$IO : Review 📜
What does real compute demand actually look like? It looks like a number: $12.3M in annualized revenue, the #1 spot on the DePIN revenue leaderboard, and roughly 5x the nearest GPU compute competitor.
Meet @ionet , the world's largest decentralized GPU compute network, now sitting at the top of DePIN by revenue with 300,000+ enterprise-grade GPUs across 138 countries, up to 70% cost savings versus AWS and GCP, and the Incentive Dynamic Engine converting that real demand into deflationary pressure on $IO. Not a narrative. Just infrastructure that works.
Let's explore how io net is rebuilding cloud infrastructure for the AI era. 👇
⚪ io net at a Glance
io net is a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) that coordinates a distributed supply of GPUs through Ray-based orchestration, fault tolerance, and dynamic scheduling. The protocol aggregates underutilized enterprise-grade GPUs from independent data centers, crypto miners, and other DePINs to provide on-demand, scalable, and cost-efficient AI compute.
The IOG Network ecosystem includes IO Cloud (decentralized GPU marketplace), IO Intelligence (AI inference and models), IO Worker (supplier interface), IO Staking (co-staking allocations), IO Explorer (real-time monitoring), IO ID (identity and earnings), and Agent Cloud (compute for autonomous AI agents).
Marketplace Insight: io net now leads all DePIN projects in 30-day annualized revenue at ~$12.3M, ahead of Helium ($8.5M), GEODNET ($7.9M), and well ahead of GPU compute rival Akash ($2.5M). Critically, its MC/ARR ratio of ~5.3x is one of the lowest on the entire leaderboard, far below Akash (85x), DoubleZero (175x), or Filecoin (527x). Whether you read that as deeply undervalued or as the market pricing in real risk, io net is the rare DePIN where revenue is a verifiable number, not a slide.
⚪ Mission
io net's mission is to become "the currency of compute," replacing centralized cloud providers as the default backend for AI by giving developers permissionless access to global GPU capacity. By turning compute into a tradeable commodity priced in $IO, the network aims to democratize access for AI startups, lower prices through aggregation, and reward every contributor of idle hardware globally.
🔵 A Brief History
io net was originally founded in 2022 as ANTBIT, a quantitative trading firm building institutional-grade systems for US equities and crypto markets. GPU costs of over $100K per month became a bottleneck, pushing the team to explore distributed computing and Ray-based orchestration. That research became the foundation for io net.
The $IO Token Generation Event launched in June 2024 on Solana with a 500M genesis supply (62.5% of the 800M max), the remaining 300M scheduled as hourly emissions to GPU suppliers and stakers over 20 years on a disinflationary schedule starting at 8% year one. Founder Ahmad Shadid stepped down as CEO around the token launch.
In August 2024, a leadership transition installed co-founder Tory Green as CEO, with Gaurav Sharma (ex-Binance VP of Engineering) as CTO and Tausif Ahmed (ex-Amazon, Harvard MBA) running Business and Revenue. The IOG Foundation was spun up to lead grants, research, and decentralization advocacy.
April 2025 brought the second reshuffle: Gaurav Sharma was elevated to CEO while retaining CTO duties, Tory Green transitioned to Chairperson of the io net Foundation, and Co-Founder & COO Basem Oubah continued running operations.
In Q1 2026, io net shipped Agent Cloud (March 25), a compute layer where autonomous AI agents can buy GPU resources without KYC, logins, or human approvals, using an MCP library. On June 11, 2026, io net activated the Incentive Dynamic Engine, permanently burning at least 50% of post-payout network revenue received in $IO. By late June 2026, io net had claimed the #1 spot on the DePIN revenue leaderboard at ~$12.3M annualized.
🔵 Ecosystem Narrative
io net's ecosystem is built around one simple loop. Aggregate underutilized GPUs globally, orchestrate them with Ray-based distributed computing, and price compute in $IO so suppliers, customers, and the network all benefit from rising AI demand.
Key dynamics include:
➛ #1 DePIN by revenue. ~$12.3M 30d annualized revenue, leading the entire DePIN sector and roughly 5x the nearest GPU compute competitor (Akash at $2.5M). Real paying GPU customers, not token-reward farming.
➛ Massive aggregated GPU supply. 300,000+ verified GPUs across 138 countries (per io net), with enterprise-grade H100s, A100s, and newer H200/B200 hardware. Supply comes from independent data centers, mining operations, and other DePINs.
