Aethir (ATH) — a decentralized network for sharing GPU resources

By using distributed blockchain technology, platforms such as Aethir solve key problems of centralized services, which lead to various usage limitations and high service costs.

What is Aethir?

Aethir is an enterprise-grade GPU-as-a-Service blockchain platform that allows users, including enterprise users, to provision and rent graphics processing unit (GPU) resources for graphics-related, power-hungry computing tasks.

In other words, Aethir provides a decentralized cloud infrastructure that can be used for computing in areas such as:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning;
• Medical and other research;
• Cloud gaming.

The Aethir decentralized cloud computing network was launched in June 2024 based on the Ethereum blockchain.

How does Aethir work, and what problems does it solve?

The Aethir platform addresses the significant shortcomings of centralized cloud services that rent out GPU resources.

Such services incur huge costs due to the maintenance of large data centers. This ultimately affects the final price for consumers, who are also forced to incur high costs due to the high cost of centralized data center services.

In addition, the server hardware that hosts computing resources and digital storage is a single point of failure and susceptible to attacks. This means that in the event of a hardware failure or hacker attack, users of centralized services run the risk of losing their data, time, and revenue due to downtime.

Another disadvantage of centralized services is complete control by companies that can impose restrictions (censorship), as a result of which individuals and organizations cannot fully use the leased equipment to solve their tasks. This is especially true in artificial intelligence and machine learning, where such restrictions may hinder the effective development of AI services.

In addition, as artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the demand for the immense computing power of graphics processors required for computation continues to grow. In turn, this growing demand has led to a shortage of computing resources. This means that the necessary hardware for companies, such as research centers, is becoming more expensive and less available. The developers of Aethir are solving all of these problems with the help of blockchain technology.

The Aethir network itself consists of three key components:

1. Containers and virtual workstations serve as the backbone of the Aethir network. Containers are responsible for executing and visualizing applications, solving tasks such as game rendering and AI computing;
2. Indexers — members of the network whose main task is to connect users to the most appropriate containers for their tasks;
3. Checkers — network participants who monitor the quality and state of containers to ensure that they meet Aethir network standards.

With the help of all these components, the Aethir network provides a reliable decentralized environment adapted to the needs of users and companies that require services to solve computing problems.

Aethir token

The native token of the Aethir ecosystem is ATH, which was issued in June 2024 under the ERC-20 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. Along with the launch of the cloud computing platform itself, the token was listed on cryptocurrency exchanges in the same month. The ATH token is also available on the Solana and Arbitrum networks.

The token is ranked 169th among all cryptocurrencies in market capitalization, which is $240 million. About 6.7 billion ATH tokens are circulating on the market out of the 42 billion maximum possible, which is only ~16% of the issuance cap. This means that most of the tokens have yet to hit the market, and as they are unlocked, additional pressure will be placed on the ATH exchange rate.

Conclusion

The Aethir platform has managed to take a leading position in its segment and is well-positioned to compete with sizeable centralized cloud services such as seriously

• Amazon Web Services (AWS),
• Microsoft Azure,
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP),
• IBM Cloud GPU,
• Paperspace Gradient,
• NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC).