What Is IO Coin?

IO Coin is the native Coin of the IOG Network. IO coin is referred to as $IO.

IO Coins facilitate economic incentives within the network, balancing the needs of three main groups within our ecosystem:

GPU Renters (also referred to as Users ) such as Machine Learning Engineers who want to purchase GPU computing power on the IOG Network. These engineers can use $IO to deploy GPU clusters, cloud gaming instances, and build Unreal Engine 5 (and similar) pixel streaming applications. Users also include individual consumers who want to conduct serverless model inferences on BC8.ai and hundreds of apps and models that io.net will host in the future.
GPU Owners (also referred to as Suppliers) such as independent data centers, crypto mining farms, and professional miners, who want to supply & monetize their underutilized GPU computing power on the IOG Network.
IO Coin Holders (also referred to as Community ) who participate in providing crypto economic security and incentives to align mutual benefits and penalties between all parties in the interest of network growth and adoption.

It's important to note that these groups are not mutually exclusive, an $IO Coin Holder can also be a GPU Renter or GPU Owner, or both.

Universal Payment

Payments in the IO Ecosystem are always made in $IO behind the scenes. We allow users, who deploy clusters or use any other service, to pay in fiat, USDC, or any other supported network tokens. Crypto and smart contracts are used to reduce friction in our payment system, bypassing the use of escrow, past-pay billing etc. At the same time, we balance this by creating a structural demand for $IO in the actual payment process. Every transaction in io.net creates $IO demand because customers pay in USDC, but Suppliers are compensated with $IO tokens.

Suppliers providing their compute also have the option to receive payments in native $IO, enabling automatic conversion to USDC.

In order to incentivize payment in $IO, io.net charges transaction fees to both the User and the Supplier when the network facilitates a compute reservation, but does not charge transaction fees on Rewards.

User Fees

Payments made in USDC are subject to 2% facilitation fee.
Payments made in $IO incur no fees.

Supplier Rewards & Fees

Emission rewards incur no fees.
Hire/Compute job earnings
- Payments to supplier 100% in USDC incurs a 2% fee.
- Payments to suppliers in $IO incur no fees.

Network Security & Collateralization

$IO is critical to ensure the integrity of the network, while incentivizing the overall health of the network. There are two primary ways the $IO coin is used to secure the integrity of the network.

There is a minimum amount of $IO collateral that must be staked in order for a node to receive $IO Idle Rewards from the network.
$IO Coin Holders can stake additional $IO collateral, up to the maximum stake per node, in order to earn $IO Rewards in return for securing the integrity of the network.