TOP AMA with Crypto Research Community
AMA Part 1
Hi, could you please introduce TOP AI Network?
Stella: TOP AI Network is an L1 blockchain that employs sharding technology and a three-layer network, supporting real business with high transaction throughput, high speed, and low fees.
TOP’s mainnet was launched at the end of 2020 and has been running stably for over three years, with over 500 nodes across the network. This year, TOP AI Network has initiated the development in AI, aiming to serve thousands of AI applications by bringing decentralized and censorship-resistant model and computing power services to the blockchain.
TOP AI Network has evolved from TOP Network. Is your current focus mainly on AI? What progress have you made so far? Will there be any updates on your previous EVM shard?
Stella: We are fully committed to the AI direction. At the beginning of the year, we determined the shift for the TOP chain based on factors such as technical reserves, industry resources, and market development, and have since been continuously investing in it.
Over the past few months, we collaborated with TOP AI Lab to discuss and finalize the technical foundation for the AI shard, and earlier this month, we released our AI Litepaper. Our technical team has just completed the verification of the decentralized AI service architecture, and the next step is to integrate it with the chain’s structural design to finalize the overall design plan for the AI shard.
We are also about to launch two applications — a cross-chain bridge and a DEX — on the EVM shard. These are crucial for maximizing the role of the EVM shard in the entire TOP AI Network ecosystem. The EVM shard can connect TOP AI to the ecosystems of other external chains, ensuring that TOP AI is no longer an isolated L1 chain. This, in turn, also enhances the external communication capabilities of the AI shard.
Can you share the reasoning behind your shift towards AI? What key problems are you addressing?
Stella: As I mentioned in the previous question, our pivot towards AI was a decision made by considering a combination of factors such as our technical reserves, industry resources, and market development. The primary reason for this shift, of course, is market demand. It’s well understood that AI technology will lead to the next revolutionary development in productivity, with AI models representing the most advanced form of productivity.
However, the current service market imposes excessive censorship on the production and use of AI models, preventing users from freely utilizing them. Moreover, these models are often too generalized, making it difficult to meet personalized needs. Additionally, there are risks of core data being leaked or shared when individuals or enterprises train models.
Our goal is to bring censorship-resistant models and computing power to the industry and more AI application developers, ultimately enabling everyone to have their own models. We ensure the freedom and diversity of model usage, and by introducing decentralized incentive mechanisms, we significantly reduce the cost of computing power.
According to your recently released AI Lightpaper, you mentioned adding an AI shard to the TOP chain. How feasible is this process, and what will the specific implementation path look like?
Stella: The architecture and economic model of the TOP chain fully support the addition of an AI shard. Firstly, we are fundamentally a public blockchain based on sharding technology, which is designed to be compatible with various types of real-world business applications. Sharding allows AI business transactions to be isolated from other activities, ensuring security, while also enabling the AI business to efficiently utilize blockchain consensus mechanisms to reduce costs. Secondly, we can adjust the economic model by directly reallocating the mining proportions between shards. This approach is elegant and requires minimal effort.
The AI shard will still have nodes, but their roles will differ from those of nodes in other shards. Technically, the AI shard will feature a dedicated model hosting and computing power scheduling system, primarily serving three roles within the AI industry:
1. AI Application Developers: They can utilize any model published on TOP AI without any review or permission restrictions.
2. Model Providers: They can freely publish their models on TOP AI and receive on-chain incentives.
3. Computing Nodes: By providing high-performance computing power to run AI models, they can receive miner incentives and additional subsidies from the foundation during the first five years after launch.
Could you briefly introduce the business logic after adding the AI shard?
Stella: The service process on the AI shard is mainly divided into five stages, which I will briefly outline:
· Model Providers Upload Models: Model providers upload their models to the shard.
· System Verifies Model Legitimacy: The system verifies the legality of the uploaded models.
· Request for Model Usage: If there is a demand for model usage, the system handles the scheduling of inference tasks and the allocation of computing resources.
· Execution by Computing Nodes: Upon receiving the task, the computing nodes execute the computation, validate the results, and store them.
· Results Returned: The results are then returned to the AI application developers.
After the establishment of the AI shard, computing nodes will occupy a significant portion of mining output. For a similar project, io.net can be used as a reference; it uses different GPUs as billing units and offers two types of income: online duration mining and task-based payments. Additionally, we will provide another type of income based on task mining rewards.
AMA Part 2
What direction are the recent partnerships of TOP AI Network heading in, and what are your current expansion directions?
Stella: We will increase our participation in community and offline events, including Token 2049, focusing on brand exposure and establishing connections with more industry partners. For example, decentralized AI application projects, which are likely to have demands for models and computing power. Additionally, many projects in the DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) sector connect numerous smart terminals and store large amounts of data. Specific AI models can help them quickly unlock the value of this data, enhancing their project’s competitiveness.
Could you briefly introduce the upcoming cross-chain bridge, its functionalities, and how it will benefit the TOP chain?
Stella: Our cross-chain bridge uses a decentralized mechanism, establishing a relay chain between Ethereum and TOP to facilitate the exchange of block header data between the two networks.
This enables cross-chain asset verification within smart contracts. Currently, users can perform cross-chain transactions for ETH, USDT, and USDC between Ethereum and TOP. For the Ethereum-to-TOP direction, users can receive a fee subsidy on their first cross-chain transaction. In the TOP-to-Ethereum direction, the current fee is as low as 2 USDT per transaction.
With the cross-chain bridge in place, TOP assets can be integrated with external networks, allowing the upcoming DEX to fully utilize its potential.
For AI model providers, are there any incentives on the TOP chain? What kind of rewards will they receive?
Stella: Model providers can freely deploy their models on TOP’s AI shard for external use. Once their model is uploaded and successfully verified, they receive a one-time model launch reward. Additionally, they can earn revenue from service fees, paying for computing services from computing nodes while charging users for model services. Finally, model providers can also earn task mining rewards from tasks executed on the AI shard. Therefore, the total earnings for a model provider within the AI shard are:
Task Mining Reward + Model Launch Reward + Model Service Fees — Computing Service Fees
What are the key advantages that would attract AI application developers to the TOP chain?
Stella: First, the services we provide to AI application developers are user-friendly. After payment, they can access the corresponding AI model API. By sending requests to the API, they can receive the model’s output results.
Second, we offer AI application developers censorship-resistant models and computing power, allowing them to freely use the models they prefer.
Finally, our services are low-cost. The decentralized computing power network utilizes idle computing resources, which are inherently low-cost. Additionally, the service process is peer-to-peer (P2P), reducing the middleman’s commission. These factors together make the AI shard open, efficient, secure, and affordable.
What is your roadmap and future development plan? Also tell us about listing?
We expect that by September, all components will be able to operate within the system, forming a complete internal POC. After that, we will focus on transforming this POC version into a beta version, which will be open to interested computing nodes for participation.
TOP tokens are listed on HTX and MEXC.
About TOP AI Network
Established in 2018, TOP AI Network (formerly TOP Network) focuses on serving a broad user base, delivering a high-demand user experience, and supporting large-scale, cost-sensitive businesses. Aiming to be the blockchain infrastructure for DePIN with AI computing power, it supports Web3.0, DePIN, and gaming sectors requiring high transaction throughput, speed, low fees, and excellent user experience.
TOP Chain employs sharding technology and a three-layer network to deliver a powerful blockchain with low costs, low entry barriers, and high throughput, effectively meeting real-time performance needs, especially for AI businesses.
Find More
Official Website | Telegram | Twitter | Medium | Reddit | Email
