This proposal — AIP-2026-Q2 — requests authorization to deploy 500,000,000 ATH from Aethir's DAO Treasury across three high-impact initiatives designed to strengthen network participation, accelerate ecosystem adoption, and reward the most committed infrastructure operators in the Aethir network.
Following a successful Q1 2026 in which Aethir surpassed $400M in GPU compute capacity, expanded to 100+ countries, and launched Staking Season 2 with tripled emissions, this proposal builds on that momentum to sustain growth through Q2 2026 and beyond.
Total supply: 42,000,000,000 ATH · DAO Treasury allocation: 7.5% (3,150,000,000 ATH) · This proposal: 500,000,000 ATH (~15.9% of treasury)
01 Background
Aethir is a DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) that aggregates enterprise-grade GPU chips into a single global cloud compute network, enabling AI training, inferencing, cloud gaming, and virtualized compute at scale. The ATH token, with a total supply of 42B, is the native utility and governance token of the Aethir ecosystem.
The current standard staking emissions of 1,000,000 ATH/week per pool (Gaming and AI Pools) were designed for baseline participation. With network usage growing at double-digit monthly rates and competition for compute capacity intensifying, a strategic reallocation is needed to incentivize long-term participation and accelerate ecosystem growth.
02 Problem Statement
- Staking APY compression post-boost period risks reducing participation in both the Gaming and AI Pools, reducing liquidity depth and governance power concentration.
- The $100M Ecosystem Fund has committed significant allocations to early-stage partners; replenishment is necessary to sustain grant activity in Q2–Q3 2026.
- Checker Node operators providing exceptional uptime (≥99%) lack a dedicated performance-based reward tier beyond the existing 5% bonus pool, which is capped by quarterly evaluation cycles.
03 Proposed Allocation
The 500,000,000 ATH requested from the DAO Treasury is divided across three tranches as follows:
| Initiative | ATH Allocation | Share | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staking Pool Emission Boost | 200,000,000 | 40% | 20 weeks |
| Ecosystem Fund Replenishment | 200,000,000 | 40% | Ongoing |
| Checker Node Performance Tier | 100,000,000 | 20% | Q2 2026 |
| Total Request | 500,000,000 | 100% | — |
04 Initiative 1 — Staking Pool Emission Boost
A 20-week extended emission boost period beginning April 7, 2026, adding 5,000,000 ATH/week split equally between the Gaming Pool (2,500,000 ATH/week) and the AI Pool (2,500,000 ATH/week) — representing a 2.5× uplift over standard emissions.
- Rewards calculated pro-rata based on individual stake weight relative to total pool contributions.
- Eligible for all wallets staking ATH at the commencement block of each epoch.
- Operates alongside any Staking Season 2 rewards still distributing under the existing schedule.
- After the 20-week period, emissions revert to the standard 1,000,000 ATH/week per pool baseline.
05 Initiative 2 — Ecosystem Fund Replenishment
Inject 200,000,000 ATH into the Aethir Ecosystem Fund to sustain and expand grant programs across the following tracks:
- Aethir Catalyst: Grants of $5,000–$500,000 in compute credits and token grants to AI applications and cloud gaming platforms building on Aethir infrastructure.
- Strategic Partnership Grants: Co-investment pools for ecosystem partners including WeatherXM, XPLA, XAI, EigenLayer, and Avalanche integrations.
- Developer Adoption: Subsidized compute credits for early-stage AI startups and academic research institutions using Aethir Earth and Atmosphere.
All Ecosystem Fund disbursements will be published on-chain within 7 days of approval and summarized in quarterly community reports accessible at ecosystem.aethir.com.
06 Initiative 3 — Checker Node Performance Tier
Establish a dedicated Q2 2026 performance bonus pool of 100,000,000 ATH for Checker Node operators demonstrating sustained excellence. Eligibility criteria:
- Verified uptime of ≥99.0% across Q2 2026 (April 1 – June 30, 2026) as recorded on the Aethir GPU Dashboard.
- A minimum of 2,500 ATH staked for at least 90 consecutive days per node license.
- Zero slashing events or missed check-in windows during the measurement period.
- Rewards distributed proportionally at the close of Q2 2026 based on total qualifying node-hours.
Node operators who withdraw their stake or deactivate nodes before June 30, 2026 will forfeit eligibility for the Performance Tier bonus. Early withdrawals are tracked by the Aethir User Portal vesting dashboard.
07 Execution Steps
- Upon successful passage of this vote (simple majority >50% of votes cast, quorum of 600M ATH), the DAO multi-sig will execute the treasury transfer within 72 hours.
- Staking boost emissions will activate at the next epoch boundary following the transfer, targeting April 7, 2026.
- Ecosystem Fund replenishment will be allocated to the existing Ecosystem Fund smart contract, governed by the Aethir Foundation.
- Checker Node Performance Tier tracking begins retroactively from April 1, 2026, with snapshot data sourced from the Aethir GPU Dashboard on-chain metrics.
08 Risk Considerations
- Emission boosts increase circulating ATH supply pressure; however, the 20-week lock-in of staked tokens provides offsetting demand-side pressure on available supply.
- Ecosystem Fund grants are denominated in ATH at the time of disbursement; grant recipients should be aware of price volatility risk for planning purposes.
- Performance tier disbursement is contingent on sufficient qualifying node-hours; unallocated tokens from the 100M ATH pool will be returned to the DAO Treasury.
This proposal requires a simple majority (>50% of valid votes cast) and a minimum quorum of 600,000,000 ATH to pass. Voting power is determined by your ATH balance and staked ATH at snapshot block #24,601,980 (March 20, 2026 00:00 UTC).
- For — You support the 500M ATH reallocation as specified.
- Against — You oppose the proposal in its current form.
- Abstain — Your vote contributes to quorum but does not affect the For/Against outcome.