0G, also known as Zero Gravity, positions itself as a decentralized AI operating system designed to merge blockchain scalability with the needs of artificial intelligence. As AI rapidly evolves into a transformative force across industries, concerns around centralization, privacy, and monopolization of AI infrastructure have grown. Most current AI models are developed and deployed by a few corporations with access to massive computational and data resources, creating risks of opaque decision-making, systemic biases, and a lack of alignment with broader human values.
0G’s vision is to democratize AI by decentralizing the entire workflow from data collection and storage to training, inference, and deployment. To achieve this, 0G introduces a modular, layered architecture that includes a decentralized storage network, a data availability (DA) layer, and a decentralized serving network, all secured by a consensus protocol. This design leverages advanced sharding mechanisms to achieve horizontal scalability, supporting workloads at internet scale.
By combining scalable infrastructure with incentive mechanisms for miners and service providers, 0G aims to become the AI operating system for Web3 a permissionless platform where developers, enterprises, and communities can build, share, and verify AI systems without relying on centralized entities.
Problem Statement
Centralized AI Development: Today’s AI landscape is dominated by large corporations that control both data and compute resources. This centralization creates risks of monopolization, censorship, and opaque decision-making, leaving smaller players with limited access and influence.
Lack of Transparency and Verifiability: AI models often function as black boxes. Users cannot verify the origin of training data, the fairness of processes, or the accuracy of outputs. This erodes trust and prevents adoption in sectors like healthcare, finance, and governance where accountability is critical.
Scalability Barriers in Blockchain for AI: Blockchains lack the throughput and storage capacity needed for AI workloads. Massive datasets, iterative training, and real-time inference are prohibitively expensive and slow when processed on traditional chains.
Data Storage Bottlenecks: AI systems depend on vast datasets. While decentralized storage networks such as IPFS and Filecoin provide redundancy, they struggle with latency and throughput required for AI-scale performance.
Incentive Misalignment in Storage Networks: Storage providers in many protocols prioritize popular datasets for profitability, leaving rare but essential data under-replicated. This creates inefficiencies and threatens the persistence of important datasets.
Limited AI–Blockchain Integration: Despite the synergies, AI and blockchain ecosystems remain largely siloed. Few platforms exist that combine scalability, verifiability, and decentralized governance to support AI at scale.
Solutions Provided by 0G
Modular and Layered Architecture: 0G separates consensus, storage, data availability, and serving layers. This modular approach improves scalability, allows independent upgrades, and avoids bottlenecks common in monolithic blockchains.
Decentralized Storage with Proof of Random Access (PoRA): The PoRA mechanism requires miners to prove local access to random data segments. This prevents freeloading, ensures fairness, and balances replication across both popular and niche datasets.
Data Availability Layer with GPU Acceleration: 0G’s DA layer separates publishing and storage lanes. With GPU-accelerated erasure coding, it distributes data efficiently while maintaining security via validator quorums. This enables high-throughput availability suitable for AI workloads.
Serving Network for AI and Data Workloads: The serving network allows providers to register services such as inference and training, publish pricing transparently, and settle payments via smart contracts. This creates a decentralized marketplace for AI services.
Scalability via Shared Staking and Sharding: Validators can share staking across multiple chains, enabling horizontal scalability without sacrificing security. Shards distribute workloads across chains, improving throughput and lowering costs.
Support for Structured and Unstructured Data: 0G employs a hybrid storage design with log-based layers for archival datasets and a key-value runtime for transactional workloads. This flexibility supports diverse applications, from social platforms to machine learning datasets.
Problem–Solution Overview
ProblemsSolutions
Centralized AI Development: A few large firms dominate data and compute, creating risks of monopolies, censorship, and misaligned incentives.
Modular & Layered Architecture: Consensus, storage, DA, and serving layers are independent yet interoperable reducing central choke points and enabling open, auditable participation across the stack.
Lack of Transparency & Verifiability: Black-box models provide no reliable provenance, processing trace, or output correctness guarantees.
DA Network with GPU Acceleration: Erasure-coded, high-throughput data availability with validator quorums prevents withholding/censorship and supports verifiable pipelines for AI inputs and outputs.
Scalability Barriers in Blockchain for AI: Monolithic chains can’t handle AI-scale datasets, training loops, or real-time inference at reasonable cost.
Shared Staking & Sharding: Horizontal scale via shared staking across multiple chains and sharded workloads; EigenLayer restaking extends security while keeping costs practical.
