Decentralized AI Platform Nosana Readies for Mainnet
From messari by Sam Ruskin Mike Kremer
Key Insights
- Nosana’s core offering is a decentralized GPU-based compute grid, recognizing the growing demand for AI computing.
- Nosana leverages underutilized consumer-grade GPUs to offer on-demand AI inference services with cost savings of up to 2.5X compared to traditional cloud providers.
- In 2024, Nosana nodes completed 985,000 jobs, with a significant spike in job requests occurring in May following the onboarding of 1,000 new nodes.
- 29.7 million NOS (31% of the circulating token supply) are staked on Nosana. At the time of writing, the value of the staked tokens amounted to $92.4 million.
- Nosana’s mainnet is scheduled to launch in Q1 2025, with its GPU compute grid in full production.
Primer
Nosana is a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) built on Solana. The project's core offering is a decentralized GPU-based compute grid that allows individuals and organizations to rent out their idle GPU power for AI inference tasks. This approach addresses the growing demand for computational resources in the AI industry and allows GPU owners to earn passive income. By focusing on AI inference, Nosana aims to create a more accessible and cost-effective solution than traditional cloud providers.
The project's native token, NOS, plays a central role in the ecosystem, facilitating transactions, enabling staking for network participation, and, eventually, governance. Nosana's strategic pivot from CI/CD services (an agile practice automating code integration, testing, and deployment for developers) to AI inference, coupled with its focus on leveraging underutilized consumer-grade GPUs, positions it uniquely within the rapidly evolving landscape of decentralized computing and artificial intelligence. With its mainnet launch scheduled for January 14, 2025, Nosana aims to unlock accessibility and affordability for AI computing resources.
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Nosana's Strategic Pivot to AI Inference
At its launch in 2021, Nosana initially focused on providing decentralized automation services for software developers through CI/CD services. The project aimed to create a decentralized marketplace where developers could access compute resources from a distributed network of hardware providers. However, after a year and a half of development, the team encountered challenges with gaining traction. As noted in their blog post, most developers hesitated to migrate to new tools, even if they offered decentralized alternatives.
This realization coincided with rapid innovation and growth in AI following the release of ChatGPT in late 2022. Demand surged for computational resources required to run AI models. In Q4 2023, Nosana pivoted towards building a decentralized GPU-powered compute grid precisely for AI inference.