DePIN old project returns to the public eye, can Golem, which was once criticized, be more reliable this time?

Since the beginning of 2024, the DePIN project has become a capital-favored trend in Web3, and some older projects in this sector have begun to re-enter the public eye. Golem, which completed its financing as early as 2016, has recently announced two major events that have attracted a certain level of attention in the industry.
The following introduces Golem's significant events and an overview of the project.

Research Results with Partners Published in the Renowned Scientific Journal "Chem," Is Golem Network Back?

On January 25, the decentralized computing platform Golem Network, located in Zug, Switzerland, announced that its collaboration with the scientific software company Allchemy has been recognized by the scientific community. This project, which explores the origins of life on Earth, has been acknowledged and successfully published in the prestigious scientific journal "Chem." The research revealed a series of 50,000 molecular combinations that may have occurred during the origin of life on Earth.

It is understood that this work requires immense computational power, as it necessitates further simulation of the emergence of early metabolic systems of life. Golem Network played a key role in this process by mobilizing collective computing resources provided by individuals worldwide, completing calculations for 3.7 billion molecules and nearly 5 billion chemical reactions, thus constructing the most comprehensive known pre-life reaction network to date.
In the Golem network, approximately 20,000 CPU cores were used to simulate billions of chemical reactions, which not only demonstrates the scalability and functionality of decentralized computing but also showcases the collaborative nature of the Golem platform, allowing individuals from around the globe to participate in the important work of simulating the origins of life on Earth.

Can Golem, Criticized for Slow Development and CPU-Driven Computing Power, Refresh People's Impressions?

Golem, as a decentralized computing power marketplace platform, enables anyone to share and aggregate computing resources by building and sharing a network of resources. This platform aims to provide rental services for users in need of computing power, covering three core participants: power suppliers, demanders, and software developers. The computing tasks submitted by users are assigned to suppliers who can provide the required resources (such as RAM, hard disk space, and CPU cores), and upon completion of the tasks, both parties settle payments using digital currency tokens.
Although Golem primarily relies on CPUs for providing computing power, which is cheaper compared to GPU solutions (for example, the price of an Intel i9 14900k is $700 compared to $12,000-$25,000 for an A100 GPU), the shortcomings of CPUs in high concurrency computing and energy efficiency make Golem appear slightly weaker than GPU projects in certain narratives. Meanwhile, Golem reduces computing costs by utilizing idle computing power through its peer-to-peer network architecture, contrasting with the centralized hardware architecture provided by traditional cloud service providers.
The Golem platform supports any individual to become a supplier or renter of computing power, whether it's an idle home computer or a large data center. The platform settles the earnings of computing power providers and the payments of computing power users based on Ethereum's transaction system. Since its crowdfunding in 2016, Golem has raised 820,000 Ether (approximately $340 million) in just 20 minutes, despite facing ongoing criticism for delays in product launches during its development process. In response, CEO Julian Zawistowski mentioned that software development delays are common in the industry, but the industry has not shown understanding towards it.

Golem innovatively provides a decentralized distribution and settlement mechanism for computing tasks by establishing a market ecosystem that includes power suppliers, demanders, and software developers. This model not only breaks the boundaries of traditional computing power trading but also offers a novel solution to combat the current cloud computing market dominated by several giants.
Currently, the global cloud computing market is controlled by centralized service giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Alibaba, whose first-mover advantages and strong capabilities pose significant challenges for Golem. At the same time, with the rise of distributed computing and edge computing concepts and their gradual popularity in the market, new computing demands and models are emerging, providing new development opportunities for projects like Golem.
While cloud computing has demonstrated centralized efficiency in handling large-scale data and complex computing tasks, distributed computing and edge computing show unique advantages in enhancing system flexibility and meeting real-time requirements. Alibaba Cloud pointed out in discussions about the future trends of the Internet of Things that edge computing can provide intelligent services close to data sources, which in some ways indicates the significant value and potential of distributed computing technology.
Facing powerful centralized cloud service providers, Golem is both a challenger and an innovator. It explores new possibilities in the field of distributed computing by offering more cost-effective SaaS services.

GPU Beta Testing Program Officially Launched, Golem Switches to GPU Computing Mode and Expands Service Scope

On March 5, Golem officially released the latest announcement regarding the Golem GPU Beta testing program on its official website, inviting a new batch of beta testers to join. This move marks a significant step forward for Golem in building decentralized computing infrastructure, especially in serving open-source developers and AI companies. At the same time, this plan expands its service scope and brings new hope to token holders and project participants.

The announcement detailed the achievements of the first batch of beta testers and their contributions to the Golem platform. By collecting feedback and insights from these early testers, the Golem team addressed a series of issues, improved platform performance, and gathered invaluable suggestions for future development. All of this highlights the crucial role early participants play in refining Golem's services.
For those looking forward to participating in subsequent beta tests, Golem also explained the invitation process in the announcement. To conduct testing and optimization more efficiently, Golem decided to invite testers in batches based on specific technical standards. In the upcoming second round of testing, participants who only have one GPU card will be specifically invited. Subsequently, Golem plans to further expand the testing scope, gradually including testers with different profiles.