Proposal: Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana

Original Proposal Text

# Proposal: Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana ## Summary This proposal asks AKT stakers to approve moving Akash Network from its sovereign Cosmos chain, `akashnet-2`, to Solana mainnet. **A YES vote:** 1. Approves the migration of the Akash protocol to Solana, as specified in [AEP-79](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79) and the Akash Chain Migration Program. 2. Authorizes AKT to launch as an SPL token on Solana **once the token and portal audits are complete, expected 2 to 3 weeks after this proposal passes**, and opens a **one-way migration portal for 2 years**. **What this proposal does not do:** it does not set a cutover date and does not move the marketplace. Live leases, staking and governance on `akashnet-2` continue unchanged. The marketplace moves only after audits and migration rehearsals pass **and** a separate cutover proposal passes on this chain. ## Why Solana Akash pays the full cost of a sovereign chain without using its powers: about 100 validators bond AKT only to secure consensus, and the core team maintains forks of cosmos-sdk, CometBFT and gogoproto. Solana was selected after an open RFP ([AEP-79](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79), Dec 15 2025) and a migration plan that weighed seven options against 15 hard requirements. Two cleared every bar: Solana mainnet and an existing EVM L2. Solana won on fit: - **No chain to run.** Security is inherited, with no bonding, SOL stake or revenue share. Network fees for the whole marketplace come to about 0.075 SOL a day. - **Cost under load.** By our designs, a marketplace operation costs about 9x less than on an EVM L2 on a calm day and about 300x less under load. - **Runtime fit.** Native Pyth prices, Token-2022 keeps ACT non-transferable, and relayers let users act without holding SOL. - **DePIN and liquidity.** Helium, Render and other DePIN networks settle on Solana, which ranks first in weekly DEX volume. The Solana Foundation has offered engineering, audit and gas-subsidy support; the plan does not depend on it. ## What Akash gives up - Sovereign consensus. Akash keeps control of its programs, upgrades, governance and fee policy. - Validator income and the validator role on `akashnet-2`. - Native IBC. Cosmos links after halt go through third-party bridges. - Live slashing (SIMD-0212 is still in Solana governance). - Some atomic steps: deployment closes and bid refunds run through automated cranks. ## Required disclosures **1. Staking rewards and validator income end.** Staking rewards and old-chain inflation end at **cutover**. Validator income and the validator role end at **halt**, 90 days after cutover. **2. Migration is one-way and irreversible.** AKT sent through the portal arrives 1:1 as SPL AKT (same ticker, 6 decimals) and leaves circulation on `akashnet-2`. **There is no path back.** Total supply does not change. **3. The portal is open for 2 years** from token launch. Self-custody holders connect their Cosmos wallet and choose a Solana address. Exchanges migrate customer balances on their own schedule. Console-managed wallets migrate automatically. AKT on Osmosis or other IBC chains must return to `akashnet-2` first. No SOL is needed to migrate. **4. Staked AKT can migrate in one step.** One portal transaction starts the unbonding, claims any unclaimed rewards and queues everything for migration. Both arrive on Solana as SPL AKT when the 21-day unbonding period ends. Until cutover, AKT on `akashnet-2` still pays gas, earns staking rewards and votes. **5. Live lease wind-down.** Nothing changes for live workloads before cutover. After cutover, new deployments go to Solana; existing leases keep running for 90 days until halt, and tenants can still top up, close and withdraw on `akashnet-2`. Refunds of pre-cutover deposits are paid weekly in SPL AKT; post-cutover top-ups are not credited on Solana. Providers run one daemon upgrade and re-register on Solana; old-chain earnings are paid weekly in SPL AKT. SDL files do not change. **6. Points of no return.