Akash Network AMA Recap
CryptoDiffer team
Hello, everyone!
We are glad to meet here
CEO at Akash Network ( @gosuri )
VP of Product at Akash Network ( @jackzampolin )
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Hello everyone!
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Hello!
CryptoDiffer team
Let`s start with introduction:
Can you introduce yourself to our community ?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
I’m Greg Osuri, CEO of Akash Network. I’m an Applied Economist and Computer Scientist. As a programmer in the past 25 years, my primary focus was shipping developer tooling for the past nine years. I helped launch Firebase in 2013 at AngelHack. I founded AngelHack in 2011 to take Hackathons to the masses and expanded to 50 cities with over 150k developers worldwide.
My contributions to cloud computing include designing multi-cloud capability for Kubernetes in 2015, which is currently in use by 80% of the Cloud. With economics, I gained notoriety in academic circles with my paper on Bootstrapping markets by borrowing from the future for which I’m invited to teach a Stanford class.
I got started with Crypto in late 2015. Technical first and then economical. As a distributed systems engineer, the permissionless state synchronization component of blockchain was very attractive to me as I was actively involved in planetary scalable systems at that time. As an economist, the ability to test economic theory at a micro-level was fascinating.
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
I’m Jack Zampolin, VP of Product at Akash. Prior to joining here I was Director of Product at Cosmos/Tendermint. Most recently, I launched Game of Zones, an incentivized testnet for the Cosmos interoperability framework IBC.
Prior to Cosmos, I worked at Blockstack as employee #9, helping to raise their ICO and build out their developer community. I also have experience working in cloud computing at InfluxData where I was their first Sales Engineer then first Developer Evangelist, building integrations with many cloud platforms and the open source community there.
I was introduced to Akash over a year ago when Greg gave me a demo. I was blown away and invested and became an advisor soon after. I couldn’t be more excited to be working with this team.
CryptoDiffer team
Q1: Can you briefly describe what is the Akash project about and what it’s main advantages against competitors?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Cloud infrastructure — the back bone of the Internet — is increasingly becoming centralized, controlled by an oligopoly of four companies (Amazon’s AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft’s Azure, and Alibaba) in a market that is projected to be $223-billion by 2023.
The mission of Akash is to break this oligopoly using a decentralized network of computing clusters (data centers), and offering resources in a peer-to-peer marketplace to build resilient and unstoppable applications.
Customers using Akash enjoy costs that are 3X to 15X less than what you would pay in the market today (Big CSPs).
CryptoDiffer team
Q2: How can users benefit from Akash and how hard is it of the ordinary user to start selling it compute power on a marketplace?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Akash offers a unique set of value propositions to customers currently using the cloud
Lower cost: Akash users set the price, providers compete to win the work at that price. This way the price is always lower because it’s naturally driven by the laws of demand and supply.
Unstoppable: an application running on Akash can only be stopped by its owner. This ensures resiliency.
Improved productivity: A human centric design that lets developers do more with less.
Private and Permissionless: The application is secured even with someone who has physical access to the server and no one can stop you from using Akash
Normal users with Akash Supermini can become cloud providers and Akash’s tooling is also appealing to advanced users that prefer custom network and security settings. Akash also provides the world’s most sophisticated toolchain that’s optimized for modern workflows where developers can achieve their goals with the least number of steps possible.
CryptoDiffer team
Q3: Can you please tell more about the token economics of the project? What utilities does the token have, and what benefits will the tokens holders get?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Besides being a unit of exchange, the Akash Token (AKT) performs three main functions: Resolve (Governance & Staking), Reward (Take Income, Subsidies from Inflation), and Reserve (for spot computing auction).
The intrinsic value of AKT is derived from the earning potential, which has two main contributors (besides inflationary rewards):
1. Transaction Fees
2. Take Income from GMV (~20% at Genesis)
Fees on Akash can be settled using a multitude of currencies along with AKT. However, the market order book uses Akash Token (AKT) as the reserve currency of the ecosystem. AKT provides a novel settlement option to lock in an exchange rate between AKT and the settlement currency. This way, providers and tenants are protected from the price volatility of AKT.
