06 Jun AMA with AETHIR – Hosted by Bitfinex & BitFreedomGus
Aethir is main the way in which in decentralised bodily infrastructure (DePIN), reshaping how the world accesses GPU computing energy. As demand for high-performance infrastructure continues to surge—particularly in AI and gaming—Aethir’s mission is to make cloud computing extra democratic, accessible, and borderless.
On Might 23, 2025, Bitfinex hosted an Ask Me Something (AMA) session with Mark Rydon, Co-Founder and CSO of Aethir, joined by our host BitFreedomGus. The dialog explored decentralised bodily infrastructure (DePIN), the way forward for GPU cloud computing, Aethir’s AI and gaming options, and their latest token itemizing on Bitfinex. It was an insightful and fascinating dialogue—you may dive into the total transcript under.
Session 1: Introduction & Imaginative and prescient
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Hey everybody, welcome! Nice to have you ever all for one more AMA Session.
I’m your host BitFreedomGus and As we speak we’re speaking with Mr. Mark Rydon, Co-Founder and CSO from Aethir.
Aethir is creating a brand new option to entry computing energy for Synthetic Intelligence and Gaming, utilizing a decentralised community. Mr. Mark Rydon, thanks for being right here with us!
Aethir (Mark):
Thanks for having me! 💚💚💚
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Thanks, Mark!
Effectively, to start out, are you able to inform us a bit about your self and your work at Aethir?
Aethir (Mark):
For positive 💚
I’m the Co-Founder and Chief Technique Officer at Aethir: a decentralised cloud computing community based in 2022 to make high-performance GPUs extra inexpensive, accessible, and scalable for builders in AI, LLMs, and cloud gaming.
My profession started in infrastructure, however I had at all times been centered on blockchain and the rising challenges of compute accessibility for tech firms.
Since launching Aethir with my co-founder Daniel Wang, we’ve scaled from a five-person startup to a worldwide organisation with over 150 staff and one of many largest decentralised networks on the earth – backed by NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Animoca Manufacturers and plenty of extra.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Unimaginable progress within the firm.
Aethir emerged because of the excessive demand for GPUs for AI and Gaming. What was the principle thought or the issue Aethir needed to resolve?
Aethir (Mark):
Nice query
The worldwide GPU cloud computing {industry} is closely centralised. Compute assets are concentrated in main regional information centres and operated by big-tech cloud suppliers, who cost excessive charges and infrequently present inefficient, high-latency computing providers. Centralised cloud suppliers have low GPU utilisation charges, usually under 30%, resulting in excessive upkeep prices and, finally, greater service costs for shoppers. Aethir’s mission is to offer a decentralised GPU cloud different for AI and gaming enterprises at scale. We intention to convey compute nearer to our shoppers by distributing GPU assets worldwide. Our GPU containers are decentralised throughout 95 international locations, enabling us to offer low-latency, safe, scalable, and cost-effective cloud computing providers to enterprises, no matter location. Aethir’s long-term purpose is common cloud compute – a future wherein premium high quality cloud computing is offered to anybody and never simply large-scale firms.
We don’t need GPUs to solely be accessible for the highest 5 massive firms!
We wish everybody to have entry.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
That’s nice. Small firms or impartial builders may also benefit from that for positive.
What’s Aethir’s foremost purpose right this moment? And the way do you see the undertaking serving to the Web3 group sooner or later?
Aethir (Mark):
Huge query! Aethir has constructed the one decentralised enterprise-grade GPU-as-a-service platform in the marketplace. We have already got a flourishing ecosystem of 120+ companions and shoppers from the AI, gaming, and Web3 sectors, leveraging our GPU community to construct and launch state-of-the-art improvements of their respective fields.
We intention to proceed constructing and increasing our community till decentralised cloud computing turns into a universally accessible service for firms of all kinds and sizes, from early-stage startups to firms.
We’re extremely enthusiastic about supporting the flourishing Web3 AI startup ecosystem, which is why we launched AI Unbundled, an industry-wide alliance with sector leaders centered on supporting probably the most revolutionary AI builders within the Web3 {industry} with the infrastructure wanted to create life-changing improvements.
Session 2: Know-how & Infrastructure
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Aethir makes use of a mannequin known as DePIN to supply GPUs. In easy phrases, how does this assist make entry to highly effective GPUs simpler and cheaper for everybody, in comparison with conventional cloud providers?
Aethir (Mark):
DePIN = Decentralised Bodily Infrastructure Community
DePIN stands for decentralised bodily infrastructure networks, signifying a distributed strategy as a substitute of the standard, centralised structure of big-tech infrastructure suppliers.
