Aethir One-pager
Aethir Executive Summary
GPUs have become a critical and rapidly expanding part of the global technology market. With the Al boom, the demand for high-performance GPUs has surged, significantly outpacing supply. This growth in demand for GPUs, essential for Al development and operations, has led to a notable scarcity, impacting both costs and availability. Despite the high demand, this scarcity has created challenges in procurement, affecting various sectors reliant on these technologies (e.g. Al, Gaming, loT etc). Whilst growth in the sector remains robust, the market is signalling decelerating advancements across these industries if this issue isn't addressed.
These overarching patterns have sparked considerable discussion regarding the impact of major Al advancement and the capability of the semiconductor industry. In particular, the growth rate of Large Language Model (LLM) complexity, like ChatGPT, appears to be exponential whereas GPU chipset advancements remain linear. In light of these circumstances, and not discounting the geopolitical relevance of semiconductor manufacturing in Taiwan, it is critical to look to alternative solutions to address the compute shortage and continue to support the expanding growth of GPU reliant sectors like Al and gaming.
Aethir offers a disruptive, yet highly amenable solution to this complex, global issue. Our network aggregates and intelligently redistributes new and idle GPUs from enterprises, data centres, cryptocurrency mining operations and consumers. With the average US Data Centre GPU utilization rate being only 10-15%, the market opportunity to better redistribute GPU capacity is extensive. Aethir's solution will provide increased access to current supply, de-risk new investments, and has the capability to >10x current global GPU compute availability.
Aethir Introduction
Aethir is a cloud computing infrastructure platform that revolutionizes the ownership, distribution, and utilization paradigms of enterprise-grade graphical processing units (GPUs). By moving away from traditional centralized models, Aethir has deployed a scalable and competitive framework for sharing distributed computational resources, catering to enterprise applications and clientele across various industries and regions.
At its core, Aethir optimizes GPU utilization for compute-intensive domains and applications like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Cloud Gaming – amongst several others. This is achieved through a two-pronged approach:
Resource Pooling: Owners can contribute their underutilized GPUs to Aethir's network, effectively forming a collective pool of potent computing resources. This enables global GPU distribution at significantly reduced costs, democratizing access to advanced computational power.
Decentralized Ownership: Aethir's model transcends the limitations of traditional ownership structures by enabling distributed resource possession. This fosters a more equitable and open technological landscape, dismantling barriers to entry for new consumers, opening new economic opportunities, and contributing to a globally diverse and interconnected digital ecosystem.
Aethir offers a cloud platform architected with a distributed GPU framework specifically designed to address the demanding processing requirements of industries like gaming, AI model training and inference. This architecture seamlessly integrates disparate GPU clusters into a unified network, demonstrably increasing cluster sizes and improving reliability and infrastructure resilience. This renders Aethir ideal for uniting geographically dispersed resources to tackle large-scale AI workloads, reducing global reliance on incumbent cloud leaders.
Aethir's commitment to decentralization extends beyond mere resource ownership. Its geographically distributed infrastructure transcends the inherent limitations of centralized solutions, ensuring broader accessibility and laying the groundwork for the necessary evolution and maturation of the GPU cloud.
In essence, Aethir represents a paradigm shift in the future of computing resource allocation. Its core tenets – decentralized ownership, collaborative cross-cluster operations, and scalable regional deployments – pave the way for a new wave of economic and technological advancement. Aethir is not merely transforming the cloud computing landscape; it is actively shaping a more interconnected, efficient, and innovation-driven, global GPU cloud economy.
A critical characteristic of Aethir's DCI is the focus on repurposing existing, idle resources, rather than requiring participants to purchase new hardware. Underutilized GPU capacity estimates range from 50- 75%, indicating a vast reservoir of untapped digital resources that could be monetized. Aethir's DCI aims to tap into this abundance of idle resources by targeting small to medium-sized data centers and enterprises.
Aethir Token
The Aethir Token, ATH, is central to Aethir’s ecosystem, acting as the primary currency for transactions within Aethir. This includes: facilitating payments for AI applications, cloud gaming and virtualized compute.
ATH will also be a core driver of governance, staking, security and quality assurance.
