io.net is a decentralized GPU network that pools idle graphics cards from data centers, former crypto-mining farms, and independent operators into rentable compute clusters for AI teams. Its native token, IO, handles payments, staking, and hourly rewards across the network. Built on Solana, the project calls itself the Internet of GPUs: cloud computing assembled from hardware the traditional providers don't own, offered at 50 to 70 percent below hyperscaler pricing.
The pitch works because the underlying problem is real. On-demand access to Nvidia's H100 chips still runs roughly $4.50 to $5.50 per GPU-hour at the major clouds as of early 2026, when capacity is available at all. Messari's overview of io.net describes the project as an aggregation play: instead of building data centers, it recruits supply that already exists and coordinates it with software.
From Idle Hardware to AI Clusters
Suppliers connect their machines by installing io.net's worker software, which benchmarks the hardware, verifies connectivity, and lists the device on the marketplace. Renters then assemble clusters from that pool in minutes, choosing GPU model, region, and cluster type. Orchestration runs on Ray, the same open-source distributed computing framework used by many large AI labs, which lets a scattered collection of machines behave like one training or inference environment.
That software layer is the actual product. Thousands of GPUs in different countries are useless to a machine learning engineer without scheduling, fault tolerance, and verified uptime, so io.net spends most of its engineering effort there. The GPU shortage that keeps pushing demand toward decentralized compute supplies the macro tailwind, and io.net's bet is that price plus availability will keep winning workloads that don't require a single physical data center.
Pricing is set by supply and demand per device class. Because suppliers range from tier-3 data centers to individual rigs, the network scores every device for reliability, and renters can filter for verified, high-uptime hardware.
The Product Stack
IO Cloud
IO Cloud is the rental side: on-demand clusters for training, fine-tuning, and batch inference. It supports Ray clusters, bare-metal deployments, and containerized workloads, with cluster sizes from a single GPU to thousands.
IO Worker
IO Worker is the supplier dashboard, where operators onboard devices, monitor uptime, and track rewards. Suppliers earn hourly block rewards in IO for staying online plus job payments whenever a renter books their hardware. The economics of running a node are covered in our guide to earning IO with your GPU.
IO Intelligence
IO Intelligence, launched in 2025, is an inference API serving open-source models on top of the network's hardware. By June 2026 it was processing over 4 billion AI tokens per day, and it has become the clearest demonstration that the network can serve steady production workloads rather than one-off experiments.
The IO Token and the Incentive Dynamic Engine
IO is a Solana SPL token with a hard cap of 800 million. Half a billion tokens existed at launch in June 2024, and the remaining 300 million are being emitted as hourly rewards to suppliers and stakers over roughly 20 years, on a schedule that started at 8 percent annual inflation and steps down about 1 percent each month. Suppliers must also stake IO to their own devices, a base of 200 IO per chip, which ties token demand to network participation. The full breakdown of allocations, vesting, and emissions lives in our IO tokenomics article.
In June 2026 the project overhauled this system with the Incentive Dynamic Engine, which adjusts emissions to actual network demand and permanently burns at least half of post-payout network revenue in IO. io.net projects the engine will burn up to 12 million tokens in its first year, announced alongside an $8 million enterprise contract. For holders who want yield from the reward pool without running hardware, staking IO through the co-staking marketplace shares block rewards between token holders and suppliers.
The Network in Numbers
| Metric | Figure | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Registered GPUs | ~327,000 | April 2026 |
| Daily verified GPUs | ~6,700 | April 2026 |
| Countries with supply | 130+ | Early 2026 |
| Daily inference volume | 4B+ AI tokens | June 2026 |
| IO price | ~$0.15 to $0.17 | July 2026 |
| Circulating supply | ~362M of 800M | July 2026 |
The gap between registered and verified hardware deserves attention. Hundreds of thousands of devices have touched the network, while the pool passing daily verification is far smaller. Verified devices are the ones earning rewards and serving jobs, so that figure is the honest measure of network capacity, and it is the one to watch in CoinGecko's io.net data and the project's own explorer as the enterprise pipeline grows.
A Rocky Start and a Rebuilt Team
io.net was founded in 2022 by Ahmad Shadid, a former quantitative systems engineer who originally built the GPU aggregation layer to power trading systems before pivoting it into a general AI compute marketplace. The project raised a $30 million Series A in 2024 and launched the IO token that June. Launch week was turbulent: Shadid resigned days before the token went live amid scrutiny of his background and of inflated GPU-count claims, and IO printed its all-time high of $6.44 on June 12, 2024 before beginning a drawdown of roughly 97 percent. That history, and where forecasters think the token goes from here, is covered in our IO price outlook.
The team that runs io.net today looks different. Co-founder Tory Green steered the company after the launch and now chairs the io.net Foundation, while Gaurav Sharma, an engineering veteran of Amazon and eBay, took over as CEO in April 2025. The company also partnered with Render in 2024 to route that network's GPU suppliers toward machine learning workloads, an early sign that DePIN compute projects cooperate as much as they compete.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does io.net do?
io.net rents out computing power for AI workloads using GPUs sourced from independent suppliers instead of company-owned data centers. Customers assemble clusters through IO Cloud or call models through the IO Intelligence API, and suppliers earn IO tokens for providing verified hardware.
How many GPUs does io.net have?
Roughly 327,000 GPUs were registered on io.net as of April 2026, but only about 6,700 passed verification on a given day. The verified figure represents hardware that is online, staked, and eligible for work, making it the more meaningful number.
What is the IO token used for?
IO is the payment, staking, and reward asset of the io.net network. Renters pay for compute with it, suppliers stake it to activate devices and earn hourly block rewards from a 300 million token emissions pool, and since June 2026 the network burns at least half of post-payout revenue in IO.
Is io.net built on Solana?
Yes. IO is an SPL token and the network settles payments and rewards on Solana, chosen for its low fees and fast settlement. Compute itself happens off-chain on supplier hardware, with the blockchain handling the economic layer.
Why is IO down so much from its all-time high?
IO launched in June 2024 at peak DePIN enthusiasm, reached $6.44 within a day, and then fell as token unlocks expanded supply while network revenue stayed early-stage. A price near $0.16 as of July 2026 reflects that reset, and the new burn engine is the project's attempt to tie the token to real usage.
Why io.net Matters in the AI Compute Crunch
The AI boom has turned GPU access into one of the scarcest resources in technology, and io.net is one of the few crypto projects attacking that bottleneck with a working product rather than a whitepaper. Its verified supply is modest next to its marketing numbers, but 4 billion inference tokens a day, enterprise contracts, and a revenue-linked burn give the network measurable fundamentals that most DePIN tokens still lack.
For traders, IO is a leveraged bet on decentralized AI infrastructure finding paying customers. The token's history demands respect for downside risk, while the 2026 overhaul gives the bull case a mechanism it previously lacked.
You can buy IO on the spot market or take positions in either direction with IO perpetual futures on LeveX. For plain-language guides to other major tokens, browse Crypto in a Minute.