Akash’s value is a direct function of and backed by the total value of transactions in the marketplace made possible by a take rate where a percentage of transactions is paid to the staker — Akash’s proposed take rate is 20% and those proceeds go back to all AKT token holders that stake AKT tokens.
To learn more, please check out below resources:
– Economics Paper: https://akash-web-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/03/akash-econ.pdf
– Earning Potential of Akash Token: https://akash.network/blog/the-earning-potential-of-akash-token/
– Subsidies Proposal: https://dcs.akash.network/spec/dcs-9
CryptoDiffer team
Ok, thank you for such detailed and interesting answers!
Let’s move to the Telegram community questions part.
Cryptodiffer Community
DeFi is one of the hottest topic in the blockchain space right now. Can Akash share your opinions on DeFi with us? Do you think that DeFi will disrupt the existing financial system? What is Unification approach towards the DeFi sector?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Yes. Akash is perhaps the best plaform to host DeFi nodes and DeFi frontends. As many of you know stateless DeFi frontends and nodes are currently hosted on Centralized Cloud. Akash not only provides a decentralized solution but it makes DeFi frontends unstoppable and significantly lowers the cost.
Cryptodiffer Community
Currently Ethereum Blockchain have many scalability issues, comparitively slow than other blockchain & an expensive gas!
Then, Why is Akash Token issued on the Ethereum blockchain rather than any other Scalable Blockchain?
According to the CoinmarketCap, Some countries are not allowed to participate on pre-sale program, such as CUBA, IRAN, SUDAN. What is the reason behind this restriction?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Akash is built on the CosmosSDK and will be its own sovereign chain with a dedicated validator set. We are not based on ETH and won’t be affected by issues there.
Cryptodiffer Community
I am a professional internet hacker, what is certain that Aksh will not be at fault? Aksh willing to pay a reward for a hacker? Safe mode for investors?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Regarding Security and Privacy: Akash is much more secure than cloud today. Akash provides Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) guarantees code and data loaded inside to be protected with respect to confidentiality and integrity that is enforced at the processor level. More information is available at https://dcs.akash.network/spec/dcs-12
Regarding Bounties: We do have bounties for finding security bugs and recently we also experienced a DDoS attack that resulted in zero, here’s a recent account https://medium.com/@novysf/the-outcome-from-akash-testnet-zero-fee-transaction-attack-5fd4aaa68d97
Cryptodiffer Community
There are already many projects in the storage space like Siacoin, Filecoin, Storj, etc.. How do you compete with them in the storage space particularly?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
We are a compute platform, not a storage platform, so those projects aren’t competitive with us, they are complimentary. Distributed compute on Akash has ephemeral storage, so long term bulk storage solutions like those are going to be critical integrations for us. We are already working with Storj on a solution here
Cryptodiffer Community
Are we as investors able to run Akash nodes and if so, what are the benefits of it to both Akash ecosystem and the investor?
Could you please briefly explain about the top milestones that Akash aims to execute before the end of 2020?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Anyone can become a validator on akash and stake their AKT. The benefit to akash is network security and to the investor they get staking income as well as take income from the compute market. Please check out the economics paper linked above for more information on that.
Key milestones:
– Mainnet launch
– Incentivized testnet completion
– Platform launch on mainnet to unlock the compute marketplace.
Cryptodiffer Community
What is the main difference between Akash Supercloud and Akash Supermini?
Why did you decide to take Akash name for the platform?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Akash Superclould is the network that Supermini offers compute for. Anyone can offer compute on Akash and Supermini is our reference hardware to demonstrate the portability of the platform.
Akash in sanskrit means “ether” or the “sky”. Name is relevant since cloud are formed in the Sky
Cryptodiffer Community
Can You talk about You governance model?
How will People get attracted towards it who are not from tech Background?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
We are built on the CosmosSDK, so there is native support for upgrade proposals and other basic governance features built around staked token voting.
Everyone now uses cloud computing and akash is all about making cloud computing easier to use. As we begin to develop low code and no code solutions on top of akash in the months after the platform launch you will see solutions for non-technical users
Cryptodiffer Community
How does Akash Marketplace able to lower the cost?
What is the working behind it?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Akash compute capacity comes from unused servers, about 85% of compute in datacenters today is unused. This alone results in a cost advantage of 2x-3x.
