The supported Protocol
Aethir operates as an enterprise-grade decentralized Cloud Computing provider that leverages blockchain technology to source underutilized GPUs for hardware-intensive tasks such as AI and gaming workloads.
Running Checker Nodes earns the license-holding Node runner rewards for ensuring the stability and optimal quality of service of the Aethir network. Checker Nodes monitor Aethir’s network of 428,000+ GPU Containers and ensure all Containers provide optimal service quality to clients at all times. Checker Nodes earn through mining rewards distributed in the form of $vATH tokens. In total, 15% of the total token supply is allocated to Checker Nodes.
The challenge
By supporting those in our community who were interested in becoming Checker Node license holders, we abstract away the intricacies of Node running and reduce it down to an at-a-click subscription service.
This allows the retail or institutional user to run a reliable pay-to-earn subscription that requires no technical investment on their part. This solves several challenges that are implicit to Node operations:
1. Technical complexity: Retail users often find CLI-based node management challenging. Thanks to its intuitive UI, NodeOps Console enables Node purchases, deployments, and monitoring via clickable workflows, making Node running fully accessible to non-technical users.
2. High upfront costs: Few retail and institutional clients want to absorb the cost of owning and managing their own hardware stack.
3. Security and reliability risks: Hardening the security of software you run is not a retail-level task.
4. Scalability limitations: Orchestrating multiple Nodes at scale is a specialized task.
5. Operational overhead: Even a technically competent retail or institutional client may not have the appetite or means to allocate the physical space and required time to solve for the demands of Node operations.
The process
To support the decentralization of Aethir’s GPU cloud computing network in its Testnet phase, our community was invited to run Checker Nodes on Testnet, and their subscription automatically transferred to Mainnet when it was launched.
Under the hood, this required the DevOps team to create a custom template to enable the orchestration of Aethir Checker Node deployments.
Once the team determined that they had configured a stable setup, the backend team then implemented a delegation flow to enable customers to delegate their Aethir Checker Node License (an NFT), and then linked this to the Node-as-a-Service Console to allow anyone to launch the process using buttons on our intuitive app interface.
The solution
From Aethir Testnet support, NodeOps transitioned to offering Mainnet Checker Node running as-a-service. This solved all the potential challenges facing retail and institutional clients:
1. NodeOps Console abstracts away the technical complexities of Node Operations. From optimizing Node syncing to removing the need for manual updates or troubleshooting, the infrastructure and software deployment challenges are all handled for Console customers.
2. Customers benefit from the economies of scale that emerge as a result of NodeOps' own infrastructure and development investment. This mitigates against those high upfront costs that neither the casual nor scale Node operators wish to be bogged down with. Furthermore, Console provides a convenient pay-as-you-go model, enabling retail users to only pay for the resources they use, avoiding upfront capital expenditure.
3. Retail users don't have to sweat the issue of security with a Node-as-a-Service model. Built into the NodeOps Console subscription are enterprise-grade security (e.g., DDoS protection) and uptime guarantees. Behind the scenes, NodeOps' DevOps team handles the security, automates updates, handles encryption of communications, and provides AI-powered monitoring to mitigate vulnerabilities.
4. Scalability becomes built in with the Node running service, as behind the scenes, NodeOps supports elastic infrastructure: providing auto-adjustments to resources (CPU, storage) based on demand, enabling seamless growth.
5. The operational overhead is significantly reduced. Furthermore, Console subscribers benefit from NodeOps' AI-driven automation, which responds to alerts for vulnerabilities and implements predictive resource optimization to reduce manual oversight.
From the Node runner's perspective, this is accessible from a unified dashboard where they can access real-time metrics (e.g., latency, uptime) for their Nodes and simplify their Node management with governance tools.
The outcome
As a result of making Aethir Checker Nodes available from our no-code Console, at the time of writing, there are 9475 Nodes being run by 1995 unique Console instances. The average subscription length committed to by these Node runners is 155 days.
Given that 91K Checker Nodes are operated worldwide, this means that NodeOps supports 10% of the Aethir Checker Node infrastructure. And, NodeOps supports the Aethir network without becoming a single point of failure: Aethir Checker Nodes are distributed worldwide through NodeOps Network’s decentralized Cloud Compute, enhancing the blockchain’s redundancy and resilience.
“We’re thrilled to see NodeOps powering nearly 10% of our global Checker Node infrastructure. Their no-code Console has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry, enabling thousands of Node runners to contribute to Aethir’s decentralized cloud computing network. By distributing Checker Nodes across a resilient Cloud Compute layer, NodeOps reinforces the reliability and scalability of our ecosystem — without creating risk by becoming a single point of failure.” Mark Rydon, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder, Aethir.
About NodeOps
NodeOps is the leading AI-powered DePIN Orchestration Layer:
Ranked in the top 4 DePIN projects in 2024 and in the top 3 recurring revenue projects in 2025
Over 700K verified users
Current revenue of $3.7+ million ARR
NodeOps Network offers a comprehensive suite of services, including NodeOps Cloud and NodeOps Console, a Node-as-a-Service leader. The full product suite covers retail, developer, and B2B needs in the Web3 ecosystem and beyond. The platform's success is underpinned by partnerships with industry leaders such as Arbitrum, EigenLayer, 0G Labs, and Polygon.
For more information, visit NodeOps.Network or contact [email protected].
