PoW神鉱？a16zが150万ドルで買い漁り、Pearlがマイニング業界を再び沸騰させる（マイニング実践付き）

Original: Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author: Golem (@web3_golem)

Every year, the crypto market sees one or two mining coins emerge, reigniting the excitement of the mining community. This year's project is called Pearl.

On April 27th, the Pearl mainnet quietly launched, but it only drew attention a month later, this week. The catalyst was a post on X by Pearl community member @optimist on May 27th, claiming a wallet suspected to be linked to a16z had quietly accumulated over $1.5 million worth of PRL, Pearl's network token. Following the news, the PRL token price surged from around $0.6 to over $1.5, a gain of over 150% in two days.

Rumored a16z-associated wallet accumulating PRL

However, it remains unconfirmed whether this wallet truly belongs to a16z. It's highly possible that the community is intentionally hyping and spreading this rumor to boost attention on Pearl. What is certain is that a16z has indeed had some connection to the project. On January 26, 2026, a16z crypto research published an article introducing the PoUW algorithm proposed by Pearl founder Omri Weinstein, which is the core of the Pearl network. (Odaily Note: This article has since been deleted.)

Proof of Useful Work (PoUW): Combining AI Inference Tasks with Mining

Pearl's core model still involves users mining coins using mining machines (GPUs), with a network design similar to Bitcoin's blockchain. Its uniqueness lies in proposing a new proof-of-work mechanism built upon PoW: Proof of Useful Work (PoUW).

In traditional PoW blockchains, miners primarily ensure network security by solving cryptographic puzzles with computers. This computation is often criticized as meaningless calculation – serving no purpose other than securing the blockchain, especially wasting valuable computing power in the current AI wave.

To prevent computing power from being wasted, Pearl's PoUW replaces the SHA-256 algorithm with matrix multiplication (MatMul / GEMM) used in AI computation. The computing resources contributed by users' GPUs to the Pearl mainnet are not only used to secure the Pearl network but also perform AI workloads, providing AI training and inference services for large model companies, thereby generating real value. From this perspective, the tokens produced from mining are actually rewards for users providing computing power to participate in AI computation.

The reason Pearl's PoUW is called "useful" is because it allows GPUs to simultaneously perform AI training and inference workloads while achieving blockchain proof of work and generating tokens. Currently, Pearl has partnered with the large model training platform Together AI to launch the Gemma-4-31B-it-Pearl endpoint (based on Google's Gemma 4 31B model). Developers using this endpoint even receive a 25% discount, subsidized by the mined PRL tokens.

The token produced by the Pearl network is PRL, with a total supply of 2.1 billion. The network's average block time is set at 194 seconds. However, the number of tokens produced per block on the Pearl network is not fixed and there is no halving mechanism. Instead, it is determined by an issuance curve. One of the core formulas for this curve is A(t)=t / (t + H), where A(t) is the cumulative token distribution ratio, t is the current block height, and H is the fixed value 650226 (the block height corresponding to four years).

Based on the PRL cumulative distribution ratio, one can estimate the number of tokens produced per block. Of course, as a regular user, you can simply visit the Pearl block explorer to check the current total token production, block reward amount, block height, average block time, and other information, without having to calculate it yourself.

As shown above, over 8.8% of PRL tokens have already been mined. Meanwhile, at a price of $1.65, PRL's circulating market cap is over $300 million.

Complete Overview of Mining and Ecosystem

In the current crypto market conditions, PRL's market cap might seem somewhat overvalued, but this is also due to increased mining costs. Pearl allows users to mine using their own GPUs or directly rent cloud GPUs on the platform for mining. As shown below, Pearl offers three packages, all of which have sold out due to the project's high popularity.

The mining costs for these three packages are not cheap. Taking Package One as an example, renting 1000 TH/s for 10 consecutive days costs $1099, making the hourly cost for renting 1000 TH/s approximately $4.57. Community member @AKAKAY04 created a simple PRL mining cost calculator. Plugging in the hourly cost and hashrate of Pearl Package One yields an average cost of $1.51-$1.77 per mined PRL, which is relatively close to PRL's market price. Even by purchasing Package Three, the cost per PRL can only be reduced to $1.33-$1.56.

