Tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are currently providing computing services for computer graphics rendering, machine learning, realistic simulations, and scientific calculations. But these platforms charge a hefty amount for these services. And the bigger problem is that the platforms are controlled by a single entity.
Therefore, big enterprises and media industries are reluctant to use these services because they’re worried about their scripts being stolen. A decentralized platform can address their problems more efficiently. Although the blockchain industry is yet to build its reputation among these enterprises, it has the potential to dominate this area in the future.
And Golem is one of the leading blockchain networks that is designed to address this problem.
What is Golem?
Golem is a decentralized platform that provides computational power for CGI rendering, crypto mining, artificial intelligence, and other tasks. An average user can now use this platform to perform several tasks even if they can’t afford expensive hardware equipment.
The platform is designed to connect buyers and sellers. It means an average user can earn passive income by renting out the spare computational power. Thus, it eliminates the need for dealing with a single cloud computing service provider while providing control to multiple participants.
The best part is that the users can’t steal data from the platform due to its decentralized nature. The benefit of using a distributed network is that it avoids the risk of a DDoS attack because the hackers can’t take over its server.
Golem network users two important tools Blender and LuxCoreRender to provide CGI rendering facilities to the users. Blender can be used for 3D modeling, texturing, particle simulation, animating, raster graphics editing, video editing, UV unwrapping, motion graphics, and more. LuxCoreRender is used to render the final project.
Golem also provides an advanced game engine that can be used to develop high-quality games. Golem offers endless opportunities for video game developers, artists, scientists, and indie movie makers. The platform is dedicated to democratizing supercomputing.
Golem Brief History
Golem network was introduced by Golem Factory in 2018. Golem Factory was co-founded by Andrzej Regulski, Piotr Janiuk, Aleksandra Skrzypczak, and Julain Zawistowski in 2016. The goal of introducing the Golem network was to provide plenty of computational power for complex projects without having to deal with a centralized entity.
The idea was pitched in 2016 and the team sold 80 percent of the total supply of its native token. They raised around $8.6 million worth of ETH tokens during this sale. Golem’s new transaction framework is a layer 2 solution built on Ethereum.
Therefore, the users had to migrate their GNT tokens to the new ERC-20 GLM tokens in November 2020.
How Does Golem Work?
Golem is pretty much similar to Airbnb as it provides an average user with the opportunity to rent out computational space to other users at a reasonable price. The users use a task template to request computational resources from the suppliers.
The platform uses the computation power of different suppliers to complete the request as soon as possible. Thus, they can complete certain tasks like CGI rendering without having to choose an expensive cloud-based service.
Architecture
Golem network has a library of task templates that users can use when requesting a task. They can also create a unique task template if an existing template doesn’t match their requirements. The network then splits the task into different subtasks depending on the computing resources provided by the suppliers.
The subtasks go through a verification stage once they’re complete. The final results are combined together to send the complete project to the requestor. The requestor needs to send the service fee to the network after receiving the project. The network then distributes the amount among suppliers who provided their computing resources for the project.
Reputation System
Golem network has designed a grading system for buyers and sellers. The supplier’s reputation is determined based on the accuracy of completing a task and the authenticity of the result delivered.
The requestor’s rank is determined based on whether they release the payment on time or not. Similarly, the requestor’s rank is affected when there are some errors in their task.
Application Registry and Transaction Framework
Golem is currently limited to CGI rendering but it’s trying to improve its ability to perform a range of tasks including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more. An application registry is somehow similar to Google Playstore where developers add a range of tools for requestors.
Thus, requestors will be able to initiate a task even if they don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. Transaction framework is an advanced feature that developers can use to choose payment options including off-chain payment channels and payout schemes for their applications.
GNT Tokenomics
As it’s mentioned above, Golem’s native token was initially called GNT. But it was migrated to GLM because it’s an ERC-20 token. With a circulating supply of 1 billion tokens, GLM has a market cap of $260.7 million. The requestors need to pay the service fees in the form of GLM tokens.
Similarly, the platform provides a portion of the service fee to suppliers for their participation. The users can easily get GLM tokens from popular cryptocurrency exchanges.
Conclusion
Golem is a decentralized platform that provides computational power to users. The best part is that it builds a connection between average buyer and seller rather than establishing its own servers. Thus, it distributes the control among multiple participants. It also provides an earning opportunity for users that want to donate their computational resources.
If you need more information about how Golem works, feel free to reach out to us.