Decentralised infrastructure permits Aethir to pool GPU computing energy from totally different sources and channel computing to our shoppers from our community’s bodily closest accessible GPUs.
This manner, we make sure the lowest attainable latency for shoppers, and maximise GPU utilisation. By maximising utilisation, we will scale back working prices and provide unbeatable service costs.
By sourcing GPUs from an enormous decentralised community of Cloud Host suppliers, we don’t want to keep up huge, costly information centres, and our infrastructure is extra scalable.
We will rapidly allocate further GPUs to our shoppers with out provide chain bottlenecks as a result of we merely assign further assets from our Cloud Host community.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
So the computational energy is utilised from a number of GPUs which are geographically separated and nearer to the client? Is that Appropriate?
Aethir (Mark):
Sure! In lots of circumstances that’s precisely the benefit we will provide. In different situations, the benefit may be value, as a result of the consumer doesn’t have strict issues on the place the GPUs are situated.
We have now options for anybody searching for enterprise-grade GPUs for AI or Gaming.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
We all know that Aethir has options for AI (Earth) and Gaming (Ambiance). Are you able to rapidly clarify what every one does and the way they assist builders and avid gamers?
Aethir (Mark):
Good query – this speaks to our broad product providing throughout gaming and AI!
First, let’s speak AI:
Aethir Earth specialises in supporting AI enterprises of all kinds and sizes. It gives a variety of high-performance GPUs specialised for superior AI workloads equivalent to AI inference, large-language mannequin coaching, generative AI, and AI agent coaching.
The service leverages our globally distributed community of premium AI GPUs, together with NVIDIA H100s, H200s, and, most not too long ago, GB200s, alongside different superior GPU fashions.
Aethir Earth is absolutely customisable and tailor-made to every consumer’s wants. We attempt to know every of our shoppers and ship the absolute best service for his or her tasks.
Aethir Earth offers the GPU infrastructure for every type of AI improvements that want entry to dependable and scalable GPU computing at inexpensive costs.
Now gaming!:
Aethir Ambiance, however, is our GPU service, which is designed for gaming enterprises. It gives industry-leading cloud computing for GPU-intensive gaming tasks throughout the Web2 and Web3 gaming sectors. —> it lets any gamer play any sport on any gadget!
Aethir Ambiance can effectively assist cloud gaming platforms and sport builders in want of revolutionary direct-to-customer distribution channels.
With Aethir Ambiance, we will provide Prompt Play streaming options to studios and publishers exploring revolutionary person acquisition and retention methods.
By leveraging our Prompt Play mechanics, builders can keep away from mainstream app shops and instantly attain their clients on the open internet with out paying service charges to big-tech app shops.
Session 3: Token, Ecosystem & Developer Assist
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Let’s get extra into $ATH.
The $ATH token is essential to the undertaking. Moreover paying GPU suppliers, how does the $ATH token assist customers and Aethir’s progress?
Aethir (Mark):
Did you say All Time Excessive?
ATH!
On the heart of the Aethir DePIN stack is our ATH token, which performs a key position in facilitating the day by day operations of Aethir’s GPU community.
ATH is the financial centerpiece of the Aethir ecosystem, connecting all the weather of our community and unifying them right into a extremely versatile, decentralized GPU cloud computing powerhouse for enterprise shoppers.
For the reason that introduction of ATH throughout our mainnet launch and token technology occasion in June 2024, we’ve launched quite a few further ATH utilities, which make ATH far more than only a cryptocurrency token.
Aethir (Mark):
Our GPU community is monitored by 91,000+ community-owned Checker Nodes chargeable for making certain that each one of our 428,000 GPU containers present the identical premium high quality providers to all shoppers always.
Checker Nodes are rewarded day by day ATH token rewards for his or her position within the Aethir ecosystem. The identical goes for stakers.
All compute energy within the Aethir ecosystem is staked with ATH, that means that ATH stakers contribute to our GPU community’s general stability and day by day operations.
Cloud Hosts, our GPU compute suppliers, additionally earn ATH as rewards for offering our enterprise shoppers with decentralised GPU cloud computing energy, the identical manner Aethir Edge operators earn day by day ATH rewards.
All of Aethir’s stakeholders instantly profit from the assorted ATH token utilities.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Good, how does Aethir plan to draw extra builders to create functions (dApps) on its community? What sort of assist or incentives do you provide?
