Gonka, a decentralized network for high-efficiency AI compute, has officially launched, offering builders, researchers, and enterprises an open alternative to centralized cloud infrastructure.
Unlike providers that gate access through APIs and corporate pipelines, Gonka enables anyone with hardware — from a single GPU to a full-scale data center — to contribute directly to meaningful AI workloads, including model training, inference, and scientific simulations.
Breaking the Cloud Monopoly
In existing Proof-of-Stake networks, over 90% of GPU cycles are consumed on consensus tasks with no utility beyond the blockchain itself. Gonka reverses this inefficiency: nearly 100% of resources are directed toward productive AI computation. This design maximizes efficiency and ensures that every unit of compute power contributes directly to advancing AI research and applications.
Proof-of-Work 2.0 and Sprint Consensus
At the heart of Gonka is a novel Transformer-based Proof-of-Work mechanism, secured by the Sprint Consensus protocol. During short Sprint intervals, Hosts demonstrate computational capacity by running inference on randomly initialized Transformer models with billions of parameters. Voting weight is allocated proportionally to verified work, ensuring one-compute-unit-one-vote representation. Outside of Sprints, resources are freed for productive tasks.
This architecture eliminates the waste typical of legacy PoW, creating what can be called Proof-of-Work 2.0: secure, efficient, and directly aligned with AI workloads.
Validation and Security
Gonka employs randomized task verification rather than redundant checking. Only 1–10% of tasks are re-verified, with the majority consensus providing fraud detection guarantees. Hosts build reputation scores through consistent performance, lowering verification overhead as reliability increases. New participants undergo higher scrutiny until trust is earned, balancing openness with security.
Tokenomics and Early Adoption
To accelerate adoption, Gonka introduces a 180-epoch Grace Period (~6 months) where inference runs at zero cost. During this period, a fixed allocation of 323,000 GNK is minted each epoch and distributed among active Hosts. This issuance decays exponentially at a rate of –0.000475 per epoch, rewarding early contributors disproportionately. GNK is thus the first token directly representing AI compute as currency.
Permissionless by Design
Joining Gonka requires no approval. Hosts can connect GPUs, contribute compute, and earn GNK immediately. Developers interact through an OpenAI-compatible API, allowing applications to run on decentralized infrastructure without sacrificing performance or usability. Gonka preserves the smooth UX expected from centralized providers while removing corporate gatekeepers.
Mission and Vision
The Gonka protocol was not built to control the future but to prevent it from being controlled. In a world where centralized AI narrows innovation and concentrates power, Gonka creates an open, censorship-resistant alternative. Compute becomes a shared resource, accessible to all, and aligned with the principle that knowledge should remain plural.
Early Contributors and Audit
Gonka’s launch is supported by contributors including 6block, Hard Yaka, Gcore, Bitfury, and Hyperfusion, with advisors such as Greg Kidd (Hard Yaka) and Val Vavilov (Bitfury). The protocol has been audited by CertiK, ensuring its security and resilience from day one.
A New Era of Plural AI
By aligning incentives with meaningful work, minimizing waste, and ensuring open participation, Gonka establishes a foundation for a new paradigm in AI development — one where compute resources fuel open innovation rather than reinforce closed monopolies.
About Gonka
Gonka is a decentralized network for high-efficiency AI compute, designed to maximize the use of global GPU power for meaningful AI workloads. By eliminating centralized gatekeepers, Gonka provides builders and researchers with permissionless access to compute while rewarding participants through its native token, GNK.
For more information, visit gonka.ai.
