Acurast

Acurast is a decentralized compute network that uses the processing power of smartphones instead of data centers. Phones that join the network take on the role of processors and run workloads such as developers' serverless applications, API endpoints, automation tasks or AI inference. ACU is Acurast's token and is also represented on networks such as Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain and peaq.

The project's security approach relies on the hardware-based trusted execution environments (TEEs) found in modern phones. This hardware verifies that a device is genuine and helps keep the processed data confidential without any need to trust the device owner. According to the official documentation, ACU is used to pay for compute services, reward those who provide processing power, secure the network through staking and take part in governance decisions.

The ACU price can be volatile owing to factors such as the trend in connected devices and actual compute demand, the token unlock schedule, competing decentralized compute networks and general interest in decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) projects. On Lzzo.com, DefiLlama's US dollar reference price is shown for Acurast, and the chart uses the same source's historical series.