What is Akash?
Omni -The Akash network is a marketplace for developers needing cost-efficient, permissionless and scalable cloud computing solutions.
Akash runs on the Cosmos SDK to facilitate operations with other chains built on Cosmos using its Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.
The network’s native token, AKT, is used to accelerate adoption, govern, and secure the blockchain through staking.
Akash is a decentralized marketplace that brings developers the infrastructure necessary to store and process data, and host and manage servers at scale, over the internet. Similar to how Airbnb connects property owners with rent seekers, Akash connects cloud service providers with developers who need cloud computing power. To provide a robust marketplace, Akash leverages a network of almost 8 million global Data Centers with under-utilized cloud capacity. As the world’s first open-source cloud, Akash offers a censorship-resistant platform. The network is setting out to contend with the 3 centralized behemoths of cloud service providers: Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and AWS by providing users a permissionless option that is up to 3x cheaper.
The Akash network is built by a team of reputable open-source, cloud, and blockchain developers who set out to build the most accessible platform for developers to deploy their applications. The network targets primarily DeFi services and high-computing fields like machine learning and AI to offer its unique benefits of decentralization, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
The network’s mainnet v2 launched on Cosmos SDK to communicate and interoperate with a robust network of blockchains built with the Cosmos framework (including Osmosis, Kava, and Juno). Developers needing cloud service on the Akash platform use a flexible bid pricing system to only pay for the amount of computing power and the types of amenities they need. This is especially attractive to smaller developers who cannot afford to pay for sophisticated functionalities that usually tag along with raw cloud service provision among centralized cloud providers.
Akash uses the AKT token as a primary means to govern and secure the blockchain, incentivize participants, and provide a default mechanism to store and exchange value. Its proof-of-stake model is used to accelerate adoption as the token incentivized stakers with high returns to participate in the network long term. Learn more about how to earn rewards by staking AKT.
