Old fans actually know that I have been following Aethir @AethirMandarin for quite a long time. This project has always been very interesting because it is one of the few profitable projects for me, and it has been going very steadily!
Today, it and EigenLayer @eigenlayer organized a joint event, and I want to tell you about it. This time, it is their ATH Vault pre-staking event. You can take a look, maybe retail investors can also get some dividends!
Let's take a look at the data first to see how Aethir has been developing recently:
The number of GPUs has soared from more than 40,000 last year to more than 428,000 now, a full 10 times increase! What does this mean? It is equivalent to putting the computing power of 10 traditional data centers into this decentralized network.
Revenue also grew rapidly, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) increasing from $38 million to $128 million, more than tripling in less than three years. This growth rate is indeed rare in the industry, and I have not seen many projects with this rate.
The platform utilization rate has been stable at over 70% for many years, which is higher than many Web3 peers. Even the traditional cloud service giant AWS has a utilization rate of about 40%. In comparison, Aethir's computing power is really solid.
Looking at the on-chain transaction fees, data from Token Terminal shows that from the issuance of the project token to the present, the cumulative transaction fees have exceeded 50 million US dollars. On average, more than 130,000 US dollars in transaction fees flow in the network every day, all of which are accumulated due to real transaction needs.
Behind these data, Aethir relies on combining the SLA standards of traditional cloud services (such as 99.99% availability) with the DePIN model.
Simply put, the incentive mechanism of Web3 is used to achieve the stability of traditional cloud services, but the cost is 60% lower than that of traditional cloud services. It is like spending less money to buy the same or even better services. Which enterprise would not be tempted?
At the end of January this year, Aethir and EigenLayer officially announced their cooperation to create an AVS model. Simply put, it opened up the entire process of "staking coins - providing computing power - earning income", which is a real breakthrough in the field of DePIN.
Let's break it down:
1. For Aethir: Expanding computing power without spending money
Aethir pledges part of its annual revenue of more than 100 million US dollars to EigenLayer, which is equivalent to providing a "credit guarantee" to the miners (Cloud Host) who join. In the past, miners who wanted to access the platform had to first deposit an ATH coin themselves. Now the coins deposited by retail investors can be directly used by miners, and they can quickly deploy GPU resources. This is like Aethir opening a "computing power bank", using everyone's deposited coins (pledged ATH) to "loan" to miners, and earning some commissions for themselves.
The benefits of doing this are very direct: Aethir's computing power pool can be expanded rapidly without having to buy hardware itself, and through the EigenLayer mechanism, if the miner's service is not good (such as disconnection, fraud), the staked coins will be automatically deducted, the quality is guaranteed, and Aethir does not have to monitor and manage it itself, which saves trouble.
2. For miners (Cloud Host): You can earn money by taking orders with zero down payment
For example, if you have 100 GPUs and want to join Aethir to take on corporate work and make money, you used to have to stake hundreds of thousands of ATH coins, which was unaffordable for small players. Now, through the AVS model, you can directly use the coins staked by retail investors to access the platform without having to pay out your own money. You only need to pay a small service fee (similar to interest), and the rest of the profit is yours. This has reduced the entry threshold from "millions" to "zero down payment". It is expected that by the end of 2025, the number of miners joining Aethir will exceed 100,000.
3. For retail investors: Staking coins will earn you a share of the computing power income
Now retail investors can get eATH (equivalent to staking certificate) by staking ATH coins. This has three advantages:
Able to trade: Unlike traditional staking that locks up coins, eATH can be sold on exchanges at any time. For example, if you need money urgently, you can directly sell it for ETH without waiting for it to be unlocked.
The income is divided into two parts: on the one hand, the miners earn service fees with your coins, and you can share the money in proportion. For example, if you stake 1,000 ATHs and get 1,000 eATHs, if a miner earns $10,000 with your coins, you can get the corresponding money. And the money earned will be automatically reinvested, and the number of eATHs will increase.
On the other hand, you can also delegate eATH to other validators and earn another EigenLayer reward, which is equivalent to "double income".
Ability to participate in decision-making: Holders of eATH are eligible to participate in Aethir's ecological voting. For example, you can express your opinions on how computing power will be allocated and how fees will be adjusted in the future. It is a bit like being a "shareholder".
To put it bluntly, eATH is the “computing power ticket” in the Web3 world
In the past, staking coins was troublesome and locked up money, but now eATH has solved the liquidity problem and allows ordinary people to easily participate in the profit distribution of the computing power market. For retail investors, they don’t need to understand technology or buy hardware, they can share the dividends of the computing power economy by staking coins, and it is highly flexible, and the income can also grow with compound interest, which is a very practical financial management idea.
To put it simply, the entire model is a win-win for all three parties: Aethir can expand without heavy asset investment, miners can make money by accepting orders with zero threshold, and retail investors can share the computing power income without doing anything. This may be a more down-to-earth development direction for the DePIN track.
Participation Guide: Three Steps to Master eATH Pre-Staking
Now, Aethir @AethirCloud's ATH Vault pre-staking activity has been launched. The specific operations are as follows:
1. Step 1: Bind your wallet
Open the Aethir staking platform (http://user.aethir.com/stake/eigenlayer…), connect to a wallet such as MetaMask, and make sure there is enough ATH in the wallet.
2. Step 2: Stake for eATH
Select "EigenLayer Pre-Deposit Pool", enter the staked amount (minimum 100 ATH), and click Confirm. The system will immediately issue eATH to your wallet at a 1:1 ratio, and the staked ATH will be locked until June 13, 2026.
3. Step 3: Wait for the benefits
During the staking period, the income will be automatically reinvested into your eATH balance. The APR calculator will be available soon, with an estimated annualized rate of return between 15%-25%, depending on the Host's usage.
5. Risk Warning: Don’t be blinded by high returns
Although eATH looks beautiful, you should still pay attention to the following:
Price fluctuations: If the ATH price plummets, even if the number of eATH increases, the actual return may shrink. It is recommended to participate with "spare money" and avoid leverage.
Lock-up period risk: The staked ATH needs to be locked for one year and cannot be redeemed during this period. If you need money urgently, you can only sell eATH through the secondary market, but you may face the problem of insufficient liquidity.
Slashing risk: Although Slashing is borne by the Host, if a large number of Hosts are fined, the revenue of the entire network will decrease, indirectly affecting the dividends of eATH holders.
Finally, let me briefly summarize: the cooperation between Aethir and EigenLayer has really changed the way Web3 computing power is played. Through the AVS model, it not only solves the problem of high cost and low efficiency of traditional cloud services, but also provides retail investors with a new way to participate in the computing power market.
If you think AI, Web3 or the gaming industry will be popular in the future, then Aethir's eATH pre-staking may be a good entry point, allowing ordinary people to share in the benefits of the computing power economy.
Finally, if you want to participate, you must follow Aethir's official account @AethirMandarin. You must keep an eye on key information such as the launch of the APR calculator and the recruitment of miners. Information is very important in Web3. Only by understanding it clearly in advance can you seize the opportunity. That's all for today.