Important Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AethirCloud
Discord: https://discord.gg/aethircloud
Website: https://Aethir.com
FAQ
What is Aethir?
Aethir is an enterprise-focused, distributed GPU cloud provider with the largest GPU network and highest committed revenue within the DePIN sector. Aethir holds the keys to global GPU compute, arguably the most valuable and most disruptive asset in history.
How does Aethir work?
In the Aethir ecosystem, "Containers," "Indexers," and "Checkers" have distinct roles:
Containers: They are fundamental units within Aethir, serving as virtual endpoints where cloud-based applications are executed and rendered. Their purpose is to ensure an immediate and responsive cloud experience, effectively shifting the workload from local devices to the Container.
Indexers: These act as connectors within the network, optimizing the match between users and Containers. They prioritize based on service fee, experience, and overall evaluation, aiming to minimize latency and ensure high-quality rendering.
Checkers: Their role is to maintain the integrity and performance of Containers. They verify container specifications and monitor performance during active rendering, ensuring the network's Quality of Service. This involves checks at various stages, including registration and during rendering.
These components work together to ensure Aethir's distributed cloud infrastructure operates efficiently and meets its performance standards.
What Blockchain is Aethir built on?
The token will be launched as "ERC-20" on the Arbitrum network.
Is Aethir audited?
Preliminary audit conducted by Certik. Final audit in-progress.
What is Aethir's main token utility?
Governance: ATH token holders can vote to decide on governance decisions
Staking: Aethir containers stake ATH for their computing power to earn future ATH rewards
Medium of Exchange: Developers pay ATH tokens for service fees to get computing power from containers
Liquidity and Collateral: ATH tokens can be used as native liquidity and collateral in the Aethir ecosystem
Aethir Network
The Aethir network is driven by five essential roles: miners, developers, users, token holders, and the Aethir DAO. Miners are categorized into three types: Containers, Checkers, and Indexers. Together, these roles facilitate network consensus and effective rendering services. The lifeblood of the network is the ATH token, which plays a pivotal role in stimulating user engagement, supporting the development of diverse applications within the ecosystem, and expanding our user base. This dynamic creates a self-sustaining cycle that encourages continual growth and development of the Aethir network.
Participants
The Aethir network stands at the forefront of decentralized cloud rendering, with an economy that integrates on-chain assets, smart contracts, and decentralized rendering services. Building this sophisticated economy requires a vision for the long-term and a commitment to aligning all participants with the network's goals.
Architecture Design
The Aethir network integrates three essential roles for its operation: Container, Indexer, and Checker. The Container's key function is to deliver real-time, remote rendering services, essential for a seamless cloud experience. The Indexer facilitates the connection between users and the most suitable Containers, ensuring an optimal match for the application’s requirements. The Checker role is pivotal in assessing the performance and service quality of Containers, guaranteeing reliable and efficient operation. The Layer 2 Arbitrum network underpins the Aethir ecosystem, providing a decentralized settlement layer that enhances the user experience with ATH tokens. It efficiently records transaction information, addressing critical challenges such as scalability, transaction speed, and high fees in blockchain systems. As blockchain technology evolves, Aethir is poised to expand these capabilities in a fully decentralized framework.
Role of the Indexer
Central to Aethir’s network, the Indexer matches consumers with suitable Containers, ensuring a swift launch of cloud-based apps & services. The goal is to deliver a “second on” service - the transition from a consumer’s request to the actual delivery (e.g., a player making a request to a game screen) should occur in the shortest possible time. This requires succinct signaling and efficient scheduling.
Scheduling Considerations:
Container Status: Must be in Standby state.
Service Deployment: The cloud services should be pre-installed in the container.
Resource Requirements: The container’s specifications must meet the hardware and network demands of the cloud services.
Latency: The distance between the container and the consumer or enterprise should fall within acceptable latency limits.
Service Fee: The container’s fee should not exceed the developer's budget.
Selection Criteria: The Indexer prioritizes containers based on lowest service fee, best experience, or the best overall evaluation index.
Decentralization and Fraud Prevention: To maintain decentralization and enhance user experience, Indexers are selected randomly. This approach helps mitigate potential fraud risks and minimizes signaling delays due to protocol complexity.