** For the token, it is **token launch**: once the portal opens, every migration is final. For the marketplace, it is **cutover**: governance or validators can stop the move until about 6 hours before cutover. **Still open, to be published before the cutover proposal:** how AKT still on `akashnet-2` at halt reaches the portal, what happens to AKT not migrated within 2 years, the emissions curve and the size of the validator continuity payout. ## Security - Two independent audits of the token and portal code before launch; two more plus an economic review and a public audit contest on the marketplace programs. Reports published within 30 days. - Portal safeguards: formal checks of mint logic, per-epoch mint caps, independent reconciliation of both chains and automatic pause on any supply mismatch. - **Phishing is the top threat. There will be one official portal domain, announced through official Akash channels. Always check the Solana address before you confirm.** ## Timeline 1. **This proposal.** Quorum 33.40% of bonded stake, majority YES. Voting runs 7 days. 2. **Token launch**, expected 2 to 3 weeks after this proposal passes. The date is announced through official Akash channels. 3. **Build and audits.** Solana marketplace work, a provider testnet of at least 6 weeks with 25+ independent operators, and a 14-day community dress rehearsal with zero blockers. 4. **Cutover proposal.** Sets the cutover instant and the 90-day wind-down. 5. **Sunset and halt upgrades**, each submitted 21 days before cutover and halt respectively. IBC partners get 60 days' notice before cutover; provider re-registration opens 30 days before cutover. ## Voting options - **YES**: approve the migration and authorize the SPL AKT launch and 2-year one-way portal. - **NO**: do not migrate. The token does not launch and the program returns to option analysis. - **NO WITH VETO**: as NO, and the proposal is considered spam or harmful. - **ABSTAIN**: contribute to quorum without taking a side. ## References - [Why We Selected Solana for Akash](http://akash.network/blog/why-we-selected-solana-for-akash/) (Oct 26 2026) - [AEP-79 and the Akash Chain Migration Program](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79) - Plan version pinned by commit: `0805c517a16952df95573906e2a4da7128ef0b66` - Discussion: [GitHub Discussion #1123](https://github.com/orgs/akash-network/discussions/1123) More details: {"title":"Proposal: Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana","summary":"# Proposal: Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana\n\n## Summary\n\nThis proposal asks AKT stakers to approve moving Akash Network from its sovereign Cosmos chain, `akashnet-2`, to Solana mainnet.\n\n**A YES vote:**\n\n1. Approves the migration of the Akash protocol to Solana, as specified in [AEP-79](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79) and the Akash Chain Migration Program.\n2. Authorizes AKT to launch as an SPL token on Solana **once the token and portal audits are complete, expected 2 to 3 weeks after this proposal passes**, and opens a **one-way migration portal for 2 years**.\n\n**What this proposal does not do:** it does not set a cutover date and does not move the marketplace. Live leases, staking and governance on `akashnet-2` continue unchanged. The marketplace moves only after audits and migration rehearsals pass **and** a separate cutover proposal passes on this chain.\n\n## Why Solana\n\nAkash pays the full cost of a sovereign chain without using its powers: about 100 validators bond AKT only to secure consensus, and the core team maintains forks of cosmos-sdk, CometBFT and gogoproto.\n\nSolana was selected after an open RFP ([AEP-79](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79), Dec 15 2025) and a migration plan that weighed seven options against 15 hard requirements. Two cleared every bar: Solana mainnet and an existing EVM L2. Solana won on fit:\n\n- **No chain to run.** Security is inherited, with no bonding, SOL stake or revenue share. Network fees for the whole marketplace come to about 0.075 SOL a day.\n- **Cost under load.** By our designs, a marketplace operation costs about 9x less than on an EVM L2 on a calm day and about 300x less under load.\n- **Runtime fit.** Native Pyth prices, Token-2022 keeps ACT non-transferable, and relayers let users act without holding SOL.\n- **DePIN and liquidity.** Helium, Render and other DePIN networks settle on Solana, which ranks first in weekly DEX volume.\n\nThe Solana Foundation has offered engineering, audit and gas-subsidy support; the plan does not depend on it.\n\n## What Akash gives up\n\n- Sovereign consensus. Akash keeps control of its programs, upgrades, governance and fee policy.