Therefore, to profit from participating in Pearl network mining, one must rent GPU computing power cheaply enough. Currently, the recommended rental platforms within the community are runpod and vastAI, with prices for 4090 and 5090 GPUs ranging from $0.5 to $2 per hour.

After successfully renting a card, users can choose to join a Pearl mining pool to participate in mining. Currently, there are four main mining pools in the Pearl ecosystem: pearlhash, alphapool, Akoya, and mineprl. Community member @peterdai111 has summarized the characteristics of these four pools for users' reference and evaluation. (Odaily Note: For specific procedures, please consult AI or refer to the tutorial written by community member @0xtonixie).

It has only been a month since the Pearl mainnet launch. For a new project, its ecosystem development is already quite advanced. In addition to mining pools and block explorers initiated by the community, there are also cross-chain bridges, OTC platforms, and NFTs.

PearlBridge is the first cross-chain bridge project on the Pearl network, allowing users to lock native PRL tokens and mint WPRL on Ethereum at a 1:1 ratio. The project charges a 1.5% deposit fee (minimum 4 PRL), while redemptions are free. The project currently has over 320,000 PRL locked. Users can freely trade WPRL on the EVM chain via the OKX Web3 wallet or other DEXs.

Users can also buy and sell native PRL tokens directly on the pearl-otc platform. This is a non-custodial trading platform where USDC is transferred directly between the wallets of the buyer and seller, while PRL is held in a "2-of-2" multisig escrow account co-signed by the seller. The platform cannot unilaterally transfer funds. This platform is currently the main reference platform for PRL price, offering high liquidity, and also displays PRL's price fluctuation charts.

PRL Price Fluctuation Chart

On May 23rd, the crypto exchange SafeTrade also listed PRL. However, this exchange is relatively small and not very well-known. Users trading PRL on this platform should be cautious about fund security.

The No-Longer-Hidden Flywheel of Mining Coins

An unwritten rule in the mining community is that regardless of how innovative a mining coin's model is, the core logic always boils down to "mine and dump." PoW mining is essentially a mathematical game involving cold machines, precise input-output calculations, and the greed to squeeze out the last bit of profit before a crash. It is not a regular project token because it lacks fundamental value, nor is it a Meme because it lacks attention and cultural consensus.

Therefore, the flywheel effect of mining coins is no longer hidden: "Miners mine tokens – buy-side pressure is engineered – token price rises – wealth effect is generated – more people are willing to mine." The core supporting this model is the constant existence of buy pressure. But there is no perpetual motion machine, and the market cannot have infinite buy pressure. It can be said that a mining coin is like a train heading for a cliff from the moment it departs. Everyone can see the destination, and everyone believes they will get off just in time.

In the past, some mining coin project teams created artificial market demand through "self-mining and self-pumping." Their primary profit didn't come from selling coins, but from making money selling mining machines to users. However, when market-making costs exceeded mining machine profits, this model also collapsed.

Now, look at Pearl. Some argue it's not just a mining coin but has the potential to grow into the next Bittensor (TAO). The biggest difference between Pearl and past mining projects is that the computing resources it consumes are not solely used to price PRL but are actually used to provide AI training and inference services for real-world large model companies. This is the value of Pearl's useful PoW, making Pearl more akin to a DePIN project.

However, given the project's current development stage, this value is more of a gimmick. This is because Pearl's network currently relies on precise integer matrix multiplication. Modern AI workloads, especially large model training, do not operate in an INT (integer) environment but depend on low-precision floating-point formats. Extending the current PoUW mechanism to floating-point data types presents significant technical challenges.

Therefore, whether Pearl can escape the death spiral curse of mining coins in the future depends on genuine technological strength, capital, and actual institutional support and endorsement, not just today's "infinite imagination" about a16z.