Hassan Maishera
Sophon and Aethir have entered into a strategic partnership, connecting the 800,000-strong Aethir decentralized compute community with the over 3M users who signed up for Sophon’s pre-launch campaigns.
In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the teams said Aethir would be launching on Sophon soon after its mainnet, scheduled for the third quarter of 2024. Furthermore, the projects will execute a node swap between the two communities.
Aethir is a Distributed Compute Network powering GPU-hungry applications like AI/ML training and cloud gaming. The network has two major components: the checker and reward infrastructure, and the actual compute providers. The checker and reward infrastructure will be launched on Sophon and can handle most of the verification and rewards distribution process. In addition, Aethir will also be launching a permissionless platform for providing compute, which will be available on Sophon.
Also, Sophon will run Aethir checker nodes to ensure the resiliency and reliability of the network. As part of the node swap, Sophon and Aethir node operations will receive an allocation of each partner’s tokens, ensuring the communities are mutually interested in the partnership’s success.
While commenting on this latest development, Dan said,
"The merging of Aethir's robust decentralized compute infrastructure with Sophon's cutting-edge ZK Stack technology heralds a new era for high-performance computing. This collaboration will help make top-of-the-line GPU computing more accessible and reliable for AI, ML, and cloud gaming applications. By leveraging Sophon’s advanced blockchain capabilities, we can ensure increased innovation and expansion of the reach of decentralized compute networks."
Seb, the Co-Founder of Sophon also commented that,
“We’re thrilled to be working together with Aethir to represent the very best of what Web3 is offering next. The long-term goals of Sophon and Aethir made this a natural partnership that will deliver value to both ecosystem communities, which we’re incredibly excited about”.
Daniel Wang, CEO, Aethir said,
“Decentralized compute networks and DePIN are some of the killer applications of blockchain technology, and the high performance and plug-and-play nature of our ZK chain makes it the perfect home for hosting critical components of a distributed compute network.”
Sophon is a modular blockchain built on the ZK Stack architecture launched by former ZKsync execs and backed by funds including Spartan, SevenX, OKX Ventures, Huobi Ventures, and others. It will be among the first instances of the modular and expanded ZK Stack, which enables projects to launch highly scalable and secure EVM-based chains.
The blockchain facilitates the connection between developers and users, backed by a robust strategic collaboration with ecosystems like ZKsync, Beam, Zentry, and Aethir.
Meanwhile, Aethir is revolutionizing DePIN with its advanced and distributed enterprise-grade GPU compute infrastructure tailored for AI and gaming. Aethir aims to serve enterprise AI clients who need the world’s most powerful AI chips such as NVIDIA H100s, and also to support cloud gaming players with best-in-class experiences around the world.
