Acurast

De Carli dates the work to 2022. Modern phones already carried hardware security modules and trusted-execution features, so an idle handset might become protected compute instead of waste. That choice differed from markets built around newly purchased GPU servers.

This is a founder account, not an independent benchmark proving every phone superior to a data centre. It does explain the design problem: heterogeneous consumer devices had to attest, advertise capacity and execute code without revealing every workload to their owners.

Canary launched on July 7, 2023. Processor apps, onchain scheduling and cross-chain jobs could be exercised before production ACU existed. Acurast later announced large phone and transaction totals; its metrics page correctly labels comparable figures as incentivized-testnet snapshots.

The counters show registrations and orchestration-chain activity. They do not reveal simultaneous uptime, paid customer work or the share made of rewards and heartbeats. Onboarding measures reach, not dependable cloud capacity.

Developers choose code or a Linux image, timing, replicas, resource ceilings, a maximum reward and an attestation requirement. Matching, acknowledgement and execution reports govern payment; successful deployment fees burn. Core makes a wiped Android phone dedicated, while Lite permits lighter participation.

Security rests on evidence rather than the label TEE. Compass’s 2024 review of the tzBTC Processor app reported zero high findings, two medium findings—spoofed attestation display and an unsupported Android version—and four low findings. Monethic’s 2025 Substrate review resolved one critical and five high findings in the reviewed commit, while five medium and two low findings remained acknowledged; both reports were limited to their stated scope.

On January 20, 2026, mainnet and the ACU token generation event launched. Canonical ACU is native to parachain 3396 and has no contract. HyperDrive connects it to Ethereum; LayerZero connects the Ethereum token to the listed BSC, Base and Peaq contracts. Those routes create messaging and contract dependencies that do not exist for a native balance.

The official registry lists the four bridge contracts, but it is not a proof-of-reserves report and does not inventory every administrator or signer. Before moving funds, a user must match both the chain and the listed address.

Genesis created one billion ACU. Team and advisers received 24% with a six-month cliff and 36-month vesting, and early backers 6.5% over 24 months without a cliff. Five percent annual issuance goes 70% to Staked Compute, 15% to treasury, 10% to benchmarks and 5% to collators; fee burns pull the other way.

Committers stake against measured capacity; delegators share rewards and proportional slashing. Holders may lock ACU for stronger conviction votes, but only council members currently submit Root referenda. A proposal must satisfy approval and support thresholds simultaneously for six continuous hours; after confirmation, execution waits a further minimum of two hours. The reviewed documents establish protocol participation, not a claim on the Swiss Association’s assets or revenue.