Akash Tenant Incentive Pilot 01

[lechenghiskhan]

Tenant Incentive Pilot (TIP)

Purpose

With two Provider Incentive Pilots (PIPs) fully administered and running, and Starcluster on deck, the Core Team at Overclock Labs proposes establishing the first Tenant Incentive Pilot, or TIP01, to complement Akash Networks' PIPs and fuel growth at scale. This program’s anticipated start date is August 11, 2025.

The purpose of TIPs is to fuel consistent and scalable growth of the Akash Network by attracting and retaining high-value tenants—startups and scaling businesses—while creating sustainable feedback loops that support and stimulate provider sustainability. For this program, all providers will be able to bid and serve trial-driven workloads.

This program is designed to:

• Attract AI startups seeking GPU compute by offering generously sized free trials. These trials, combined with an improved Akash Console onboarding experience, will lower the barrier to entry and ensure a robust and streamlined experience for new users.
• Retain and build customer pipelines through structured, managed incentives that encourage new customers and users to directly engage with the Core Team for onboarding and serious exploration.
• These will ultimately channel customer insights into product, ecosystem, and future TIP iterations.
• Enable ALL providers on Akash Network to participate in the Free Trial program, which has been a strong piece of feedback from the most active providers on the network.

Program Budget & Overview

Summary of Costs

Summary	Q1 Budget
Compute coupons	$135,000
Managed free trials	$180,000
Vol buffer (41.97%)*	$132,206
Total Cost	$447,206

*AKT volatility buffer
This buffer accounts for the historical daily volatility of AKT measured over the last 30 days. By providing a more substantial buffer against potential downswings in AKT, we mitigate the need to request any budget shortfalls through subsequent proposals. In the event of excess funds above the US dollar amount for labor, taxes, and overage, all remaining AKT will be promptly returned to the community.

Managed Free Trials

These will be $100 trial credits granted to new Akash Console users who verify their accounts through email and credit card validations. The managed free trials will enable oversight through monitoring and verification protocols, which can help to identify and mitigate fraudulent activities. This heightened accountability ensures malicious actors cannot exploit the network.

Users will have access to the credit for 30 days* and can spend it towards any provider for any workload.

Based on past trends, the Core Team estimates that a maximum of 600 new trial users will be added per month. Follow-on programs will be adjusted based on actual demand and utilization.

Managed Free Trials
Trial name	free trial amount	# per month	$value per month	$value per quarter	Total per quarter
Base	$100	600	$60,000	$180,000	$180,000

*The 30-day free trial period is subject to change and will be administered by the Akash Network Core Team based on actual usage.

Compute Coupons

Coupons are managed credits administered by the Core Team and granted only to qualified leads who show promise. These credits will enable new users to get started quickly, use Akash risk-free, and provide the Core Team with the opportunity to thoroughly validate customer needs, concerns, and feedback at scale.

This program will be ideal for developers who want to stress test Akash Network for their use cases and teams or businesses migrating workloads to Akash.

Compute Coupons
Grant name	coupon size	# per month	$value per month	$value per quarter	Total per quarter
Micro	$250	60	$15,000	$45,000	$135,000
Medium	$500	20	$10,000	$30,000
Max	$1,000	20	$20,000	$60,000

Administration and Management

Consistent with the Provider Incentive Pilots 1 and 2, the Overclock Labs core team proposes that this Tenant Incentive Pilot also be administered by the Pilot Program Administrator (PPA).

Again, anyone can apply to be the PPA, provided they meet the following criteria, which were outlined in the previous pilot:

• Should have extensive experience in managing the community.
• Should be publicly known and respected within the Akash Community.
• Should have contributed to the Akash open-source repositories.
• Should have a hosted product for Akash deployments with a free trial + credit card payment capability

Responsibilities:

• Commit time and resources towards administering the program.
• Disclose all payments to the public and maintain a strict record of all payments that are subject to third-party audit, if necessary.
• Provide technical program management and support to participants.
• Provide responsible settlement services (e.g., AKT to USD/USDC) as needed for participants.
• Build, host, and maintain a service for tenants to deploy on Akash (similar to Akash Console).
• Build tools for verifying users and preventing fraud.