Role of the Checker
The Checker ensures the integrity and performance of Containers within the Aethir network. Verifying container specifications as provided by the Container Providers is essential to maintain the network's Quality of Service (QoS).
Check Processes:
At Registration: When a container is registered on the Aethir network.
In Standby State: Random checks are conducted on containers in standby.
During Rendering State: Service information is collected and assessed to judge the actual service status.
Outcome of Checks:
Registration Validation: Confirms container specifications and successful registration.
Scheduling Influence: Affects the container's scheduling opportunity and priority by the Indexer.
Quality Control: Determines penalties for subpar service quality.
Checking Methods:
Performance Parameters: Direct reading of container's performance data.
Simulation Testing: Acting as a consumer to test applications and analyze interactions, ensuring compliance with claimed specifications.
Checker Deployment: Initially deployed by the Aethir, with plans for gradual decentralization.
Role of the Container
Fundamental to the Aethir network, the Container is where the actual use of the cloud takes place. It acts as a virtual endpoint, executing and rendering the application (e.g., rendering the game for the player). The Container's purpose is to ensure that the cloud experience is immediate and responsive, offering a "zero lag" experience. This is achieved by shifting the workload from the local device to the Container (e.g., shifting all game execution and command processing).
Operational Considerations:
Container Status: Must always be in a ready state, prepared for immediate activation upon consumer request.
Application Deployment: Each Container should have the application or services pre-installed and configured to allow quick access and startup.
Processing Capability: Containers need to meet specific processing and graphical requirements to handle the applications or services without performance issues.
Network Efficiency: Must possess the bandwidth and network infrastructure to support high-speed data transfer and low-latency interactions.
Selection Process:
Performance-Based: Containers are selected based on their ability to provide the highest quality of service with the lowest possible latency and cost.
Experience Optimization: Containers are assessed for their capability to deliver the best possible consumer or enterprise application experience, considering factors such as frame rate and resolution.
Resource Provisioning:
Rewards for Readiness: Containers receive compensation for maintaining a state of high readiness and for providing standby services.
Incentives for Service: Additional rewards are given for the actual runtime during which Containers are actively used by consumers.
Quality Assurance:
Performance Validation: A Container's performance is regularly checked to ensure it continues to meet the network's standards.
Service Feedback: The actual user experience is monitored and used to adjust the priority and selection of Containers in the future.
Understanding Roles in the Network
In the network, we have three key roles that ensure everything runs smoothly:
Containers: Think of Containers as the powerhouse of our network. They're like specialized computers that do all the heavy lifting, from validating transactions to rendering digital content. We've made sure they're diverse in their capabilities to cater to different needs.
Checkers: These are the quality inspectors. They continuously check on the Containers to make sure they're working correctly and efficiently.
Indexers: Consider them as matchmakers. They connect users to the best available Container, ensuring a fast and high-quality experience.
How Containers Work – Simplified
Containers have several states they can be in, which determine how they operate in our network:
Ready to Configure: When a Container is new, it's like it's waiting for its instructions. This is the time when it's set up with the right settings and information.
Waiting for Check-Up: Once set up, the Container waits for a Checker to make sure everything is in order.
Checked and Ready: If the Checker gives a thumbs up, the Container is all set to be used in the network.
Need Rechecking: If something's not right, the Container goes back for another check-up.
Connected and Healthy: A Container needs to show it's well-connected and functioning correctly. This is like a regular heartbeat, showing it's alive and kicking.
Locked for Maintenance: Sometimes, a Container needs a tune-up or an upgrade. During this time, it's not available for use.
Quality Control: We always monitor the quality of a Container's work. If it's not up to the mark, it needs to be checked and fixed.
What You See on the Dashboard
Ready for Action: Containers that have passed checks and are healthy.
Busy Working: Containers currently in the middle of a task.
Taking a Break: Containers that are offline or not in a healthy state.
Getting Set Up: Containers being prepared for action.
Billing and Usage
Active Use: Containers that are online, healthy, and busy with tasks.
On Standby: Containers that are ready and waiting but not currently busy.
Fee Adjustments: In certain situations, like if a Container isn't performing well or is offline when it shouldn't be, there could be fee adjustments.
