What is DePIN?

DePIN stands for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network. In traditional business models, sectors such as telecommunications, cloud storage, data, and AI are usually controlled by large corporations that dominate the entire network. With the development of blockchain technology, people have started exploring decentralized approaches that eliminate reliance on big corporations, allowing individuals to deploy their own base stations. This model enables users to share their physical resources, such as servers and storage devices, providing a decentralized, transparent, and scalable infrastructure service. The core value of DePIN lies in eliminating intermediaries in traditional cloud computing, reducing costs while enhancing network security and reliability.

What is Acurast

Acurast is a DePIN project within the Polkadot ecosystem and a Layer 1 blockchain. Its goal is to revolutionize cloud computing by utilizing the computing power of smartphones while allowing users to earn rewards. What makes Acurast unique is that users do not need to purchase specialized hardware to participate in providing computing power. Instead, they can use their old smartphones, whether Android or iPhone. Acurast supports existing Web2 applications, such as Amazon Lambda and Google Cloud Functions, as well as all Web3 applications across different ecosystems.

Project Background

Acurast was founded in 2022 and has executed over 7,500 on-chain computing deployments, with over 35,000 on-chain accounts and over 150 million transactions processed. Acurast reportedly completed a seed funding round in 2023, though the exact amount has not been disclosed. Additionally, Acurast has received grants from multiple foundations.

Acurast Website (Source: acurast)

Basic Structure of Acurast

Acurast utilizes modular separation to divide the consensus layer, execution layer, and application layer, embedding the Acurast Coordinator within the consensus layer. It also features a specially designed reputation engine to ensure system reliability and incentivize honest behavior. Acurast’s cloud architecture transforms how applications are designed and deployed. Its modular nature enables native settlement and seamless interoperability across ecosystems. Acurast is a decentralized application platform that guarantees data privacy and verifiability without introducing new trusted entities.

Acurast Architecture Diagram (Source: acurast)

Consensus Layer

The consensus layer is the foundation of Acurast, where the Orchestrator matches developers’ deployments with processors. Acurast’s consensus layer is based on a variant of the Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) algorithm, which differs from traditional Proof of Stake (PoS) networks. In NPoS, there are both validators and nominators. Acurast’s NPoS system fully utilizes nominators to ensure the integrity of the network.

The reputation engine is another core component of the consensus layer, which ensures that processors’ reputation scores are accurately updated and incentivizes honest behavior. Both nominators and validators have multiple consistent incentive mechanisms. Nominators have an economic stake in the system, meaning that if validators act maliciously, they may incur losses. Both nominators and validators have reputation interests, with nominators’ credibility being influenced by the validators they choose. Due to the limited number of validator seats in the NPoS structure, a healthy competitive environment is created, encouraging nominators to choose the most effective validators to ensure the integrity and security of the network.

Execution Layer

Acurast’s execution layer is modular, allowing for a flexible selection of runtimes based on use cases and requirements. There are two key components of the execution layer. The first consists of different processor runtimes, namely the Acurast Secure Hardware Runtime (ASHR) and the Acurast Zero-Knowledge Runtime (AZKR). The second component is the Acurast Universal Interoperability Layer, which includes several modules for native interaction with different ecosystems.

The Acurast Secure Hardware Runtime (ASHR) is a general-purpose approach designed to provide enhanced protection through hardware-level security. This approach allows computations and data storage to be performed on physical hardware, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and security of the data, and preventing external attacks or unauthorized access.

The Acurast Zero-Knowledge Runtime (AZKR) is another approach that uses recursive Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) to achieve general-purpose verifiable computations. It can generate and aggregate proofs for any computation. This method enhances data privacy and ensures that computations in a distributed network can be trusted and verified.

Application Layer

The application layer is the third layer of Acurast, where Web2 or Web3 applications run. While many DeFi protocols have already integrated with Acurast, the platform will develop a broader range of use cases that were previously impossible to achieve with confidentiality and decentralization.

How to Participate and Earn Points Rewards

cACU Points Rewards

Compared to other platforms that require purchasing specialized equipment to provide computing power, Acurast is much more convenient. Users can easily participate by using their idle old smartphones. After participating, they can check their cACU token rewards in the Acurast balance. The reward mechanism is fairly fixed, with each smartphone earning 250 tokens per month. The more phones that are online and the longer they are used, the more token rewards users can accumulate. Developers deploying applications on the Acurast cloud and utilizing users’ processor resources will also receive additional rewards.

Acurast’s native token, $ACU, has not yet been released, with a planned total supply of 1 billion tokens. The exchange rate between cACU points and ACU tokens has not been disclosed. According to the official plan, the $ACU token is expected to undergo a Token Generation Event (TGE) in the first half of this year.

cACU Points Interface (Source: acurast)

MIST Points Rewards

In addition to cACU tokens, Acurast offers a separate MIST points reward system, where participants earn higher rankings with more points. There are three ways to earn MIST points:

1. Phones Participating: Each participating phone earns 1 MIST point every 15 minutes. The longer the phone is online, and the more phones are involved, the more MIST points users can earn per hour.

2. Invite New Users: By inviting others to join the Rebellion event, the inviter and the invited person will receive points when the invited person runs a phone or participates in the processor process.

3. Complete Tasks: Tasks will be posted on the official website interface, and users can earn corresponding points rewards by completing them.

Cloud Rebellion Dashboard (Source: rebellion.acurast.com)

Ecosystem Partners

Acurast supports multiple ecosystems and is capable of interacting with various environments. Built with interoperability at its core, Acurast supports a wide range of Web3 ecosystems and integrates with different environments such as EVM, WASM, Substrate, and more. This ensures adaptability and efficiency in different operational scenarios.

Acurast Ecosystem Partners (Source: acurast.com)

Risk Analysis

Although the Acurast project holds great potential, it will face several risks and challenges during its development. First, the stability of computing power may be affected by factors such as the hardware performance of participating devices, network bandwidth, and battery life, leading to fluctuations in computing resources that could impact the platform’s overall performance. Second, the design of the $ACU token economic model could affect user and processor participation if incentives are too high or too low, potentially causing significant price fluctuations and disrupting the platform’s ecosystem balance. Additionally, Acurast must consider competition from other projects in the same space, such as mainstream cloud service providers like Amazon AWS and Google Cloud. Finally, the platform’s user incentive mechanism needs to maintain long-term appeal; otherwise, participant attrition could affect network activity. Therefore, Acurast must continuously optimize its technology, economics, and market strategies to mitigate risks and ensure the project’s sustainable development.

Future Development and Conclusion

Looking ahead, Acurast is actively preparing for its Token Generation Event (TGE) in the coming months. After achieving compatibility with Android and iOS devices, new reward and pricing systems and staking and economic security mechanisms will be rolled out. These efforts aim to reshape the future of computing, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, including enhancing confidential AI features. Acurast is also focused on exploring new use cases for decentralized AI computing. These developments offer more opportunities for developers and expand the application scope of Acurast’s decentralized infrastructure.

Acurast is still in its early stages, and it is precisely because it is in this early phase that we can participate as one of the first users. This could lead to greater rewards in the future. It is believed that DePIN will see significant growth in 2025 as its value is increasingly recognized and its real-world applications address tangible problems.