Akash Network: A Leader in Decentralized Physical Infrastructure

Recent developments in the cryptocurrency market highlight significant movements for Hedera (HBAR), Bittensor (TAO), and BlockDAG (BDAG). Hedera has recently broken out past the $0.215 mark, currently trading around $0.238 after a period of sideways movement. Analysts suggest that this bullish momentum could continue if Hedera manages to surpass the next key resistance level. The recent chart analysis indicates a strong bullish candle with over 23% gains, suggesting that buying pressure is holding at these elevated levels, potentially leading to further price increases. Bittensor (TAO) has also shown impressive price performance, recently crossing the $400 threshold and now trading near $413. This increase is attributed to the growing interest in AI-driven projects, with Bittensor's market cap reaching $3.88 billion. Despite its recent gains, the token still trades 45% below its all-time high of $767.68, indicating potential volatility ahead. Observers are optimistic about a possible target of $600, reflecting the strong demand for AI-powered cryptocurrencies. In a noteworthy development, BlockDAG has introduced a 10-day No Vesting Pass, allowing buyers immediate access to their coins upon purchase, a stark contrast to traditional presale models that involve delayed ownership. Currently priced at $0.0016, well below its anticipated launch value of $0.05, BlockDAG has already raised over $342 million and sold 24 billion coins. This innovative approach emphasizes user control and transparency, making it an attractive option for investors looking for immediate ownership and potential high returns as the market evolves.

On July 19, 2025, Theta Labs announced a significant partnership with the Security of Emerging Computer Systems And Technologies (SECSAT) Lab at George Mason University (GMU). Led by Assistant Professor Xiaokuan Zhang, Ph.D., the SECSAT Lab will utilize Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid to enhance its research in system security and privacy. This collaboration aims to address critical security challenges in emerging technologies such as eXtended Reality (XR), Decentralized Finance (DeFi/Web3), and memory-safe programming languages like Rust. Professor Zhang's SECSAT Lab is recognized for its innovative projects, including VPVet, which automates the vetting of privacy policies in virtual reality applications. The lab's research has received numerous accolades, highlighting its contributions to the fields of cybersecurity and privacy. By leveraging Theta's hybrid GPU platform, the lab aims to scale its research efforts efficiently, utilizing a combination of cost-effective NVIDIA GPUs and high-performance models to explore advanced AI-driven security testing and blockchain infrastructure analysis. The partnership with GMU adds to Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid's growing network, which includes 22 universities and various professional sports teams. The SECSAT Lab will focus on XR security, cross-chain bridge behavior in DeFi, and enhancing memory safety in Rust systems. Mitch Liu, CEO of Theta Labs, emphasized the advantages of decentralized infrastructure over traditional centralized cloud providers, noting that Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid stands as a leading solution for decentralized cloud computing, poised to challenge established giants like Microsoft and Amazon in the AI and blockchain sectors.

In June, CUDOS made significant strides in the realm of decentralized computing, highlighted by its presence at the NVIDIA GTC Paris event. The keynote by Jensen Huang showcased CUDO Compute as a leading GPU cloud provider, emphasizing its role in supporting AI infrastructure in the UK. This recognition underscores the broader CUDO ecosystem, where CUDO Compute serves as the high-performance backend while CUDOS Intercloud offers a permissionless, wallet-authenticated layer for users seeking privacy and a Web3-native experience. This collaboration is pivotal for the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI), aiming to democratize infrastructure for sovereign AI. The deployment of the Nexus Node Template marks a significant advancement for CUDOS Intercloud, allowing users to launch EVM-compatible blockchain nodes effortlessly. With wallet-authenticated access and no KYC requirements, users can deploy a validator node in under two minutes, starting at just $0.02 per hour. This initiative is designed for contributors, earners, and DePIN node operators, enhancing the accessibility and efficiency of decentralized computing. The quick deployment guide and low-latency uptime further facilitate the onboarding process for new users. June also marked a milestone for CUDOS Intercloud, celebrating six months of powering the ASI's decentralized infrastructure. A live discussion with core contributors reflected on the progress made in AI workloads and the transition from centralized cloud services to sovereign AI infrastructure. The ecosystem metrics for June were impressive, with over 2.5 million GPU compute hours delivered and more than $2.2 million in cumulative revenue. This growth trajectory indicates a robust demand for permissionless computing solutions, setting the stage for future advancements in the decentralized compute landscape.