Data Storage Bottlenecks: IPFS/Filecoin-style redundancy can struggle with the performance and retrieval speeds needed for training/inference.
Support for Structured & Unstructured Data: Dual design log-based archival for unstructured data plus a key-value runtime for low-latency, transactional access fits AI datasets and real-time apps.
Incentive Misalignment for Storage Providers: Freeloading and uneven replication leave niche but important datasets under-replicated or at risk.
Decentralized Storage with PoRA: Miners must prove random access to data on demand discouraging outsourcing and balancing replication. Transparent economics (fixed-term endowments, rewards for rare data) further align behavior.
Limited AI–Blockchain Integration: Few systems make AI workloads decentralised, verifiable, and economically sustainable on-chain.
Serving Network for AI: A decentralized marketplace for inference/retrieval/training providers register services and pricing, with prepayment and automatic settlement for trustless delivery.
Technology and Architecture
Consensus: Multi-chain proof-of-stake with shared staking, compatible with Ethereum restaking ecosystems.
Storage: Layered system with a log layer for archival data and a key-value store with transactional semantics for structured data.
Proof of Random Access (PoRA): Ensures miners store data locally and prevents outsourcing or distributed mining advantages.
Data Availability: Separation of publishing and storage lanes; GPU-accelerated erasure coding.
Serving Network: Decentralized framework for AI inference, training, and data services with transparent service discovery, pricing, and settlement.
Transaction Processing: Optimistic concurrency control on the key-value store with support for collaborative workloads (e.g., decentralized Google Docs).
4/5
Technology & Architecture
Consensus
Multi-chain proof-of-stake with shared staking, compatible with Ethereum restaking ecosystems.
Multi-chain PoSShared StakingRestaking
Storage
Layered system: a log layer for archival data and a key–value store with transactional semantics for structured data.
Log LayerKV Store (TX)
Proof of Random Access (PoRA)
Ensures miners store data locally and prevents outsourcing or distributed mining advantages.
PoRALocal Storage
Data Availability
Separation of publishing and storage lanes with GPU-accelerated erasure coding.
DAGPU Erasure
Serving Network
Decentralized framework for AI inference, training, and data services with transparent service discovery, pricing, and settlement.
AI InferenceTrainingData Services
Transaction Processing
Optimistic concurrency control on the key–value store with support for collaborative workloads (e.g., decentralized Google Docs).
OCCCollab
Tokenomics
Token Utility:
Transaction and service fees across storage, DA, and serving networks.
Staking for validators to secure consensus and DA quorums.
Incentives for miners maintaining storage and data services.
Governance for protocol upgrades and parameter changes.
Incentive Design:
Storage users pay a storage endowment for fixed periods (e.g., three years).
PoRA mining rewards are distributed fairly, encouraging replication and penalizing freeloading.
Rewards scale depending on data rarity, motivating nodes to store less popular data to balance network redundancy.
Economic Alignment: The system prioritizes rewarding honest contributions rather than punishing misbehavior, fostering sustainable growth and participation.
Distribution:
Community & Ecosystem Growth: 56% (560M)
Ecosystem: 28% (280M)
AI Alignment Node: 15% (150M)
Community Rewards: 13% (130M)
Core Team & Early Backers: 44% (440M)
0G Team, Contributors and Advisors: 22% (220M)
Backers:22% (220M)
Market Performance
📊 Market Performance
4/5
All-Time High
$7.31
(Sep 22, 2025)
All-Time Low
$3.33
(Sep 22, 2025)
Exchange Listings:
BinanceBybitUpbitBitgetMEXCGate.ioKuCoin
Liquidity:
High on CEXsBinanceBybitBitget
$1.35B
24h average trading volume
Team
Michael Heinrich: Co-Founder & CEO.
Ming Wu: CTO.
Thomas Yao: CBO.
Fan Long: CSSO.
Project Analysis
Comparative Overview
Vs. Celestia: Celestia focuses on modular DA but does not address AI computation or verifiability. 0G extends modularity to AI workloads.
Vs. EigenDA: EigenDA provides scalable DA but lacks integration with storage and serving networks for AI tasks.
Vs. Filecoin/Arweave: These focus on decentralized storage but without AI verifiability layers. 0G adds PoRA and AI service support.
Vs. Akash Network: Akash offers decentralized compute but lacks integrated DA and storage for AI. 0G provides a holistic AI OS.