Understanding the Aethir Network
The Aethir Network is a unique digital system that combines technology and economy. It’s like a bustling city where different players (miners, developers, users, token holders, and the Aethir DAO) come together to make everything work smoothly.
Proof of Rendering
Unlike usual blockchain networks, Aethir Network uses a special way to operate. Here, the nodes (think of them as individual workers) do two main jobs:
Proof of Rendering Capacity: Every 15 minutes, a group of these workers is randomly chosen to validate transactions (like checking if everything’s in order). The more they have invested (in terms of tokens), the better their service quality, and the less often they’ve been chosen before, the more likely they are to be picked.
Proof of Rendering Work: While working, their performance is closely monitored to ensure quality. The network makes sure that users get the best possible service, adjusting resources based on demand and location.
Session Dynamics
A session, lasting 15 minutes, is the primary unit of service. Think of it as booking a short service time-slot. The cost of each session changes depending on how busy the network is.
Container Statuses
Containers (like mini-offices or stations in the network) have various states that define what they are currently doing or capable of doing. These states include whether they are setting up, ready to work, locked for updates, etc.
Staking and Rewards
Think of staking as putting some money in a savings account. The more you put in, and the better your container performs, the more rewards you get. These rewards are given out in stages and are based on how much work your container does and how well it performs.
Service Modes
The network operates in two modes:
Service Modes: The network operates in two modes:
Wholesale: Like bulk buying, where services are pre-booked at a set price.
Service Fees
This is the cost paid by developers to the containers for the services. It’s a bit like a bidding system where the price can go up or down based on demand.
Slash Mechanism
There is a 10% slashing penalty for every invalid calculation, on your unclaimed rewards balance. 25% of the slashing redistributes to nodes eligible for bonus rewards, and 75% goes to governance for later redistribution. To thank our early adopters, there will be a 3 month grace period, such that no nodes will be subject to slashing rewards.
Aethir Tokenomics
Central to the Aethir ecosystem is the ATH token, a multifaceted asset designed not only for transactions but also for governance, incentivization, and platform development. The architecture in regards to ATH ensures that as Aethir’s ecosystem and platform continues to grow and capture a stronger foothold within the cloud computing industry, value continues accruing to ATH and its token holders, ensuring aligned objectives between token holders, and the team.
Beyond its immediate utility, the ATH token embodies the principles of diversified application, decentralized governance, and stringent quality assurance. With a total supply of 42 billion tokens, Aethir has meticulously strategized its token allocation to ensure optimal ecosystem growth and balance stakeholder interests within both the short and long-term.
This section delves into the essence of the ATH token's dynamics, its comprehensive role within the ecosystem, and the strategic distribution methodologies that highlight Aethir's commitment to its community. Through detailed narratives, it explores the thought processes behind Aethir's yearly emission schedule, aiming to shed light on the platform's foundational economic strategies. Dive in to understand the mechanics and vision driving the ATH token's design and application.
Token Overview
Token Distribution of Aethir
ATH Token’s Utility & Purpose
The ATH token, native to Aethir, plays a multifunctional role in the ecosystem:
Transactional Utility:
Primarily, ATH acts as the standard medium of exchange within Aethir. Demand-side participants looking to purchase processing power engage with node operators, compensating them in ATH for their computing power. This reflects within Aethir’s three main business models: AI applications, cloud compute, and virtualized compute.
Diversified Application:
Beyond its application in AI applications, virtualized compute, and cloud gaming, ATH finds use as the ecosystem grows. With the introduction of merge mining and integrated marketplaces, the ATH token will continue to grow in use case as the preferred means of transaction, showcasing its adaptability, relevance and future integrations, potentially giving way to a plethora of different use cases that ATH can be incorporated into.
Governance and Participation:
Furthermore, as Aethir moves towards establishing its DAO, the ATH token takes on an additional role in governance. Token holders are empowered to propose, discuss, and vote on platform changes, ensuring that Aethir maintains its decentralized ethos.
Staking:
New node operators wishing to contribute to the Aethir ecosystem are required to stake ATH tokens as an initial commitment. This staking mechanism ensures that participants are economically aligned with the platform's objectives. In addition to serving as a symbol of commitment, the staked ATH tokens function as a protective measure against potential misconduct. As these tokens act as collateral should any node operator engage in actions that deviate from the platform's standards or exhibit any form of malpractice, they face the risk of having a portion or all of their staked ATH tokens slashed.
