In every bull market, there are always new narratives to chase the new rather than the old. And in this cycle, projects related to AI narratives definitely have the most potential. This AI craze has blown from Web2 to Web3, and all kinds of AI-related projects have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Among them, shared GPU decentralized cloud computing projects have been especially loved by VCs and institutional investors. By combining blockchain's most traditional hardware mining gameplay with the hottest Depin + AI concepts, blockchain decentralization is also able to catch the tailwind of the AI craze.
In this week’s Cryptosnap, Dr.DODO wants to introduce three early-stage GPU mining decentralized cloud computing projects that retail investors can also participate in. Let's ride this wave together.
io.net
The first project to introduce is io.net, a Solana-based decentralized DePIN project focused on providing GPU computing power for AI and machine learning companies. Founded by Ahmad Shadid, it originated from the idea of building a GPU computing network for his own machine learning quant trading company Dark Tick in 2020 to reduce costs. And after OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch, Shadid realized this network could provide the large-scale computing power needed by AI/ML companies.
Io.net aims to build an "Internet of GPUs" to solve the shortage of GPU computing power caused by the AI craze. The computing power of the platform can be used for workloads like parallel processing tasks such as model training, batch inference, hyperparameter tuning and reinforcement learning. It aggregates idle GPUs from data centers, cryptocurrency miners and other underutilized sources, and can automatically handle job scheduling, organization planning and resource expansion. This allows R&D teams to perform required computing work on dispersed computing resources without worrying about issues commonly associated with public cloud services like limited availability, high costs and poor configuration options.
Recently, io.net launched an “Ignition” incentive program, from March 1st to April 28th, it will reward points to users based on the number of GPUs supplied to the network. For details on how to provide computing power, you can check out the official documentation. Although the article did not explicitly state whether rewards points could be exchanged for io.net's native IO token, CEO Shadid said the IO token will be issued on April 28.
Source: io.net
Gaimin
The second project to introduce also runs on the Solana chain - Gaimin, founded by the esports team gaimin gladiators. Unlike io.net's general-purpose GPU decentralized network, Gaimin starts from the gaming field. It aims to combine cloud computing power with gaming platforms, building a dAPP that can provide services like game downloads and logins while also renting out users’ idle GPU hardware to allow players to earn additional rewards. It also leverages the high-performance GPUs of most players to build a decentralized distributed supercomputing platform called gaimin.cloud that provides data processing services like video rendering, AI deep learning and blockchain computing power for customers.
Last week, Gaimin announced its plan for building a Layer 2 gaming public chain on BNB using opBNB Stack technology, cooperating with MovementLab to employ Move technology to achieve over 150k TPS throughput, lower latency, lowest gas fees, and an enhanced Web3 gaming user experience.
As for tokens, players can now earn $GMRX tokens through blind mining by downloading and installing the Gaimin Windows app. For details can check out the Q&A on the official website. The token has not yet launched, scheduled IDO on Seedify is expected on 3/21 3/22, and the token allocation is shown below. Currently the official has launched a Gaimin Gladiators NFT that allows holders to obtain $GMRX airdrops by staking the NFT on the Gaimin platform.
Heurist
The third project to introduce is Heurist. Unlike the previous two projects, Heurist leans more towards a community project, currently no team background or capital financing has been announced, so extra caution needs to be exercised regarding its safety.
Heurist is a L2 public chain built on ZK Stack for AI model hosting and inference. By leveraging ZK Stack’s scalability, customizability, security, interoperability with other chains, and future-readiness, it created a blockchain specifically optimized for hosting and inferencing AI models. It builds a decentralized AI infrastructure network where users can obtain AI model inference services like text and image generation on a pay-as-you-go basis. The goal is to allow anyone to contribute resources or models and benefit from the open AI infrastructure network to achieve the decentralization and democratization of AI. Any user can seamlessly integrate Heurist’s AI capabilities into their own applications.
Retail users can play a role as a network participant to earn or spend the $HUE tokens, for example miners can earn fees and token distributions by hosting AI models, model creators get a share of user payments, app developers take a percentage of fees, and validators receive rewards for checking data integrity.
Currently the Heurist project is still very early stage. Unlike io.net and Gaimin, Heurist is not a computing power rental platform, rather it utilizes users’ computing power to run specific AI models. At present Heurist is conducting its incentive testnet, and if you wish to use its AI model services you can apply for API access.
Source: https://www.heurist.ai/
Author's Perspective
For readers with idle GPU computing power but limited capital, I think participating in this kind of GPU mining project is a pretty decent approach. Currently most mining in the crypto space is quite competitive, projects like Blast or EigenLayer that give airdrop rewards for staking ETH are quite difficult for small retail users to profit from, more like whales’ games. In contrast, GPU mining is more like early POW chains, with greater possibility of high returns with low investment.
In my opinion, projects combining Depin + AI computing mining can only grow in number this year. Everyone surely wants to rub shoulders with the hottest AI field. Readers with less capital can explore more of such GPU mining projects, may get pleasant surprises.