Modular architecture with infinite horizontal scalability.
Strong incentive alignment through PoRA and storage endowments.
Support for diverse data types and workloads, from archival storage to transactional systems.
Integration potential with Ethereum restaking ecosystems (EigenLayer, Babylon).
Challenges
Early stage, real-world deployments and adoption remain unproven.
High technical complexity could slow developer onboarding.
Competing modular ecosystems may fragment the market.
Requires strong partnerships to attract AI developers and enterprises.
0G (Zero Gravity) vs Decentralized AI / Compute Protocols
Project
Core Focus & Innovation
Compliance / Identity
Performance & Notes
0G (Zero Gravity)
Decentralized AI Operating System: modular architecture with storage (PoRA), GPU-accelerated DA, sharded consensus, and serving network for inference/training.
Permissionless, open participation across storage, DA, and serving layers.
Unique “all-in-one” stack for AI: verifiable storage + DA + compute. Horizontally scalable; integrates with Ethereum restaking. Early-stage but ambitious.
Ritual
On-chain AI inference: models callable directly from smart contracts and apps; bridges LLMs with DeFi and Web3.
Permissionless for developers; infrastructure providers curated.
Optimized for developer UX; strong positioning in “AI in dApps.” Limited native storage/DA—relies on external protocols.
Decentralized AI marketplace with subnets; participants contribute models/inference and earn TAO rewards.
Permissionless subnet participation; community governance via TAO staking.
Largest active decentralized AI ecosystem; strong network effects. Lacks native DA/storage; incentives focus on model performance.
Gensyn
Decentralized training marketplace; verifies and pays for ML training work across distributed compute.
Permissionless; identity optional, focused on performance proofs.
Specialized in training verification and payments; not a full-stack AI OS. Needs external storage/DA.
Akash Network (AKT)
Decentralized cloud compute marketplace; GPU leasing for AI workloads.
Permissionless, but nodes self-register with identifiable infra.
Mature DeCloud; cost-effective compute. No native AI verification or DA/storage. Competes on infra layer.
io.net
GPU DePIN: aggregates idle GPU supply for AI training/inference.
Permissionless access; suppliers identified via hardware verification.
Rapid growth in GPU supply; DePIN-first approach. No storage/DA; focused on compute liquidity.
Conclusion
0G represents an ambitious attempt to merge the worlds of AI and blockchain at scale. By addressing the structural flaws of both industries AI’s centralization and blockchain’s scalability bottlenecks it aims to create a new foundation where artificial intelligence can be trained, deployed, and verified in a transparent and decentralized manner.
Its layered architecture, PoRA-driven incentives, and integration with restaking ecosystems give it a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving market. While the project is early in its journey and faces challenges in adoption and execution, its vision aligns with the growing demand for verifiable, democratized AI infrastructure.
If successful, 0G could become the operating system of decentralized AI, offering developers, enterprises, and communities a platform where AI is not only scalable and performant but also fair, transparent, and aligned with collective human values.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is 0G (Zero Gravity)?
0G is a decentralized AI operating system that combines modular blockchain architecture with scalable storage, data availability, and AI-serving networks.
What problem does 0G solve?
It tackles AI centralization, lack of transparency, scalability bottlenecks in blockchains, and inefficiencies in decentralized storage networks.
What is Proof of Random Access (PoRA)?
PoRA is 0G’s consensus mechanism for storage nodes, requiring them to prove local access to random data segments. This prevents freeloading and balances replication.
How does 0G handle scalability?
Through modular layering, GPU-accelerated DA, sharding, and shared staking across multiple chains, enabling near-infinite horizontal scalability.
What is the role of the Serving Network?
It allows decentralized providers to offer AI inference, training, and data services, with transparent pricing and trustless settlement via smart contracts.
How is the 0G token used?
The token is used for transaction fees, staking, miner incentives, and governance. It underpins economic alignment across the network.
How is data stored in 0G?
0G employs a hybrid system with log-based layers for archival data and a key-value runtime for structured, transactional data.
Who develops 0G?
The protocol is developed by Zero Gravity Labs, a research-driven team with expertise in distributed systems, cryptography, and AI.
What makes 0G different from Celestia or Filecoin?
Celestia focuses on data availability, and Filecoin on storage. 0G integrates both functions while adding verifiable AI-serving capabilities.
What is 0G’s long-term vision?
To become the foundational operating system for decentralized AI, enabling scalable, verifiable, and transparent AI across industries.