Aethir (Mark):
We introduced our $100m Ecosystem Fund a couple of months in the past – that has gained us an enormous quantity of developer consideration!
It was much more widespread than I anticipated, which was actually cool to see.
Aethir specialises in offering the GPU computing energy wanted to launch varied sorts of apps throughout blockchain networks. We aren’t restricted to a single community. As an alternative, Aethir’s compute infrastructure is flexible and may assist builders throughout varied blockchains.
Our $100 million Ecosystem Fund is constructed to assist AI and gaming innovators with cloud computing grants for Aethir’s DePIN stack. We’re extremely enthusiastic about AI brokers and the intersection of RWA and AI.
To date, we’ve supported 25+ AI agent tasks with compute grants from our Ecosystem Fund, and we’ve not too long ago introduced Batch 6 of our ecosystem grantees that includes revolutionary RWA tasks.
Aethir is right here to assist promising tasks with GPU computing from day one. Our ecosystem grants are a testomony to our dedication to supporting the AI, gaming, and Web3 sectors by permitting builders to understand their visions with out bottlenecks equivalent to an absence of entry to premium GPU cloud computing.
Session 4: Partnerships, Enlargement & Future Plans
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
As a former technical schooling instructor, I can say that there are lots of younger builders in Latin America looking for information to develop in Web3. These incentives assist to form the way forward for Web3. Thanks in your reply.
Let’s discuss our partnership.
The itemizing on Bitfinex was an essential step. What does this partnership imply for Aethir’s progress and for making the undertaking higher identified?
Aethir (Mark):
Thanks! You’re completely proper – the extra assets we will present to builders worldwide, the higher off the world might be!
The itemizing of ATH on Bitfinex is kind of essential for us, on condition that it’s a outstanding world crypto trade, which helps our mission of world ATH accessibility.
This itemizing brings ATH nearer to extra customers, making certain wider entry to the ATH token and resulting in broader ecosystem enlargement.
We’d prefer to have ATH accessible in all components of the world and the itemizing on Bitfinex is a HUGE step on this route!
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Wonderful. Let’s speak concerning the future.
Taking a look at future plans, what are an important updates the group can count on from Aethir? How will these plans assist extra folks use the community?
Aethir (Mark):
I like considering and speaking concerning the future.
We simply made this massive announcement! https://aethir.com/blog-posts/aethirs-eigenlayer-ath-vault-is-here-stake-ath-and-mint-eath-to-maximize-rewards
You possibly can test that out later, however we have now LOTS deliberate developing.
Our one-year token technology occasion (TGE) anniversary is approaching on June twelfth, and we’re getting ready some thrilling updates and launches to have a good time it.
We’ve not too long ago introduced an unique 10-week staking bonus for our group members, enabling them to earn triple ATH staking rewards as a part of our TGE anniversary celebration.
Aethir continuously strives to introduce new product functionalities that enhance person experiences and improve our DePIN ecosystem.
By means of our Ecosystem Fund and AI Unbundled alliance, we’re actively onboarding revolutionary Web3, AI, and gaming builders into our community and supporting them with the GPU computing assets for his or her tasks.
Within the coming months, we’ll introduce expanded ecosystem providers and new partnerships, strengthening Aethir’s place as a worldwide GPU DePIN chief.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
We encourage all of the group to test the announcement!
We noticed that Aethir gives entry to cutting-edge NVIDIA expertise (GB200). What does this imply for Aethir’s future in Synthetic Intelligence?
Aethir (Mark):
Thanks a lot!
FYI – the GB200’s are the most recent Nvidia GPU! Tremendous highly effective and no one in Web3 has them besides us!
The AI {industry} is very aggressive, and it’s evolving quickly. Modern AI tasks are being launched day by day, they usually want dependable, cost-effective GPU assets to scale their operations.
AI workloads are extraordinarily compute-demanding, and solely high-performance GPUs can effectively assist superior AI use circumstances. That’s why Aethir is consistently onboarding new cohorts of GPU Cloud Hosts, specializing in probably the most highly effective NVIDIA AI chipsets, equivalent to GB200s.
Nonetheless, not like centralised cloud suppliers, Aethir’s decentralised cloud gives these high-performance GPUs at a lot decrease costs, permitting AI startups and smaller firms to entry premium computing at inexpensive costs.
We predict these highly effective GPUs shouldn’t solely be accessible to the wealthiest firms. To actually assist AI innovation, computing must be accessible for every type of firms, and that’s exactly what Aethir is providing for the way forward for AI growth.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Unique Aethir GPU for now? That’s enormous!