➛ Ray-based orchestration. The same distributed framework that powers OpenAI training is the backbone of io net's clustering. Workers can be deployed in minutes for batch inference, parallel training, hyperparameter tuning, and reinforcement learning.
➛ Confidential compute edge. Intel TDX combined with NVIDIA H100/H200/B200 puts io net's confidential compute offering ahead of most DePIN competitors, a real differentiator for enterprise and sensitive workloads.
➛ DePIN-to-DePIN integration. io net plugs into Render (rendering GPUs) and Filecoin (storage), turning the broader DePIN stack into a composable compute and data layer.
➛ Incentive Dynamic Engine. Activated June 11, 2026. Burns 50%+ of post-payout revenue received in $IO, with roughly 488K $IO destroyed on-chain in the first two weeks and 12M+ projected annually. Real customer payments fund the burn.
➛ Agent Cloud for autonomous AI. Launched March 25, 2026. Lets AI agents source and manage compute on their own via an MCP library, without KYC or logins. Positions io net for the agent-driven phase of AI demand.
⚪ Token Utilities
$IO is the native economic asset of the IOG Network with utility tied to real compute usage:
➛ GPU Payment Settlement: Customers can pay in USDC, fiat, or crypto, but all payments route to IO behind the scenes. Suppliers earn IO and can convert to USDC.
➛ Network Fee Structure: IO payments carry zero fee. USDC payments carry a 2% facilitation fee. Staking rewards and emissions are fee-free, structurally pushing volume into IO.
➛ Supplier Rewards: 300M $IO reserved for emissions to GPU suppliers over 20 years on hourly distribution, disinflationary starting at 8% year one.
➛ Co-Staking: Suppliers and IO stakers co-stake to secure GPU job quality, with stake exposure aligning network integrity.
➛ Revenue-Backed Burns: The Incentive Dynamic Engine permanently destroys 50%+ of post-payout revenue received in IO, targeting a 12M+ token annual burn.
⚪ Key Features
➛ Decentralized GPU Cloud: 300,000+ GPUs across 138 countries, deployable in minutes.
➛ Up to 70% Cost Savings: H100s from $2.19/hr versus AWS at $12.29/hr. Most AI startups save $10K+ monthly.
➛ Ray-Based Distributed Computing: Auto-optimizes workloads for CUDA and TensorRT across heterogeneous hardware.
➛ Confidential Compute: Intel TDX plus NVIDIA H100/H200/B200, ahead of most DePIN competitors.
➛ Agent Cloud: Compute for autonomous AI agents with no KYC, no logins, no human approvals.
➛ IO Intelligence: Free inference platform with open-source AI models out of the box.
➛ DePIN Composability: Direct integration with Render and Filecoin.
🔵 Meet the io net Team
io net is led by an operating team built around enterprise engineering scale and global business development, with Gaurav Sharma running technical and strategic direction since the April 2025 leadership transition.
▶️ Core Members:
➛ Gaurav Sharma [ @Gaurav_ionet ] - CEO & CTO | Promoted from CTO to CEO in April 2025. Nearly two decades in distributed systems, high-performance computing, and AI infrastructure. Senior engineering leadership at Binance (VP of Engineering), Agoda (Senior Director of Engineering), and Amazon. Drove the architecture and roadmap for IO Cloud and IO Intelligence.
➛ Tory Green [ @MTorygreen ] - Co-Founder & Chair, io net Foundation | BA Economics from Stanford, played football at West Point. Prior roles at Oaktree Capital, Walt Disney (strategic planning), and Merrill Lynch, plus 7 years as a VC at Tiller Partners. Served as CEO from June 2024 until April 2025, then moved to Foundation Chair, leading grants, advocacy, and decentralization.
➛ Mark Roszak - CLO & Chief Compliance Officer | Leads legal strategy and compliance across global jurisdictions.
➛ Maher Jilani - Chief Experience Officer | Owns end-to-end user experience across IO Cloud, IO Intelligence, and the developer stack.
➛ Raj Karan - CPO | Drives product strategy and roadmap execution across the IOG Network.
➛ Jack Collier [ @jack_ionet ] - CMO | Leads marketing, brand, and growth across community, enterprise, and developer channels.