Additionally, Akash offers a novel subsidy mechanism that further lowers the cost by 15x, checkout this post for details https://akash.network/blog/an-evolution-of-akash-network-token-economics
Cryptodiffer Community
How do you plan to spread awareness about your project in different countries where English is not spoken well? Do you have local communities for the them to let them better understand about your project?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Yes, Akash has already attracted a large global audience and have a validator community encompassing North America, South America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. In the past two months we’ve added teams in China and Russia to support our large audiences there, and we’re continuing to expand support to additional global regions. We’re excited to announce additional global expansions and support in the coming months.
Cryptodiffer Community
When will users stop being afraid to use decentralized cloud marketplaces?
How will Akash Network want to be a leader in the mass distribution of decentralized cloud marketplaces?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Users are currently “afraid” to use current decentralized cloud marketplaces because they are really hard to use and often require rewriting entire pieces of the application to utilize them. These barriers to adoption have killed growth at our competition. Akash is built using the best in class cloud platform Kubernetes which is already used by 80% of cloud applications. This means that most developers already know how to use akash. This is how we will be the leader in mass adoption of decentralized cloud.
Cryptodiffer Community
Why should we as an investors consider Akash as a long-term investment? What kind of real-life use cases does the token have?
What kind of unique and specific innovations does Akash offer over its competitors?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
The cloud market is a massive, long term viable industry. As the marketplace best placed to transact that value the AKT token controlling it is a great long term bet on decentralization and commoditization of the cloud computing market. The token can be used to pay for the compute on the network so there is real utility there.
Akash’s integration point is the Kubernetes API. This means that the experience that 80% of traditional cloud developers already use can be seamlessly integrated with akash. This differentiates us and sets us apart from the competition.
Cryptodiffer Community
How will Akash Network solve the scaling problem? And how will it overcome the threat of centralization?
How easy is it to use Akash Network in an existing infrastructure?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Akash uses an off-chain model for run applications — which makes it extremely scalable — we were able to test thousands of apps in our Testnet and withstood a massive DDoS attack as well. In Akash, the only provisioning and settlement happens on chain.
The validator and provider set is fully decentralized and governed by the token holders. Its extremely simple to enable any kubernetes cluster to Akash.
Cryptodiffer Community
What is your business model? Who are your potential customers ???
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
The token holders accrues value (see above) and Akash’s treasury should sustain our development efforts for a while.
We’re currently focussed on soling the node centralization problem (for eg, 60% of ETH nodes are on AWS) and eventually transition to Machine Learning and Big Data where lower cost is high value prop.
Cryptodiffer Community
COVID 19 has slowed many economies around the world but as a crypto business has it affected you negatively or positively?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
With people becoming remote workers as a result of the crisis, demand for cloud compute is higher now than ever and expected to continue growing quickly into the future. This benefits us at an industry fundamentals level. In addition, the team has been working remotely and managing remote teams for years already. This means that the switch to remote is a huge advantage for us.
Cryptodiffer Community
How will Akash Network solve the scaling problem? And how will it overcome the threat of centralization?
How easy is it to use Akash Network in an existing infrastructure?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
How will Akash Network solve the scaling problem? And how will it overcome the threat of centralization?
How easy is it to use Akash Network in an existing infrastructure?
Cryptodiffer Community
Your team is known to come from many different disciplines and has a lot of experience in the blockchian field. So what is the idea to get your team to create Akash Network ?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Akash, like Greg and I’s careers, sits at the intersection of cloud and blockchain. Using a blockchain based exchange to settle orders for compute capacity is something we have all been thinking about for almost 5 years now and we are excited to bring a robust solution to market.
Cryptodiffer Community
How will blockchain technology be used on Akash Network ? Is its role as a payment system through a decentralized market or as a core feature?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
We use blockchain for a) technical b) political and c) economical response
Technical: Blockchain as a merkle tree data structure is phenomenal for globally consistent state which is critical for storing and replicating application configuration. Akash is a decentralized control plane built on a shared state ledger.
Political: Akash a permissionless marketplace, you also need to institute trust and transparency within your ecosystem. When you factor in trust to support your ecosystem, it creates several advantages.
