Aethir Bringing its $91m Annualized On-Chain Revenue to EigenLayer’s Restaking Infrastructure
Aethir’s decentralized cloud infrastructure is advancing the DePIN sector globally, representing the only distributed enterprise-grade GPU-as-a-service network that can support AI and gaming companies at scale. With a massive supply of 400,000 powerful GPU containers across 93+ locations, Aethir services enterprises worldwide, resulting in its $91+ million annual revenue booked through its on-chain protocol. Aethir’s decentralized cloud is unique for being the most profitable DePIN ecosystem on the market, surpassing competitors in service scale, cost-efficiency, and revenue.
By integrating EigenLayer’s restaking solution and AVS model, Aethir is bringing its $91+ million annual revenue to the EigenLayer blockchain infrastructure ecosystem. As a result, Aethir will simplify the onboarding process for new cloud hosts into its ecosystem by enabling retail stakers to provide the staking power needed to cover new cohorts of compute resources in Aethir’s network. Furthermore, the Aethir community will be able to use EigenLayer’s restaking solution to maximize their ATH yield and earn additional rewards in EigenLayer’s native token, EIGEN. Aethir’s AVS will bring concrete revenue to the EigenLayer ecosystem, benefiting both Aethir’s and EigenLayer’s stakeholders.
Despite the promise of decentralized cloud computing, the space continues to face significant challenges, including regulatory hurdles, limited enterprise adoption, and the complexity of onboarding non-Web3 native compute providers—particularly public companies constrained by cryptocurrency regulations. Through its integration with EigenLayer and using the AVS model, Aethir is breaking down these barriers. As global demand for AI and gaming compute infrastructure is expected to grow by more than 30% through 2030, this collaboration positions Aethir to be at the forefront of the decentralized cloud space.
The Opportunity: Supercharging Aethir’s Ecosystem Growth through ATH Staking on EigenLayer’s Framework
With its focus on enterprise customers, Aethir’s distributed GPU protocol has staking and reward mechanisms that mimic real-life enterprise-grade service level agreements (SLAs). However, this mechanism can be challenging for onboarding non-Web3 native compute providers, as many of them are public companies that are currently unable to hold cryptocurrency tokens on their balance sheets and use them for staking.
Aethir currently has an average 70% utilization rate of its network, compared to the 10-25% range of other DePINs (e.g. Akash sub-25%). With this high GPU resource utilization rate, Aethir is opening up its network to more high-quality compute providers, referred to as cloud hosts, through the Aethir New Horizons program. Joining Aethir’s DePIN stack as a cloud host is a highly lucrative opportunity for compute providers since the Aethir network’s APR is currently in the 200% - 400% range. This kind of APR isn’t available in any other DePIN ecosystem for compute providers, and Aethir is the only enterprise-grade distributed GPU cloud network on the market. Aethir’s cloud hosts directly supply the company’s enterprise clients with GPU compute power while earning ATH rewards in return. Staking is an integral part of Aethir’s cloud computing operating mechanics because all compute power in the network needs to be staked with ATH.
By integrating with EigenLayer’s blockchain framework, Aethir will empower all participants in the Aethir ecosystem to stake their ATH on EigenLayer. Users will be able to choose validators to which they want to delegate their ATH stake. This will be especially useful for compute providers joining Aethir’s decentralized GPU cloud network, as it will simplify the onboarding process for cloud hosts outside the Web3 blockchain space. ATH retail stakers will be able to support new cloud hosts by providing the staked ATH necessary to onboard new GPU computing resources. Furthermore, anyone holding ATH, including Aethir Checker Node holders, Aethir Edge operators, and ATH stakers, will be able to supercharge their staking on EigenLayer and maximize their rewards. Additionally, Aethir’s Actively Validated Services (AVS) integration brings tangible revenue to EigenLayer’s ecosystem, driving value for stakeholders across both platforms.
The Solution: Implementing EigenLayer’s Actively Validated Services (AVS) Model to Support Aethir’s Decentralized Cloud Infrastructure
EigenLayer’s AVS model will enable Aethir to efficiently circumvent the challenges associated with onboarding non-Web3 native compute providers into the Aethir GPU cloud. With EigenLayer’s functionality, Aethir will bridge this gap and enable retail users to contribute and stake their ATH, providing the trust required on behalf of compute providers. This means that onboarding new compute resources into Aethir’s decentralized cloud infrastructure won’t require cloud hosts to provide the ATH stake needed for their computing power. Instead, retail users will be able to stake their ATH through EigenLayer’s blockchain framework and support cloud hosts through restaking, thus earning additional ATH rewards in the process.
Additionally, EigenLayer's unique restaking features will allow ATH stakers to restake their ATH and earn even more rewards. This integration will happen alongside Aethir’s existing ATH-Gaming and ATH-AI pools, where users already earn native ATH rewards and rewards from Aethir’s partners and compute customers. Thanks to Aethir’s integration with EigenLayer, cloud hosts won’t need to stake ATH themselves in order to join the Aethir network as compute providers.
The Result: Onboarding New Cohorts of Compute Providers and Empowering ATH Stakers with EigenLayer’s Restaking Mechanics
As a result of integrating EigenLayer’s AVS model into Aethir’s daily operations, Aethir will be able to onboard more GPU compute resources to service an even larger audience of compute buyers from the AI and gaming industries. This aligns with Aethir’s mission to provide enterprise-grade cloud computing resources to clients worldwide, leveraging a massive distributed network of top-quality GPU resources. By simplifying the onboarding process for cloud hosts and relieving them of the need to stake ATH to become compute providers, Aethir is gaining access to vast new cohorts of potential compute providers.
This collaboration comes as Aethir’s $100 million Ecosystem Fund continues to drive the adoption of its compute platform. Focused on supporting AI and gaming development, particularly those integrating AI Agents (Model-as-a-Service) into their operations, the fund provides access to Aethir’s extensive GPU network. By facilitating compute resources at competitive prices, Aethir empowers projects like ai16z, YahtzeeDAO, and Almonica, to scale AI workloads such as LLM training and inference, fueling advancements in the AI sector. With four batches of AI Agent partners now live, the initiative is accelerating the adoption of Aethir’s compute platform, driving innovation, and expanding the possibilities of AI integration.
For the EigenLayer community, the integration with Aethir brings lucrative benefits in the form of staking APR backed by Aethir’s on-chain revenue, which is the largest among all DePIN projects on the market. Aethir’s revenue is in ATH, so enterprise buyers make use of Aethir’s capital to purchase ATH on-chain whenever they require compute.
Stakers will also be eligible for the existing programmatic incentives in the EigenLayer protocol.
Choosing EigenLayer’s AVS model as a solution for upscaling Aethir’s decentralized GPU cloud and enabling it to onboard fresh cohorts of cloud hosts was a logical step because of EigenLayer’s restaking utility. Through the integration of EigenLayer’s restaking solution, Aethir is opening its DePIN stack to compute providers globally, circumventing the limitations faced by non-Web3 native enterprises.
