About

Akash is a decentralized and open-source cloud computing platform. The network connects server owners that need computing power to host applications with cloud computing resources through the Akash Marketplace, where users can buy and sell computing resources.

The Akash Marketplace runs on Akash, a Tendermint-based blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK. Akash relies on a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. The network is secured by a group of validators responsible for producing blocks and processing transactions and state changes. To run validator nodes, users must meet node hardware requirements and stake the network’s native token, AKT.

History

Akash was founded in March 2018 by Overclock Labs, a software development company formed by Greg Osuri and Adam Bozanich. While Overclock Labs originally focused on building a traditional multi-cloud deployment platform, it eventually decided to launch a distributed cloud computing marketplace with the goal of decentralizing cloud computing.

After several testnet releases, Akash Mainnet went live in September 2020. Notable upgrades since the first mainnet release include:

• Mainnet 2 Upgrade (March 2021) - Launched Akash Marketplace, introduced flexible bid pricing, Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) compatibility, deployment tools to improve user experience, released audited attributes, and Tendermint’s State Sync.
• Mainnet 3 Upgrade (April 2022) - Introduced persistent storage, authorized spending, an inflation decay curve, and fractional uAKT which eliminated minimum cost deployment.
• Mainnet 4 Upgrade (November 2022) - Introduced IP leases, provider service splits, Cosmos IBC3 update, and Interchain Accounts (ICA).
• Mainnet 5 Upgrade (December 2022) - Introduced minor patch releases and bug fixes.
• Mainnet 6 Upgrade (Sept. 6, 2023) - Introduced support for GPUs, stable payments, and take rates. This upgrade positioned Akash as an open-source marketplace for high-density GPUs and a distributed cloud for large language models (LLM). Together with this upgrade, Overclock Labs launched Akash ML, a cloud infrastructure offering AI developers GPU spot instances, with plans to facilitate on-demand access in the future.
• Mainnet 7 Upgrade (October 2023) - Enforced minimum validators commissions and released bug fixes.
• Mainnet 8 Upgrade (November 2023) - Increased GPU visibility to improve user experience in the lease deployment process.
• Mainnet 9 Upgrade (November 2023) - Introduced a minor change to ensure properly validated bids on multi-service deployments.

A full list of upgrades and upcoming upgrades can be followed on Messari Intel.