AN OVERVIEW OF AKASH NETWORK

Akash is an open-source decentralized platform for cloud computing that facilitates the deployment of decentralized applications (dApps) at a low cost. In this article, we’ll discuss Akash, and explain how it intends to build the future of cloud computing.

TL; DR

• Akash Network, which bills itself as the "Airbnb for Cloud Compute," is the first decentralized cloud marketplace, and cloud computing platform in the world.

• Akash Network utilizes an ingenious medley of blockchain and containerization technologies to assist Web3 developers in deploying decentralized applications (dApps) with the least amount of setup, configuration, and server administration.

• The Akash blockchain – which is based on the Tendermint consensus engine and the Cosmos software development kit (SDK) – powers the Akash Marketplace – a decentralized marketplace where users lease computing resources from Cloud providers.

• AKT is the native multi-utility token of the Akash Network that secures the network, and grants holders on-chain governance rights, in addition to playing other significant roles in the network.

WHAT IS AKASH?

Akash Network is an open-source decentralized cloud computing platform based on the Tendermint consensus engine and the Cosmos software development kit (SDK) that enables Web3 developers to deploy decentralized applications (dApps) on the cloud.

The application deployment solution offered by Akash Network is fast, and more cost-effective than current centralized cloud computing alternatives – such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, and Microsoft Azure – due to its use of the open-source Docker Engine and containerization technology.

Akash Network bills itself as the "Airbnb for Cloud Compute" as it features a peer-to-peer marketplace that links customers looking for cloud services to infrastructure providers with surplus computing sources so they may rent out their unused storage capacities. Thereby, utilizing about 85% of the world's 8.4 million idle data center capacity.

OVERVIEW AND HISTORY OF AKASH

Akash Network was established in March 2018, by Overclock Labs – a cloud service automation and management company co-founded by Greg Osuri and Adam Bozanich

Greg currently serves as Akash's chief executive officer. Greg has years of experience in cloud architecture as he began the early years of his career way back in 2006 as a critical infrastructure consultant for IBM before he went on to develop a novel cloud architecture for Kaiser Permanente in 2008, and founding SBILabs, Gridbag, and Angelhack – a startup accelerator that offers a collection of tools built to manage the logistical complexities involved with operating distributed hackathons around the globe.

Adam currently serves as the chief technology officer at Akash. Adam has held engineering positions at Symantec Corp, Mu Dynamics, Topspin Media, and CHNL Inc. Before co-founding Akash, Adam previously co-founded Sprouts Tech - a software development platform that provides solutions that help businesses achieve their goals.

In March 2020, Akash Network completed a $2,000,000 seed round from George Burke and Infinite Capital. In the same year, Akash partnered with Solana to help deploy web3 smart contracts to the cloud, launched three phases of its incentivized testnet, and partnered with the cosmos interchain foundation before announcing the launch of its mainnet.

In March 2021, Akash Network launched the Akash Mainnet 2, which according to the team was the realization of five years of development and four testnets. To foster the development of open-source projects that facilitate further adoption and usage of its decentralized cloud, Akash network announced the launch of the Akash Developer Grant Program In August 2021 and offered about $100,000 to well-deserving developers and initiatives.

Recently, Akash Network announced that it will be launching its Mainnet 4 upgrade in November 2022 shortly after revealing that its flagship deployment tool – overclock console – will soon be launched.

As at the time of writing, several projects including Praetor, Cloudmos, Spbheron and Terraform were building on Akash, in addition to a host of projects such as Anonstake, Blockless, Sifchain, and lots more that runs some part of their product or service on Akash.

HOW DOES AKASH WORK?

Akash utilizes containerization technology and the open-source Docker Engine to facilitate its operations.

Containerization works by encasing a program and collecting all of its dependencies. This covers all relevant configuration files, libraries, and application code. For the purpose of encapsulating or packaging apps, the Akash Network project makes use of the Docker runtime engine. Containers may therefore run across any cloud or platform and provide a high degree of portability.

Akash adopts the Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. Thus, its security is ensured by  a group of validators and delegators who stake the Akash native token to generate new blocks.

ABOUT THE AKT TOKEN

AKT is the native utility token of the Akash Network. In addition to being a means of storage and exchange value, AKT plays several other significant roles in the Akash Network. As of the time of writing, AKT had a market capitalization of over $25.806 million US dollars and was trading at $0.2269, representing a drop of roughly 96.94% from its all-time high in April 2021 when it traded for $7.4006.

AKT is used to encourage providers to offer reduced costs and to reward stakeholder participation in the network. Holders of the AKT token can participate in on-chain governance, and vote on future network improvements.

Anyone can passively earn AKT tokens by running a node using the Akash Supermini.  To earn AKT tokens, users can either execute applications or machine learning workloads, become a cloud provider, or allocate idle computing resources on the Akash Supermini.

THE AKASH ECOSYSTEM

Akash Network provides support for several projects including DeFi, dApps, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), NFT, gaming, and lots more.

The list of projects powered by the Akash Network can be found here.

Some of the popular blockchain applications on Akash include:

• Blockless:

Blockless is a decentralized web service platform developed to function as an execution layer for the modular Web3 ecosystem as it provides the resources required to enable developers to seamlessly build decentralized applications.

• Rango Exchange:

Random Exchange is a platform that combines a wide range of aggregators with a variety of X-Chain solutions to deliver the best liquidity and the most efficient route in a safe and user-friendly manner.

• Sifchain:

Sifchain is an omni-chain decentralized exchange that aims to develop a fully interactive environment for exchanging cryptocurrencies as it facilitates the seamless transfer of assets within about twenty different block chains, in addition to offering a high transaction processing infrastructure with the Cosmos SDK.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Akash is committed to offering a permissionless, sovereign, and open cloud where developers have more access, autonomy, and flexibility to deploy decentralized applications. Thus, Akash expedites the growth of the blockchain ecosystem by enabling developers to overcome the constraints of conventional cloud infrastructure. Cutting-edge layer-one solutions like Aptos are also committed to accelerating the advancement of blockchain ecosystems by offering the most secure and scalable layer-one blockchain that is readily accessible to everyone.

Aptos is unique as it currently outperforms most contemporary layer-one blockchains in terms of speed, cost, security, and scalability. Aptos also incurs near-zero fees and can handle up to 160,000 transactions in one second with sub-second finality.

Pontem, a leading product studio that facilitates global financial inclusion is the gateway to the Aptos blockchain and is developing the infrastructure and decentralized tools necessary for the adoption of the Aptos blockchain.  The Pontem wallet enables its users to connect to decentralized applications, explore the Aptos ecosystem, and exchange tokens. Moreover, Pontem's Liquidswap which is the first Automated Market Maker (AMM) on Aptos makes it seamless for users to swap tokens in a safe and decentralized manner, in addition to offering liquidity pools and a bridge that facilitates asset transfers across blockchains.

ABOUT PONTEM

Pontem is a product development platform that fosters global financial inclusion through blockchain technology. As a result of its partnership with Aptos, Pontem can create the foundational dApps, EVMs, AMMs, and other infrastructure needed to adopt its layer one blockchain.