Binance Launchpool has recently launched a new coin mining activity, and last week announced the launch of the highly-discussed DePIN project by io.net. The activity has attracted over $4 billion in total funds participating in IO token mining. However, many investors participating in the activity are not familiar with io.net, so today we will introduce what kind of project io.net is and why it can generate such high levels of discussion in the market.
As we all know, the emergence of ChatGPT signifies that the world is entering a new era of artificial intelligence (AI). However, in addition to building artificial intelligence models, the entire AI industry chain also includes many indispensable elements such as data resources, computing resources, and power resources. io.net is a project that focuses on computing resources in this industry chain, which means that what io.net does is a necessity for the future technology industry.
Specifically, io.net is a Solana blockchain network that focuses on building an enterprise-level decentralized computing network. Its main goal is to provide a cost-effective way for machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI) engineers to process large-scale computing tasks through a distributed cloud cluster. According to official statements, the cost is much lower than traditional centralized cloud services.
The vision of this project is to develop the IO token it has created into a currency for “computing resources” and to promote an ecosystem that allows computing resources to be accessed as a resource and as an asset to support a wide range of products and services.
In the AI industry, training models involves not just simple computations on a device, but requires the use of GPU networks that involve collaborative work, using parallel and distributed computing to optimize performance, especially when dealing with large datasets or complex models.
With the development of AI technology, the supply of space, power, and cutting-edge equipment has begun to lag behind demand, limiting the growth of technology. Traditional cloud services on the market often cannot meet the high demand for computing resources by AI/ML companies, leading to problems such as hardware (GPU) restrictions, limited choices, and high costs. io.net was built to solve this problem through the DePin project, which aims to bring together idle GPU capacities of users and provide computing power to AI companies that need large amounts of computational resources.
io.net integrates GPU resources that are underutilized in independent data centers, crypto miners, and other hardware networks like Filecoin and Render to build a DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network). This network allows engineers to access a large amount of computing power on-demand, while the system’s design ensures usability, customizability, cost efficiency, and ease of implementation.
The current io.net ecosystem architecture is mainly divided into io.net (a development company that maintains the IOG network and builds products and services on the network), IOG network (referred to as “GPU internet”), and IOG framework (aimed at building an open-source, developer-friendly SDK).
In conclusion, io.net’s solution aims to overcome the limitations of traditional cloud computing services through an innovative decentralized computing platform, providing faster and more economical solutions for various high-performance computing needs.
IO is the native utility token of io.net, with functions such as computational service payment medium, staking, governance, etc. io.net has raised $40 million through two rounds of token private placements, accounting for 36.24% of the token supply at the genesis and 22.65% of the maximum supply. In this Binance Launchpool activity, 4% of the initial supply is to be distributed to participants.
The maximum supply of IO tokens is 800 million, with 500 million allocated at launch (500 million will not be immediately in circulation), and the remaining 300 million will be distributed every hour and paid to suppliers and their stakers as rewards. However, the rewards will decrease continuously over the next 20 years according to the deflation model, starting at 8% in the first year and decreasing by 1.02% per month (approximately 12% per year).
Additionally, there is an automated IO token burning mechanism in the io.net ecosystem. Income generated during the operation of the io.net network will be used to repurchase and burn IO tokens.
It is reported that the latest valuation of io.net is $1 billion, with investors including Multicoin Capital, Delphi Digital, Animoca Brands, OKX, Aptos Labs, and Solana Labs, among other well-known institutions. However, based on the current Pre Market contract market price of $4.5, the total valuation of IO tokens has risen to $3.6 billion.
DePIN+AI is a concept with great development potential in the cryptocurrency industry. With the evolution of artificial intelligence technology, the demand for infrastructure like io.net will continue to increase. Well-known investment institution Multicoin Capital has commented on io.net in its research report, stating that it is a classic example in the DePIN race, and the token incentive measures structurally reduce the cost of acquiring and retaining supplier resources, ultimately reducing the cost for end consumers. The network brings together a large number of heterogeneous GPUs into a shared pool for use by AI developers and companies. Today, the network is supported by thousands of GPUs from data centers, mines, and consumer-grade equipment.
As a decentralized infrastructure that competes with cloud computing giants like AWS, io.net can provide cloud computing services that are cheaper and more efficient than AWS (reportedly 30% to 90% cheaper), making it highly attractive to AI model development companies that require a large amount of computational resources.
(Source: GT Radar)