Originally Posted by: Gonka Co-founders Daniil Liberman and David Liberman

Preface

Bitcoin's PoW mechanism has driven hardware iteration, evolving from GPUs to ASICs, which are 100,000 times more efficient. AI networks also require this kind of bloody competitive incentive.

The rise of Bitcoin’s infrastructure has taught us a vivid lesson: when efficiency is truly rewarded, we will witness incredible innovation.

Fifteen years ago, Bitcoin mining was dominated by graphics cards for gaming. The network was slow, and computing power was low. But Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism rewards miners who can process blocks most efficiently with real money.

This directly gave rise to a relentless hardware race. Today, Bitcoin runs on specialized mining machines (ASICs), which are hundreds of thousands of times more efficient than the best Nvidia graphics cards. This is a miracle that only happens when rewards are directed towards the most core and valuable work.

In just 15 years, the computing power of Bitcoin mining infrastructure has surpassed a staggering 16 GW. This is equivalent to running 10 million of Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs simultaneously—a massive scale that not only surpasses efficiency but also surpasses OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Google Cloud, and xAI combined in sheer volume.

AI needs a Bitcoin-style revolution

Currently, AI computing power is monopolized by general-purpose chips, which are expensive and in short supply. But imagine what would happen if we built an AI network like the Bitcoin network, allowing anyone to contribute computing power and be rewarded for performing valuable AI tasks most efficiently?

This will completely change the industry landscape. Anyone can directly produce and install hardware and start "minting currency", no longer needing to rely on connections and public relations with large manufacturers to get chips.

This is Gonka 's vision, to make AI accessible to everyone.

Therefore, the value of customized chips designed specifically for AI tasks will be more prominent than ever before.

Hardware manufacturers will engage in a fierce competition to create the cheapest and most efficient AI processors. The forces that once transformed the Bitcoin mining market will erupt again, this time even more powerful, as countless true believers who have made billions of dollars from the Bitcoin revolution are ready to usher in the next wave of technology.

How Proof of Work Unlocks the Trillion-Dollar AI Market

Many early decentralized AI projects opted for Proof of Stake (PoS) — which essentially distributes rewards to those who hold the most tokens, rather than to those who actually build the strongest infrastructure.

Take Bittensor, for example. The network's strongest computing power comes from Subnet 64, which actually runs large AI models. However, these builders only receive 5% of the network's rewards. The remaining 95% goes to the staking whales or affiliated miners, whose computing power contribution is negligible or even zero.

This model puts the cart before the horse. We need to reward those who build better hardware, not those who hoard tokens and wait to reap the rewards.

Proof of Work isn't just about cryptocurrency; it's a powerful tool for using competition to drive innovation rather than complacency. In just 10 years, the blockchain community has built infrastructure with thousands of times more computing power than the entire centralized market combined.

For AI, this means moving from expensive, centralized computing to ubiquitous intelligence that’s as cheap as electricity. In the next few years, the cost of running AI models will be almost zero.

Early Contributors: The Biggest Winners of the AI Revolution

Today's AI is like Bitcoin in 2009: early adopters will have the greatest opportunities. Those who follow and join AI projects that use proof-of-work, invest in infrastructure, contribute computing power, and engage in mining will be the biggest winners in the next round of technological revolution.