CoinList recently announced that it will start the Acurast (ACU) token sale at 1:00 on May 16, Beijing time, with a deadline of 1:00 on May 23. 100% of the tokens will be unlocked during TGE. The public sale FDV is $90 million. The price per token is $0.09, with a total of 60 million tokens available for purchase (6% of the total supply). The minimum purchase amount is $100, and the maximum is $2 million.

Although the wealth effect of CoinList in this cycle is not as strong as before, it still has a certain influence. The open public sale projects Ondo Finance, Nillion, and WalletConnect have performed well so far.

What exactly is Acurast? What are its features?

A decentralized computing network empowered by smartphones

Acurast is a decentralized verifiable computing network designed to build a secure, scalable, and data center-free computing infrastructure by utilizing the idle computing power of smartphones. Unlike traditional cloud computing giants (such as AWS, Google Cloud) that rely on centralized servers, Acurast provides decentralized computing resources through the Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) of smartphones, balancing privacy and efficiency.

Acurast liberates computing power from a few tech giants through mobile phones, giving ordinary users and developers more control. Its key features include:

• Decentralization and Verifiability: Acurast uses the TEE technology of smartphones to ensure the security and verifiability of the computing process. TEE can verify the authenticity of the hardware and protect data privacy without trusting the device owner, thus achieving a highly secure computing environment.
• High Scalability: The testnet has processed over 240 million transactions, accessing over 65,000 computing units (smartphones), covering more than 120 countries worldwide.
• Cross-ecosystem compatibility: Acurast supports various development environments such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, and WASM, and integrates with mainstream blockchain ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, and TON.
• AI and Web3 application support: Acurast is particularly suitable for scenarios with high security and privacy requirements, such as decentralized AI model training, Web3 infrastructure, and high-security workloads.

By turning smartphones into computing nodes, Acurast not only reduces the cost of computing but also provides users with the opportunity to earn rewards by contributing idle computing power. This ‘everyone can participate’ model makes it unique in the DePIN track.

2. Decentralized Computing Based on NPoS

The operation logic of Acurast revolves around its core protocol architecture, combined with the Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism and reputation engine, to ensure the efficient operation and security of the network. Its ecosystem mainly consists of the following roles and mechanisms:

• Developers: Deploy applications via Acurast’s Command Line Interface (CLI) to run JavaScript, TypeScript, or WASM workloads using the network’s computing resources. Developers pay fees (in $ACU or other tokens) to access computing services.
• Providers of Computing Power (Processors): referring to smartphone users who contribute idle computing power by installing the Acurast Processor application, and earn ACU token rewards. Each phone can receive a fixed amount of 250 cACU per month (testnet points, which will be exchanged for ACU in the future).
• Validators and nominators: Based on the NPoS consensus mechanism, validators are responsible for maintaining network security, while nominators support trusted validators by staking ACU to jointly ensure the decentralization and economic security of the network.
• End users: Enjoy low-cost, high-privacy computing services by using decentralized applications built on Acurast.

Acurast uses the NPoS algorithm, orchestrated by Orchestrators to match developers’ computational needs with providers’ resources. The Reputation Engine dynamically updates reputation scores based on the performance of processors (smartphones), incentivizing honest behavior and punishing malicious nodes. Developers submit computing tasks to the Acurast network, where Orchestrators allocate tasks to suitable smartphones based on task requirements and processor reputation. Processors complete the computing tasks, return results, and TEE ensures the privacy and verifiability of the results.

Developers pay fees, processors get ACU rewards, and validators and nominators share network fees. This operational logic achieves the coordinated interests of developers, computing providers, and network maintainers through economic incentives and reputation mechanisms, thus building a sustainable decentralized computing ecosystem.

Three, Token Economics

The total supply of Acurast token ACU is 1 billion, and it is expected to complete TGE in Q3 2025.

Community (69.5%): Including the Community Treasury, TGE Community Activation (such as airdrops, Launchpad participation), operating funds, and liquidity supply. These tokens will be unlocked at TGE, prioritizing early users and contributors. Early investors (6.5%): To support the project’s funding needs from testnet to mainnet, the allocation ratio is low, and the tokens are locked for at least 24 months, gradually released to ensure fairness. Team and Advisors (24%): Tokens for core contributors, advisors, and future team members have the longest lock-up period (at least 24 months).

The ACU token has multiple uses in the Acurast ecosystem:

• Network fee: Used to pay for transaction fees, the fees will be destroyed to reduce circulation, enhancing the scarcity of the token.
• Staking: By staking ACU, participants provide economic security for the network and receive fee rewards.
• Settlement: As a unified settlement token, it measures processor reputation and service quality, supporting abstraction of multi-token payments.
• Governance: Holders can participate in on-chain governance, voting to determine the direction of protocol development.

Although the token economy model of ACU is well-designed, it still faces potential risks. For example, the incentive balance mechanism, if the rewards are too high or too low, may affect user participation or lead to token price fluctuations. Market competition needs to compete with traditional cloud computing giants such as AWS, Google Cloud, and other DePIN projects. The hardware performance of smartphones, network bandwidth, and battery life may also lead to fluctuations in computing resources.

Fourth, obtained strategic financing of millions of dollars in seed and Series A rounds

The official Acurast has not publicly disclosed specific member names, but their backgrounds and achievements can be inferred from the project’s progress and partners: the team has deep accumulation in decentralized computing, TEE technology, and NPoS consensus mechanisms, successfully driving the test network to process 240 million transactions and connect to 65,000 devices. In terms of ecological cooperation, Acurast has deeply integrated with the ecological chains of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, TON, and others.

On the financing side, Acurast received a $1.5 million Grant in 2023, followed by $2 million in seed and strategic financing rounds, and received funding from multiple foundations (such as the Polkadot ecosystem foundation), with the participation of Dr. Gavin Wood (co-founder of Ethereum, founder of Polkadot), Leonard Dorlöchter (founder of PEQ), Michael van de Poppe (founder of MN Capital), Ogle (founder of GlueNet, influential figure in CoinDesk), Vineel Budki (CEO of Sigma Capital), and others.

The official roadmap shows that its mainnet will be officially launched in the second half of this year.

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