Acurast Tokenomics — Fueling Decentralized Compute with ACU
We promised in our last blog post about the Launch Map that we would release more details on the Acurast mainnet tokenomics in February. This blog post delivers on that promise.
But before we do, I’d like to mention some of the highlights achieved in the first two months of this year. What struck me the most is that, despite all the volatility and noise in the markets, Acurast’s participation and growth metrics are at an all-time high! This goes to show how amazing our community of rebels is and how having real substance in both community and infrastructure always trumps fake vanity numbers.
Highlights:
- The launch of Season 3 of the Cloud Rebellion was a roaring success! If you haven’t joined yet, what are you waiting for?
- We’ve cracked the 40,000 onboarded real-devices mark (for comparison, we were at 25,000 last December), and there’s no sign of this growth slowing down.
- There’s a lot of buzz and activity on social media. Seeing all those amazing setups is one of the most motivating things for the team!
We couldn’t have wished for a better community and are thrilled about what’s coming next.
Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the main topic of this post.
Acurast Tokenomics
Acurast is the decentralized compute network designed to power the emerging decentralized compute economy by aligning developers, compute providers, and end-users around shared incentives. At the heart of Acurast is the ACU token and economic model, fueling a secure, scalable, and decentralized compute ecosystem while incentivizing active collaboration and sustainable growth. Also, with tokenomics, we’re focusing on a sustainable community-first approach.
Key Highlights
- Initial Supply at TGE: 1,000,000,000 ACU
- Adaptive inflation: between 1% and 5% annual inflation
- Only 6.5% allocated to early backers — while important for funding and supporting us all the way to mainnet, we kept this allocation very low in order to facilitate a fair launch of the token.
- Nearly 70% of tokens are allocated to the community or community-supporting purposes (Community Treasury, TGE Community Activation, Operational Funds, Liquidity Provision)
- Team and Advisors have the longest lock-ups, aligning them with the long-term mission of the project.
By capping early backers at just 6.5% and allocating the majority of tokens to the community and community-supporting initiatives, the token distribution puts the ecosystem interests first, acknowledges early contributions to the broader crypto ecosystem, and fosters the creation of services and products on top of Acurast — ultimately supporting the project’s roadmap and long-term objectives. Moving the needle again to decentralization, because decentralized compute is not for the few but for the many.
Genesis Token Allocation
Allocation Categories
Early Backers: A small, diverse group providing initial funding to ensure the protocol reaches mainnet maturity without heavy institutional influence.
Team and Advisors: Tokens for the core contributors of the protocol, encompassing employees, advisors, founders and future key team members, with the longest lock-up; this allocation is structured to align for long-term incentives.
TGE Community Activation: Tokens from the participation of the launchpad token launch, canarynet token conversions, airdrops and additional broader activation of the community on TGE.
Community Treasury: With decentralization in mind from the first day, a large part of the tokens are allocated towards the community treasury, allowing ACU holders to determine through on-chain governance the future development of the protocol and support significant contributions via governance proposals.
Operational Funds: Strategic funds with the mandate to foster protocol acceleration and growth, governed by the Acurast Association council.
Liquidity Provision: This allocation is used exclusively to ensure enough liquidity of the Acurast Token on centralised and decentralised exchanges.
Token Allocations
Only tokens allocated to the community and community support will unlock at TGE. All other allocations are locked for at least 24 months after TGE and are released gradually over that period.
Token Utility
Network Fees: The Acurast network, a Proof of Stake blockchain, acts as an orchestrator and settlement layer for the decentralized compute economy. To interact with the Acurast network, ACU is required for transaction fees.
Staking: While compute is secured by design, an additional layer of economic security is added to the network by staking through Processors. Stakers receive fees from the network as rewards for providing economic security to the network. Every ACU holder can participate in staking without having to run their own Processor through Delegation.
Settlement: ACU acts as a unified settlement token for the system to assign and measure reputation and quality of service of the provided compute. A 30% burn is applied on every settlement transaction to avoid reputation score tampering. This mechanism is abstracted from the end user, making payment for decentralized compute on Acurast possible in any token.
Governance: Holders of ACU can engage in protocol governance by voting on a variety of proposals brought forward by the community, guiding the development of the protocol and its components, and ensuring true decentralisation and future-proof evolution by design.
Inflation
Inflation is what makes the Acurast process sustainable by rewarding active participation in the protocol and creating incentives to be run as a decentralized protocol indefinitely. The protocol sets inflation between 1% and 5% annually, depending on various on-chain metrics, and can be further adapted through governance votes.
What about cACU and MIST?
Back in 2023 (https://acurast.medium.com/the-road-to-acurast-mainnet-dab4ec5ca78d), we explained the differences between the various Acurast networks. We also clarified the purpose of the current canary network, where cACU tokens are currently being earned. Even after the mainnet launch, the canary network — with its fast-paced update cycles — will remain, and so will cACU.
However, the current processors community has expressed the desire for a conversion path that allows canary network cACU holders to convert their cACU to mainnet ACU. While the specific conversion mechanics will be finalized before the TGE, one thing is clear: the community comes first at Acurast. We will listen to community feedback and provide such a conversion path, and the required ACUs for this will come from the “Community Activation” allocation.
Now, what about MIST? The Cloud Rebellion is our loyalty platform. It has proven itself as an effective way to boost community engagement and turn users into fans and promoters. Cloud Rebels are the most important part of this community and will continue to be. There will also be a reserved allocation for Cloud Rebels from the “Community Activation,” and the Cloud Rebellion platform will remain relevant even after the mainnet launch.
Summary
A lot of effort and hard work has gone into turning Acurast from a dream into reality. As a community, we’ve come a long way and can be proud of everything we’ve accomplished. Everyone involved (Cloud Rebels, Team, Advisors, Partners, Developers, Processors, etc.) wants this launch to be as successful as possible and is working tirelessly to make it happen. Exciting times lie ahead, and with the mainnet launch, we’ll be able to write the next big and important chapter of this journey.
You truly are the best community one could ever wish for, and I’m glad we’re able to reflect that with a fair token distribution. Rebels, buckle up — we’re just getting started!!!