Mining Rewards
Aethir's choice to dedicate large amount of Total Token Supply (TTS) to mining rewards is a strategic play to fortify its ecosystem. Highlighting a clear recognition of the value of its contributors.
Here’s why this chunk of allocation matters:
Backing Node Operators: Node operators are the backbone of Aethir, supplying the necessary computing power. The incentive fund is designed to draw resource providers in and keep them committed.
Upholding Container Standards: Aethir relies on its containers to provide computing resources. By incentivizing them properly, Aethir attracts the most efficient resource providers.
In short, the mining rewards isn't just an allocation; it's an investment. Aethir is betting big on its community, ensuring the platform isn’t just viable today but remains strong in the future.
The mining rewards is strategically divided into:
Proof of Rendering Work: Token incentives are provided to node operators as an additional reward for completing computing tasks within the ecosystem. This encourages supply-side entities to join Aethir’s ecosystem and provide valuable processing and computing work. Proof of Rendering Work is exclusively distributed to containers upon completing computing tasks.
Proof of Capacity: Compute Providers earn Proof of Rendering Capacity for demonstrating readiness to provide compute services. Even in the absence of active work, providers receive rewards to incentivize onboarding onto the ecosystem, thus mitigating participation risks.
Mining Reward Emissions
With the importance of Mining Rewards for ecosystem participants discussed beforehand, the emissions of mining rewards is critical in order to balance onboarding of resource providers, upholding container standards, and ensuring long-term sustainability of rewards. This is to ensure that despite the frontloading of rewards, by utilising a decay function for bootstrapping, participants and resource providers who enter Aethir’s ecosystem at a latter stage are not punished, but still heavily incentivized to enter and provide towards the ecosystem.
More in-depth information in regards to the exact mining reward emissions and the decay function will be released in the near future.
Checker Nodes Explained
What is a Checker Node
A Checker Node is one of the three fundamental components of the Aethir Network backend infrastructure:
Containers: Fundamental to the Aethir network, the Container is where the actual use of the cloud takes place. It acts as a virtual endpoint, executing and rendering the application (e.g., rendering the game for a player, executing an inference task for an AI consumer, powering a virtual phone). The Container's purpose is to ensure that the cloud experience is immediate and responsive, offering a "zero lag" experience. This is achieved by shifting the workload from the local device to the Container (e.g., shifting all game execution and command processing).
Checkers: The Checker ensures the integrity and performance of Containers within the Aethir network. Verifying container specifications as provided by the Container Providers is essential to maintain the network's Quality of Service (QoS).
Indexers: Core to Aethir’s network, the Indexer matches consumers with suitable Containers, ensuring a swift launch of cloud-based apps & services. The goal is to deliver a “second on” service - the transition from a consumer’s request to the actual delivery (e.g. a player making a request to a game screen) should occur in the shortest possible time. This requires succinct signaling and efficient scheduling.
How do Checker Nodes Work
Checker nodes ensure the integrity and service quality of Aethir network by checking the Container and its service process. The parameters mainly include Liveness, Capacity and Quality of Service. The checking methods include Heartbeat collection, Benchmark testing, and Link data collection and analysis, etc.
After a Checker Node completes a task, it signs the results with its private key and delivers them to the Referee. The Referee will receive 2N+1 results for each Container, and each Node that delivered the same result as the majority, will be rewarded in tokens.
What is the Checker Node License (NFT)
The Checker Node License, which is an ERC721 NFT, allows you to earn rewards by running a Checker Node Client. You can choose to run your Checker Node Client on your own machine, through a VPS or NaaS, or delegate to another user's machine.
You can purchase your NFT either from checker.aethir.com, or through secondary market in the future.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Node-as-a-Service (NaaS) Provider
Should you not want to run the Checker Node Client on your own machine, you can choose a Virtual Private Servers (VPS), or a Node-as-a-Service (NaaS). The key difference between the two is that - you need to setup, deploy and manage nodes yourself on a VPS, but everything is managed for you via NaaS. You can “delegate” your Checker Node License (NFT) to a NaaS provider and earn rewards automatically.