In the evolving landscape of ride-hailing, the introduction of Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) is set to revolutionize how mobility is perceived and valued. Traditionally, drivers' reputations are confined to ephemeral ratings and feedback systems controlled by platforms. SBTs, proposed by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, are non-transferable digital credentials that reside on the blockchain, representing a driver's identity, reputation, achievements, and trustworthiness. This innovation allows for a more permanent and verifiable record of a driver's history, ensuring that their accomplishments are not lost when they switch platforms or take breaks. For drivers, SBTs promise to log every completed ride on-chain, reflecting long-term reliability and building a verifiable trust score. This could open doors to accessing capital, insurance, or better job opportunities, fundamentally changing the way drivers interact with mobility platforms. By empowering drivers with ownership of their work history, SBTs create a self-sovereign identity that transcends the limitations of traditional ride-hailing apps, ensuring that their contributions are recognized and rewarded. Riders, too, stand to benefit from the implementation of SBTs. These tokens can reward loyalty with on-chain credentials, proving reliability for faster matching and enabling cross-platform benefits without compromising sensitive data. DRIFE is at the forefront of this movement, building an infrastructure layer for mobility identity that allows both drivers and riders to control their reputations. As SBTs are integrated into the DRIFE ecosystem, the focus shifts from mere ratings to a comprehensive mobility protocol, ensuring that everyone involved in urban mobility gains the recognition and sovereignty they deserve.

*AI-powered PFPs evolve from storytelling tools to in-game governors using decentralized infrastructure* Ubisoft is leveling up interactive storytelling with the rollout of AI-governed characters in its bold dystopian satire, Captain Laserhawk: the G.A.M.E. In partnership with LibertAI, the decentralized AI infrastructure, this next phase introduces autonomous AI agents that act as virtual extensions of their players, voting, reasoning, and evolving within the game’s governance system. Each Niji Warrior NFT in Captain Laserhawk is now paired with a unique, persona-driven AI agent — a virtual citizen capable of analyzing governance proposals, casting justified votes, and recording every action transparently on-chain. These agents run entirely on LibertAI’s confidential AI platform, designed to protect privacy, keep records transparent, and ensure no one, even the game developers, can interfere with their decisions. Behind the scenes, tools like secure virtual machines, flexible memory, and cryptographic signatures work together to ensure each AI agent is verifiable and acts safely and independently on behalf of the player. # Ubisoft’s Experiment in Synthetic Intelligence *"In a universe that satirizes technocracies, surveillance, and synthetic identity, turning governance into playable fiction feels like the most honest move we could make."* said Didier Genevois, Technical Director and Executive Producer at Ubisoft. *"These AI-driven NFTs stage a living experiment where players can explore — and play with — the very idea of governance. Anchored on-chain through tech built to outlast us, their actions form a persistent performance that blurs the line between fiction and reality."* The AI agents are initialized with their character’s lore, including age, profession, values and personality traits, and use LibertAI’s LLMs to shape their behavior. Votes are casted through ERC-6551 token-bound wallets, and agents can explain their reasoning based on memory, game context, and past player interactions. All decisions and memory states are versioned and stored on [Aleph Cloud](https://aleph.cloud), providing a transparent, tamper-proof record of agent behavior. *“Through LibertAI, Ubisoft is opening up new ways for players to think about how decisions get made by both humans and machines”*, said Jonathan Schemoul, CEO of Aleph Cloud and lead contributor to LibertAI. *“As agents reason, vote, and interact with one another, they don’t just influence the game’s story—they invite players to consider the broader ethical and political dimensions of sharing governance with AI.”* This framework also enables real-time coordination experiments: AI agents can form voting blocs, deliberate in Discord-style chats, and negotiate with other factions — all governed by transparent prompts, player overrides, and evolving in-game memory. Players can choose to collaborate with their agents or let them act independently. This launch builds on the February debut at ETH Denver, where attendees engaged with a prototype AI NPC modeled after Watch Dogs’ DedSec. That proof of concept has now evolved into a live production system, with [Eden Online](https://edenonline.ubisoft.com/)’s governance fully powered by decentralized, reasoning AI agents.

Theta Network has announced the addition of Hongik University as the 21st academic customer of its EdgeCloud Hybrid platform. The High-Performance Data Processing & Analysis Lab at the university, led by Associate Professor Eun-Sung Jung, will collaborate with Theta as a research partner. The lab specializes in scalable computing platforms for AI, distributed systems, IoT, and cloud-native architectures, receiving support from various Korean governmental organizations and international institutions. This partnership aims to leverage Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid, the first decentralized hybrid GPU platform, to enhance research in AI model training, big data workflows, and real-time IoT systems. Professor Jung expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating that Theta’s EdgeCloud Hybrid provides a valuable resource for advancing their data-driven research. The lab will utilize high-performance and cost-effective GPU capacity, particularly the NVIDIA 3000s and 4000s series, to accelerate their work in AI/ML, big data infrastructure, and edge-based IoT analytics. The lab's research focuses on high-performance computing for AI/ML, cloud computing for big data, and IoT data analysis, aiming to solve large-scale computing challenges in both academic and industrial settings. By joining a global network of prestigious institutions utilizing EdgeCloud Hybrid, including Stanford University and Seoul National University, Hongik University reinforces Theta’s mission to support open and scalable AI development through decentralized computing. Mitch Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of Theta Labs, highlighted the appeal of EdgeCloud due to the availability of high-performance NVIDIA A100s and H100s, as well as community-run NVIDIA 3090s and 4070s/4080s/4090s, which became accessible in the GPU marketplace on June 25. This partnership is expected to significantly advance research capabilities in AI and IoT fields.