\n- Validator income and the validator role on `akashnet-2`.\n- Native IBC. Cosmos links after halt go through third-party bridges.\n- Live slashing (SIMD-0212 is still in Solana governance).\n- Some atomic steps: deployment closes and bid refunds run through automated cranks.\n\n## Required disclosures\n\n**1. Staking rewards and validator income end.** Staking rewards and old-chain inflation end at **cutover**. Validator income and the validator role end at **halt**, 90 days after cutover.\n\n**2. Migration is one-way and irreversible.** AKT sent through the portal arrives 1:1 as SPL AKT (same ticker, 6 decimals) and leaves circulation on `akashnet-2`. **There is no path back.** Total supply does not change.\n\n**3. The portal is open for 2 years** from token launch. Self-custody holders connect their Cosmos wallet and choose a Solana address. Exchanges migrate customer balances on their own schedule. Console-managed wallets migrate automatically. AKT on Osmosis or other IBC chains must return to `akashnet-2` first. No SOL is needed to migrate.\n\n**4. Staked AKT can migrate in one step.** One portal transaction starts the unbonding, claims any unclaimed rewards and queues everything for migration. Both arrive on Solana as SPL AKT when the 21-day unbonding period ends. Until cutover, AKT on `akashnet-2` still pays gas, earns staking rewards and votes.\n\n**5. Live lease wind-down.** Nothing changes for live workloads before cutover. After cutover, new deployments go to Solana; existing leases keep running for 90 days until halt, and tenants can still top up, close and withdraw on `akashnet-2`. Refunds of pre-cutover deposits are paid weekly in SPL AKT; post-cutover top-ups are not credited on Solana. Providers run one daemon upgrade and re-register on Solana; old-chain earnings are paid weekly in SPL AKT. SDL files do not change.\n\n**6. Points of no return.** For the token, it is **token launch**: once the portal opens, every migration is final. For the marketplace, it is **cutover**: governance or validators can stop the move until about 6 hours before cutover.\n\n**Still open, to be published before the cutover proposal:** how AKT still on `akashnet-2` at halt reaches the portal, what happens to AKT not migrated within 2 years, the emissions curve and the size of the validator continuity payout.\n\n## Security\n\n- Two independent audits of the token and portal code before launch; two more plus an economic review and a public audit contest on the marketplace programs. Reports published within 30 days.\n- Portal safeguards: formal checks of mint logic, per-epoch mint caps, independent reconciliation of both chains and automatic pause on any supply mismatch.\n- **Phishing is the top threat. There will be one official portal domain, announced through official Akash channels. Always check the Solana address before you confirm.**\n\n## Timeline\n\n1. **This proposal.** Quorum 33.40% of bonded stake, majority YES. Voting runs 7 days.\n2. **Token launch**, expected 2 to 3 weeks after this proposal passes. The date is announced through official Akash channels.\n3. **Build and audits.** Solana marketplace work, a provider testnet of at least 6 weeks with 25+ independent operators, and a 14-day community dress rehearsal with zero blockers.\n4. **Cutover proposal.** Sets the cutover instant and the 90-day wind-down.\n5. **Sunset and halt upgrades**, each submitted 21 days before cutover and halt respectively.\n\nIBC partners get 60 days' notice before cutover; provider re-registration opens 30 days before cutover.\n\n## Voting options\n\n- **YES**: approve the migration and authorize the SPL AKT launch and 2-year one-way portal.\n- **NO**: do not migrate. The token does not launch and the program returns to option analysis.\n- **NO WITH VETO**: as NO, and the proposal is considered spam or harmful.\n- **ABSTAIN**: contribute to quorum without taking a side.\n\n## References\n\n- [Why We Selected Solana for Akash](http://akash.network/blog/why-we-selected-solana-for-akash/) (Oct 26 2026)\n- [AEP-79 and the Akash Chain Migration Program](https://github.com/akash-network/AEP/tree/main/spec/aep-79)\n- Plan version pinned by commit: `0805c517a16952df95573906e2a4da7128ef0b66`\n- Discussion: [GitHub Discussion #1123](https://github.com/orgs/akash-network/discussions/1123)\n","additional_link":"http://akash.network/blog/why-we-selected-solana-for-akash/"}