Limited Market Impact & Transparent Reporting

Limited Market Impact

Overclock Labs will custody the requested funds in a new, distinct wallet so that funds from any other source are not commingled.

All funds will be liquidated and managed in a manner that ensures minimal impact on the market. These funds will be managed with the same care and attention as all previous Community Funding Proposals, with liquidations done in a fashion that will not adversely affect the market. In practice, the effort of this liquidation will add depth to the AKT market for buyers looking to enter.

Transparent Reporting

All grant records, to the extent possible while preserving privacy and security, will be made publicly available through reports, ensuring maximum transparency and accountability. To uphold transparency and accountability, grant records will be publicly accessible via reports, while safeguarding user privacy and security to the fullest extent possible. Only information that adheres to privacy and security protocols will be shared.

Support & Expenses

The PPA will be responsible for providing technical and logistical support, ranging from customer development and success to settlement services (AKT to USD/USDC), as well as building and managing tools necessary for preventing fraud and validating users.

Expenses incurred will include, but are not limited to, transaction and settlement fees, support and bounties paid to insiders or vendors, applicable taxes, and software costs.

At the end of this program, all unspent funds net of expenses will be returned to the Community Pool or rolled into a continuation of the program.

[fenilmodi00]

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I support and favor the Tenant Incentive Pilot (TIP01) proposal. From a Business Development (BD) standpoint, this initiative has strong potential to accelerate onboarding for startups and AI projects onto Akash Network. Well-structured incentives can help reduce entry friction and build early trust—key factors in converting interest into actual deployments.

That said, I do have a concern regarding the proposed $100 free trial credit. While the intent is clear—to attract higher-intent users—I worry that such a high amount without tighter safeguards could invite abuse or "cash-grabbing," especially if verification processes aren't robust enough. Currently, we offer $10 trials, and even with that small amount, many users fail to get any bids at all.

The real issue isn't just the credit size—it's the user experience during onboarding. Right now, even if a user has $10 in trial funds, they often don't receive any bids because trial users are only matched with a limited set of providers (just 6) in Akash Console. However, the same users can get bids immediately when using real funds (non-trial). This creates a terrible first impression. New users might think:

"Ah, Akash doesn't have enough providers for trials," or "This network isn't live or active."

That's a hard perception to undo.

I've personally encountered this many times—especially through the Akash Insiders Ringmasters program. At in-person events, when I introduce someone to Akash and they try deploying immediately, they often hit this exact roadblock: no bids with trial funds, but bids appear instantly with real funds. It undermines confidence in the platform right at the most critical moment—their first interaction.

So rather than jumping to $100 credits for all, I believe we should first fix the root cause: improving provider discovery and match success for trial users. Otherwise, we risk wasting larger credits on a broken funnel.

One idea: start with a $50 trial credit (still generous compared to $10), but pair it with better provider matching logic and ensure trial users can access a broader pool of responsive providers. Or consider a tiered approach—small initial credit ($10–$25), then unlock more after a successful deployment.

Fixing the bid reliability for small trials would do more for growth than simply increasing credit size. Let's make sure the network works for new users before we scale the incentives.

👀 I'm looking forward to more ideas and thoughts from the Core Team on how we can address these UX challenges alongside the incentive structure.

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[lechenghiskhan]

Thank you, @fenilmodi00, for your participation and wonderfully thoughtful feedback.

I'll dive right in on some of your concerns:

1. The product team is absolutely introducing far tighter controls with the launch of this program. The new onboarding experience of the Akash Console will come with safeguards, including some of the following highlights: (i) far tighter controls like email and credit card validation, (ii) time-outs on credit availability, and (iii) auto-resets on workloads.
2. With these console improvements, ALL providers on Akash Network will be able to participate in free trials.
3. The Core Team will be closely monitoring user behavior to address any potential abuse or issues. This includes adjusting the trail variables like size, duration, etc.

In short, the trials will only launch alongside all of the aforementioned console enhancements, not before.

[SophoclesSummer]

This proposal passed on chain on August 6, 2025 by a 90% majority.
https://www.mintscan.io/akash/proposals/297/

[dzeto]

Is this already available? Can't find any information on official website.