➛ Mohamed (Tausif) Ahmed - CBDO | Previously at Amazon and Kraken. Harvard MBA. Leads business development and enterprise sales, including the pipeline driving io net's revenue lead.
➛ Advisory: Lord Ed Vaizey (UK policy veteran), Max Baucus (former US Senator and Ambassador to China), Daniel Trinder, and Tamer Saudi.
➛ Basem Oubah - Co-Founder & COO | Based in Dubai. Leads operations,
coordinating engineering, design, and marketing.
🔵 Ratings
➛ Use Case: ★★★★✦ (4.5/5) - io net is now the #1 DePIN project by revenue at ~$12.3M annualized, roughly 5x its nearest GPU compute competitor, with 300,000+ GPUs across 138 countries, 70% cost savings versus hyperscalers, confidential compute via Intel TDX, and integrations across Render, Filecoin, and 85+ projects. Agent Cloud positions io net at the intersection of decentralized compute and agentic AI, one of the most credible long‑term narratives in crypto. This is market leadership backed by a verifiable revenue number rather than a self‑reported metric, which is exactly what separates real infrastructure from DePIN theater. The 0.5 deduction is for competitive pressure from Akash (more decentralized, open‑source …).
➛ Tokenomics: ★★★★ (4/5) - 800M fixed max supply with a disinflationary emissions schedule and the Incentive Dynamic Engine burning 50%+ of revenue is genuinely strong architecture, and io net is one of the only DePIN tokens where the burn mechanism is live, verifiable on-chain, and funded by real customer payments rather than a whitepaper promise. Roughly 488K $IO was destroyed on-chain in the first two weeks alone. The ~5.3x MC/ARR ratio is one of the lowest on the entire DePIN leaderboard, signaling the token is cheap relative to the real revenue it captures. Zero-fee IO payments structurally push volume into the token, and the disinflationary supplier schedule steps emissions down over time. The 1-point deduction is the near‑term inflation gap. Emissions currently outpace the burn, insider unlocks run through 2028, and the harder IDE reforms (demand‑driven emissions and a revenue‑funded buyback announced Dec 2025) still need to ship for the model to turn net deflationary. Strong design, with execution on the burn‑versus‑emissions balance still in progress.
➛ Audits: ★★★★ (4/5) - CertiK Skynet Score of 85.01 (A grade), with three completed audits and active continuous monitoring through CertiK's Skynet platform. Team verification, verified contract, and bug bounty all in place. Strong overall posture for a network handling enterprise GPU workloads and distributed orchestration across thousands of nodes. The 1-point deduction is for operational complexity, where attack vectors extend beyond smart contracts to orchestration, node verification, and supplier quality, plus the closed-source worker binary and Sybil attack history that limit full transparency.
➛ Community: ★★★★ (4/5) - One of the most engaged communities in DePIN. 414K+ Twitter followers, 54K+ Telegram, active Discord, weekly AMAs, global events, and programs like the Astronaut Program. Supplier base spans thousands of GPU operators globally, doubling as a distributed community moat. The 1-point deduction is that the community has experienced real attrition since the December 2024 highs with IO down ~98% from ATH, and skepticism around GPU metrics and centralized decision-making (no DAO, no token voting) keeps sentiment mixed.
🔵 Conclusion
io net is one of the most operationally credible DePINs in crypto, and the numbers now back the narrative. The #1 spot on the DePIN revenue leaderboard at ~$12.3M annualized, roughly 5x the nearest GPU compute competitor, with one of the lowest MC/ARR ratios in the entire sector. Real GPU supply at scale, real enterprise revenue, real burn mechanics, and a clear position at the intersection of decentralized infrastructure and agentic AI.
Gaurav Sharma's leadership has stabilized the technical direction, the enterprise sales motion is producing measurable revenue, and the Incentive Dynamic Engine ties tokenomics to usage in a way few DePIN tokens achieve. Confidential compute via Intel TDX and Agent Cloud open io net to enterprise and autonomous-agent demand that could be the largest single driver for decentralized compute next cycle.
If AI compute is the most important resource of this generation, and io net is the largest decentralized network coordinating it, now demonstrably leading DePIN in revenue, then $IO is the settlement currency of that compute layer trading at one of the lowest revenue multiples in the sector. Few crypto projects can claim a real product, real revenue, real users, and a real burn mechanism tied to all three. io net actually can.
