Updated Acurast Tokenomics — Decentralized Compute, Powered by ACU
As the launch of the Acurast Mainnet and TGE is approaching soon, the latest tokenomics have been updated to ensure the strongest possible alignment, bringing together contributors, developers, compute providers, and end-users around shared incentives.
At the core of Acurast lies the ACU token and economic model, designed to power a secure, scalable, and decentralized compute ecosystem, while encouraging active collaboration and sustainable growth.
Our focus on tokenomics has been, and remains, guided by a sustainable, community-first approach.
Latest Key Highlights
- Initial Supply:** 1,000,000,000 ACU
- Fixed inflation:** 5% fixed annual inflation distributed to Staked Compute Pool (70%), Compute Pool (10%), On-chain Treasury (15%), Collators (5%)
- Only 6.5% allocated to early backers** — while important for funding and supporting development all the way to mainnet, this allocation was kept very low in order to facilitate a fair launch of the token.
- Nearly 70%** of tokens are allocated to the community or community-supporting purposes (Community Treasury, Community Activation, Operational Funds, Liquidity Provision).
- The Association’s operational funds have a 3 month lock-up followed by 24 months linear vesting.
- Team and Advisors have a 6-month lock-up followed by 36 months linear vesting, aligning them with the long-term mission of the project.
We’re proud of how far we’ve come with our community, contributors and partners in the ecosystem, and we can’t wait to launch and start the next chapter together.
By capping early backers at just 6.5% and allocating the majority of tokens to the community and community-supporting initiatives, the token distribution puts the ecosystem interests first, acknowledging early contributions to the broader crypto ecosystem, and fostering the creation of services and products on top of Acurast. This ultimately supports the project’s roadmap and long-term objectives.
Genesis Token Allocation
Allocation Categories
Early Backers: A small, diverse group providing initial funding to ensure the protocol reaches mainnet maturity without heavy institutional influence.
Team and Advisors: Tokens for the core contributors of the protocol, encompassing employees, advisors, founders and future key team members, with the longest lock-up; this allocation is structured to align for long-term incentives. Additionally, Team and Advisor tokens are subject to a 6-month cliff period.
TGE Community Activation: Tokens from the participation of the launchpad token launch, canarynet token conversions, airdrops and additional broader activation of the community on TGE.
Community Treasury: With decentralization in mind from the first day, a large part of the tokens are allocated towards the community treasury, allowing ACU holders to determine through on-chain governance the future development of the protocol and support significant contributions via governance proposals. The community treasury is subject to a 3-month cliff.
Operational Funds: Strategic funds with the mandate to foster protocol acceleration and growth, governed by the Acurast Association council. This portion is subject to a 3-month cliff period.
Liquidity Provision: This allocation is used exclusively to ensure enough liquidity of the Acurast Token on centralised and decentralised exchanges.
Token Allocations
Token Utility
Network Fees: The Acurast network, a Delegated Proof-of-Stake blockchain, acts as an orchestrator and settlement layer for the decentralized compute economy. To interact with the Acurast network, ACU is required for transaction fees.
Staking: While compute is secured by design, an additional layer of economic security is added to the network by staking through Processors. Stakers receive fees from the network as rewards for providing economic security. Every ACU holder can participate in staking without having to run their own Processor through Delegation.
Governance: Holders of ACU can engage in protocol governance by voting on a variety of proposals brought forward by the community, guiding the development of the protocol and its components, and ensuring true decentralisation and future-proof evolution by design.
Inflation
Inflation is what makes the Acurast process sustainable by rewarding active participation in the protocol and creating incentives to be run as a decentralized protocol indefinitely. The protocol sets inflation between 1% and 5% annually, depending on various on-chain metrics, and can be further adapted through governance votes.
What about cACU and MIST?
Back in 2023, we explained the differences between the various Acurast networks. We also clarified the purpose of the current canary network, where cACU tokens are currently being received as rewards. Once Mainnet is launched, users will be able to migrate their processors from the Canary net to Mainnet in a few simple steps. Check the details here
After the mainnet launch, the canary network , with its fast-paced update cycles , will remain, and so will cACU.
For the transition from cACU to ACU, conversion mechanics come into place. Users will be able to decide themselves when to convert, with a default 1:1 conversion if the commitment reaches the maximum time of 19353600 blocks, translating to roughly 3.7 calendar years. Any moment after the minimum conversion time of 1209600 blocks (around 2.8 months), users will be able to convert. For all details, please check our conversion blogpost, and the Acurast docs.
What about MIST? The Cloud Rebellion has been through 4 seasons already, and has proven itself as an effective way to boost community engagement and turn users into fans and promoters. Cloud Rebels are the most important part of this community and will continue to be. Cloud Rebels with MIST will be rewarded with an Airdrop and there will also be a reserved allocation for Cloud Rebels from the “Community Activation,”. In short, the Cloud Rebellion platform will remain relevant even after the mainnet launch.
Summary
A lot of effort and hard work have gone into turning Acurast from an idea into a working reality. As a community, we’ve come a long way and can be proud of everything we’ve accomplished. Everyone involved (Cloud Rebels, Team, Advisors, Partners, Developers, Processors, etc.) wants this launch to be as successful as possible and has been working tirelessly to make it happen. Exciting times lie ahead, and with the Mainnet launch, we’ll be able to bring decentralized compute powered by smartphones to the next level.
Rebels, buckle up — we’re just getting started!!!