Here are some VPS options. Make sure you pick the package that matches the minimum hardware requirements. The location has no influence on whether you can pass the KYC or claim rewards.
- AWS
- Tencent Cloud
- Racknerd
- Hostwinds
- Digital ocean
Here are some NaaS options.
- Animoca
- Luganodes
- Nodeops
- Builder
We are working on securing partnerships for our Checker Node Sale early adopters! More information on this coming soon. Please stay tuned on our social media for announcements.
What is a Checker Node Client
A Checker Node Client is the software you can download and install on your machine, to run a Checker Node. You can find more information on how to run a Checker Node Client and the minimum hardware requirements here.
How to run a Checker Node Client?
You can download the Checker Node Client from Aethir website Q2 2024. The first stage of supported OS is Windows and Linux. More platforms will become available in phases. We are also planning to roll out CLI support for owners to easily launch their nodes. Your daily operation is simply keeping your nodes up and running. Stay tuned for more information on this!
You can review the hardware requirements here.
Who can run a Checker Node Client
Anyone can run a Checker Node Client, as long as they hold a Checker Node License (NFT), or received delegation from an NFT Owner. You can purchase your NFT either from checker.aethir.com, or through secondary market in the future.
What is the hardware requirements for running Checker Node Client
Checker Node Client can be run on the lowest-end hardware devices. The minimum requirements are listed below:
64MB RAM - 1 X86 - CPU Cores@2.1GHz - 10GB Disk Space - 10Mbps Internet Connection
Alternatively, users can deploy on a VPS or through a NaaS provider and you can run up to 100 nodes on a single server.
How can a Checker Node Client earn rewards
Checker Nodes earn through mining rewards which get distributed in the form of $vATH tokens.
10% of the Total Token Supply is allocated to these mining rewards over a 4 year timeframe, plus a 5% bonus for those who qualify. Quarterly assessments including uptime, no early withdrawals etc, will be performed to check for eligibility for bonus rewards.
To thank all our early adopters, bonus rewards will be distributed to all checker nodes who participated in this sale for the first 6 months.
Can I operate multiple licenses on a single machine
You can operate up to 100 licenses on a single machine. However, putting more licenses on a singular node does increase the amount of throughput that your computer will need for the Checker Client, including the hashing of submissions and submitting claims to the chain.
Delegation
Delegation is the process of authorizing Checker Node Client to earn rewards for your Checker Node License (NFT).
As an NFT owner, you can choose which Checker Node Client to delegate to via your Portal (coming soon!). If you are running the node yourself, you can find your burner wallet address inside the Checker Node Client. It is important to verify that you are delegating to the correct wallet address, so that you are not penalized for invalid calculations or downtime. You can choose to un-delegate or re-delegate anytime through your Portal.
As a node runner, you can choose to accept or reject a delegation request inside the Checker Client. You can also choose to end a delegation at any point of time. It is important to verify that you are accepting delegation from the correct owner wallet, else you’d be earning rewards for the wrong person.
What is NFT Owner and User
Since NFTs are non-transferrable for a year, you can’t modify Owner of your NFT, however, to run nodes, you need to delegate your NFT to your node, or someone else’s node, by modifying the User role. Check out What is Delegation for more information on this.
Can I transfer my Checker Node License (NFT)
No. NFT is not transferrable for the first year.
What is a burner wallet
As the name suggests, your burner wallet is a “disposable wallet,” that will be created when you install your Checker Node Client. The sole purpose of a burner wallet is to receive NFT delegation in order to earn rewards for the Owner wallet of the NFT. Since no on-chain transactions are required from the burner wallet, you do not, and should not transfer any tokens into the burner wallet.
What is the relationship between Owner wallet and Burner wallet
Owner wallet is the wallet address that holds your non-transferrable NFT. Once you install the Checker Node Client, you will receive a burner wallet inside the Checker Client. Token rewards will be accrued inside your Owner wallet, and can only be claimed and withdrawn from the Owner wallet.