Aethir (Mark):
We at all times have the most effective infra!
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Aethir has not too long ago introduced compute assist and partnerships with a number of RWA tasks. Are you able to inform us why?
Aethir (Mark):
We love RWAs
The RWA sector has skilled important progress prior to now 12 months, showcasing how real-world utility is changing into more and more enticing for Web3 and TradFi customers alike.
Tasks like Plume and GAIB are pioneering revolutionary RWA use circumstances, such because the tokenisation of GPU belongings, and introducing new {industry} classes like RWAfi, the intersection of RWA, DeFi, and AI.
Some analysts estimate that the RWA sector will attain a $500 billion tokenised belongings worth by the tip of 2025, whereas long-term estimates predict a large RWA progress potential of as much as $30 trillion in tokenised belongings by 2030.
Aethir has already established complete partnerships with among the most revolutionary RWA tasks within the area. By launching the RWAI Initiative with Plume and the GPU Tokenisation Pilot on BNB Chain with GAIB, Aethir is positioning itself on the forefront of RWA innovation.
We’re increasing our ecosystem assist from AI brokers to supercharging RWA growth with the facility of decentralised cloud computing as a result of we consider the RWA sector will play a important position in the way forward for AI growth.
Session 5: Group Engagement & Remaining Ideas
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
As a result of restricted time, we have now included just one viewers query. We have now three in complete, however we discovered this one notably fascinating—would you thoughts answering it?
Moreover, if we ship the opposite questions later, would you be capable to reply so we will add them to our weblog?
This query is from @EdsonRMiguel:
I’m an area LLM fanatic. With the worldwide GPU scarcity — initially pushed by the crypto mining growth and now by the skyrocketing demand from AI firms — how do you see Aethir impacting this state of affairs? How can the decentralised infrastructure you’re constructing assist democratise entry to computational energy and make these assets extra accessible for folks creating AI options, like myself?
Aethir (Mark):
Nice query Edson – and it hits on the coronary heart of what we’re constructing with Aethir.
We’re dwelling by a large GPU crunch, pushed first by crypto mining and now supercharged by AI’s exponential progress. Centralised hyperscalers have hoarded the lion’s share of compute, making it practically inconceivable for impartial builders, startups, and native LLM lovers like your self to get dependable, cost-effective entry. That’s the choke level – and it’s precisely what Aethir is designed to repair.
Aethir flips the mannequin. We don’t personal the GPUs – we mixture unused compute from enterprise-grade information facilities world wide and unify them right into a decentralized, enterprise-grade GPU cloud. Meaning as a substitute of counting on a handful of gamers in Silicon Valley or Ashburn, you’re tapping into a worldwide mesh of distributed infrastructure. It’s quicker, cheaper, and extra accessible than ever.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
This exhibits that Aethir might be a attainable answer if we have now one other GPU Scarcity, particularly with the huge computational energy wanted to drive AI options.
To complete, what’s Aethir’s last imaginative and prescient? What mark do you hope to depart on the earth of decentralised computing by making expertise extra accessible?
Aethir (Mark):
For positive – GPUs are solely going to get extra essential to the worldwide financial system, not much less!
As talked about earlier, common cloud compute is Aethir’s endgame. It’s a future wherein builders can entry high-performance GPU computing with out entry limitations equivalent to unaffordable prices, geopolitical constraints, and provide chain bottlenecks.
Aethir’s cloud computing infrastructure advocates full world decentralisation in true Web3 spirit, permitting anybody to turn into a Cloud Host in Aethir’s DePIN stack and assist world AI evolution.
Entry to dependable and scalable cloud computing is changing into more and more essential in an AI-enhanced world the place all industries are incorporating AI-based options of their day by day operations to some extent.
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Mr. Mark Rydon, thanks very a lot for this clear and fascinating dialog about Aethir. It was nice to raised perceive your imaginative and prescient and plans!
Aethir (Mark):
You’re very welcome – it was my pleasure! Thanks a lot for having me!
Comply with me on X, guys! https://x.com/MRRydon
And our foremost social particulars are right here:
Official Web site (https://aethir.com/)
Twitter (https://twitter.com/AethirCloud)
Telegram (https://t.me/Aethir_Official)
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Wonderful!
Don’t overlook that the transcription of this AMA and the extra questions might be answered in an article on our weblog and accessible in a number of languages!
Aethir (Mark):
Thanks once more, guys!
Bitfinex (BitFreedomGus):
Thanks, Mr. Mark!
That concludes our AMA session—thanks all, and we’ll see you subsequent time!