeholders to facilitate a broad range of operations. However, ATH continues to evolve. We will continue introducing new ways for our stakeholders to participate in the Aethir ecosystem by leveraging ATH.
Our first TGE anniversary is a major milestone and the first of many more to come.