Economical: With a sovereign economic model, Akash can bootstrap a market and achieve upto 15x cost savings. See here for details https://akash.network/blog/bootstrapping-a-free-market-by-borrowing-from-the-future/
Cryptodiffer Community
Q: Can you share about the niche market, and target markets and the broader market that Akash aims to?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Initially we will be working to get users to deploy blockchain frontends and nodes on akash. Our strong connections in the community offer numerous opportunities for partnerships. Next we plan to go after the AI/ML market. Those jobs are highly compute intensive and an ideal fit for Akash. In addition, many AI/ML companies have unused capacity they are interested in selling on akash making for a virtuous cycle. In the broader market, akash is a platform for general compute, anything that can be run on Alibaba or AWS can be run on akash
Cryptodiffer Community
Q: What are biggest challenges and biggest strength of Akash to overcome those challenges?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
Three vectors a customer looks for in a cloud service provider are a) productivity b) capabilities and c) cost. Akash’s biggest strengths are cost and productivity. Capabilities however are very limited compared to the competition (AWS etc). Happy to dive in if interested.
Cryptodiffer Community
Can you tell us what is the Big Plan Akash for 2020???
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
– Mainnet
– Final incentivized testnet
– Platform Launch
– Liquidity for the token
Cryptodiffer Community
As an investor, how can I consider the risk associated with #DeFi protocols?
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Thats a great question! 🍠 Akash itself isn’t a defi protocol (although you can and should stake your #AKT), but does host the infrastructure necessary for defi on top of it so we stand to benefit from the market in DEFI.
Cryptodiffer Community
There seems to be more questions on how AKT is used in Akash. So answering the question for everyone:
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
AKT is the native currency of Akash. AKT is the primary medium of exchange in the Akash ecosystem. Besides being a unit of exchange, the Akash Token (AKT) performs three main functions: Resolve (Governance & Staking), Reward (Take Income, Subsidies from Inflation), and Reserve (for spot computing auction). The intrinsic value of AKT is derived from the earning potential, which has two main contributors (besides inflationary rewards):
1. Transaction Fees
2. Take Income from GMV (~20% at Genesis)
Transaction Fees & Reserve Currency: Fees on Akash can be settled using a multitude of currencies along with AKT. However, the market order book uses Akash Token (AKT) as the reserve currency of the ecosystem. AKT provides a novel settlement option to lock in an exchange rate between AKT and the settlement currency. This way, providers and tenants are protected from the price volatility of AKT.
Take Income: Akash’s value is a direct function of and backed by the total value of transactions in our marketplace made possible by a take rate where a percentage of transactions is paid to the marketplace owner. Akash’s proposed take rate is 20% and all of those proceeds go back to all AKT token holders that stake AKT tokens.
To learn about the earning potential of AKT (for investors), please see https://akash.network/blog/the-earning-potential-of-akash-token
Cryptodiffer Community
What kind of a strategy do you have to build a great community for Akash? For example, do you actively organize some sort of community events?
What kind of unique features does Akash have that attract more users and developers to it?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
We have a thriving and growing community, non exhaustive list of programs we’ve instituted:
– 10% of the of Tokens are allocated for Ecosystem
– At least 2 public community events every week
– Active engagement across GitHub and Open Source communities
– Akash is a core-contributor to Cosmos where we’re extremely active
– Cross pollination of community is an incredible growth driver for Akash
– And lot more..
Cryptodiffer Community
Could you please tell me About the ATK Staking Program.
– Where can I buy #ATK?
– Tell me the steps if I want Staking?
– What percentage of the profit will we get if we join?
CEO at Akash Network, Greg Osuri
– AKT will be available for Public (Non US) very soon, please join our group for details @akashnw
– Overview on Akash Validator Rewards: See https://akash.network/blog/akash-network-validator-rewards/
– Akash Staking Guide: http://help.lunie.io/en/articles/4154821-lunie-staking-guide-akash
VP of Product at Akash, Jack Zampolin
Thanks for all the great questions everyone!
Cryptodiffer TEAM
Thanks for your time @gosuri @jackzampolin
Let’s finish the ama
It was a pleasure to conduct an ama with Akash Network