Claim Rewards
$vATH tokens vest into $ATH in 120 days after you choose to claim. If an Owner choose to withdraw early (30 days) and skips the vesting period, a 75% penalty is applied to the conversion, and owner loses eligibility for bonus rewards. After 120 days, the default vesting period will be 180 days. There is a 10 $ATH minimum requirement for withdraw.
You can claim and withdraw from the Owner Portal.
What is the relationship between Claim and Withdraw
When owners claim their token rewards, they can choose to either withdraw in 30 days, or withdraw in 120 days (and 180 days after the first 120 days). When owners chose early withdraw, 75% penalty will be applied, so owner will only be able to withdraw 25% of the rewards. At the end of 30 days, or 120 days, owner will be able to withdraw the entire eligible amount. Both Claim and Withdraw will be transactions submitted on-chain, so standard gas fees applies. There is also a 5$ATH fee for each claim.
Once owner chooses to claim, regardless of whether it’s been withdrawn or not, the claimed amount is excluded from slashing penalty.
Do Checker Node Clients have any slashing mechanism
Yes. There is a 10% slashing penalty for every invalid calculation, on your unclaimed rewards balance. 25% of the slashing redistributes to nodes eligible for bonus rewards, and 75% goes to governance for later redistribution. To thank our early adopters, there will be a 3 month grace period, such that no nodes will be subject to slashing rewards.
KYC
While you don’t need to KYC for purchasing NFT or running Checker client. You do need to KYC when you claim tokens. Our KYC requirement is that you are above 18, and not US citizen.
Checker Node Sale Dynamics
How to Purchase Node
Step 1 - Go to https://checker.aethir.com and connect your wallet
While purchasing nodes does not require you to KYC, claiming node rewards requires KYC. Therefore, we encourage all users to KYC before participating in the node sale.
Rewards from running nodes will be airdropped to the same wallet used to purchase and cannot be changed.
Step 2 - Get wETH and Arbitrum gas tokens
The Aethir Node Sale will be on the Arbitrum Network. You will need:
Wrapped ETH (wETH) to purchase the Checker Node Licenses
ETH for gas fees
How to get wETH:
Option 1 - Purchase wETH on Arbitrum (Uniswap)
Purchase wETH directly from any Arbitrum DEX
Option 2 - Bridge ETH to Arbitrum with Arbitrum Bridge
For users with existing ETH on other chains, you can opt to bridge to Arbitrum using the Arbitrum Bridge (https://bridge.arbitrum.io)
Be sure to leave sufficient ETH in your wallet for gas
Swap ETH to wETH on any Arbitrum DEX
Aethir will conduct the checker node sale on the Arbitrum network using wrapped Ethereum (wETH). The snapshot for the wETH to USD price for the node sale will be taken on 14 March, 06:00 AM UTC at $3970.985 per ETH.
Step 3 - Select available tier and click “Purchase”
Note: All images used are for illustrative purposes only. The actual sale page may differ from the images displayed.
There are a total of 50 tiers available for purchase. New tiers become available for purchase when the previous tier has sold out.
Step 4 - Input promo code if you have one
If you have a promo code to use, click on “Use promo code” and enter your code.
Note that sale discounts from using a promo code will not be automatically applied during purchase. Cash rebates will be airdropped to your purchase wallets upon confirmation your referrer has also purchased a node.
Step 5 - Purchase your Checker Node License
Click on “Approve” on the sale page. You will be prompted to sign a contract in your wallet. Once it has been signed, select “Purchase” and click “Agree” to the Terms & Conditions.
Congratulations you have now successfully purchased your Checker Node License!
What’s Next?
After purchasing an Aethir node, investors will receive an ERC-721 NFT to the wallet addresses used during the Aethir node sale. The NFT symbolizes ownership of the purchased Aethir node. Keep in mind that there's no cap on the number of nodes you can buy.
You can purchase as many nodes as you want, if available. The Checker Node license gives buyers lifetime access. The NFTs will be non-transferable for the first year after the sale node sale.
The NFTs will be airdropped to buyer wallets directly at a later date. There's no claiming process. There will be sufficient time between the NFT airdrop and time for users to download, install and run their nodes to start earning rewards.
Node Sales FAQ
In this section you will be able to find answers about frequently asked questions from our community with regards to the Checker Node Sale
General
How many Checker Nodes will be available in total?
100,000 Checker Nodes
What are the key dates?
14/03/2024 06:00 AM (UTC) - Whitelist Wallet Address Allocation submissions (for all Tiers by all partners)
14/03/2024 06:00 AM (UTC) - wETH to USD Price Snapshot
15/03/2024 10:00 AM (UTC) - Whitelist Announcements & Key Updates
18/03/2024-19/03/2024 10:00 AM (UTC) - Aethir Node Sale (Whitelist)
20/03/2024 10:00 AM (UTC) - Aethir Node Sale (Public)
Where will the node sale take place?
The Aethir Node Sale will take place on https://checker.aethir.com
What is the payment method for purchasing a node?
You can purchase nodes using wETH on the Arbitrum network.
What will I receive from participating in the node sale?
You will receive an NFT (ERC-721) which represents your Node Licence. The NFTs will be minted and transferred by Aethir team 3 weeks after the Public sale.
When will I be able to install and run the Checker node?
Q2 2024
How many nodes can each user purchase each round?
In the public sale, there is no cap to how many nodes users can purchase during. For the whitelist sale, whitelisted addresses will have limited node allocation depending on the whitelist campaign they participated in.
How will the node licences be distributed?
After purchasing a node licence on https://checker.aethir.com, node licences will be distributed as an NFT to the purchase wallet of the user. Only the wallet with the node licence can then operate the node and earn ATH tokens as rewards.
Is https://checker.aethir.com/ the only entry point for the sale?
All public and Whitelist sale cards will be available on this front-end except for Partnered Launchpads like Impossible Finance and Seedify, in which case the front end will be on Aethir Partners' website.
How to run nodes?
To run a node, users must download a simple and small software package. The lowest end hardware devices can support it. Alternatively, users can deploy on a VPS or through a NaaS provider and you can run up to 100 nodes on a single server.
Some launchpads are running nodes for their users, some users are doing it themselves.
How will node rewards be distributed?
Nodes will accrue rewards over a period of 4 years.
What rewards will I receive?
Node rewards are received in veATH tokens.
10% of the token supply rewards will be distributed linearly.
5% of the token supply rewards distributed quarterly and performance-based (bad performing nodes will receive less than nodes that keep online consistency).
Can I transfer my Node License / NFT?
The NFTs will be locked for a year in your wallet. In some cases where already agreed upon with Aethir team, we will allow one time transfer of NFTs so that DAOs, syndicates, launchpads, etc. can distribute the NFTs from their wallets to end users’ wallets.
How do I claim rewards?
$vATH tokens vest into $ATH in 120 days after you choose to claim. If an Owner chooses to withdraw early (30 days) and skips the vesting period, a 75% penalty is applied to the conversion, and the owner loses eligibility for bonus rewards. After 120 days, the default vesting period will be 180 days. There will also be a 10 $ATH minimum requirement for withdraw.
You can claim and withdraw from the Owner Portal.
Node Sale Tiers & Whitelists
What are the sale types available within each Tier?
Within each tier, there are nodes available for public sale and whitelist sale.
What is the whitelist tier for KOLs?
KOLs, VCs may start earning whitelists between Tiers 6-20
How do I know which Node Sale Tier is currently ongoing?
On the Node Sale page, users will be able to see:
1) Tier of ongoing sale
2) Whiteslist tiers (only if a user is a whitelisted user)
3) Subsequent tiers
User Discounts & Referrals
How do node buyers create their own referral code?
It is their wallet address. Anyone who purchases a node can refer someone else by passing them their wallet address to use as a code.
I am using a referral code for the Node Sale. What discounts do I get?
There are 2 types of referral codes available for use during the node sale.
What benefit do users get for successful referrals?
Users with successful referrals (users used your code to purchase a node) will receive a 5% cashback.
Will referred users who input their friend’s wallet address as a code automatically get cashback?
No. A manual check will be done to verify if the referrer has actually purchased a node. Once confirmed, only then will the rebate be airdropped to the referee.
How will I receive my cashback?
The rebate you will receive is based on your total node purchase amount in wETH. After the team has verified you are holding a Checker Node during the cashback period, you will be airdropped your wETH amount.
Protocol Roadmap
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