Aleph Cloud is a comprehensive platform that aids in the creation of resilient, decentralized applications and artificial intelligence through its Supercloud infrastructure. Whether your project is a tech startup, enterprise, or blockchain-based, Aleph Cloud bridges hardware, cloud, and AI to scale your applications. This guide explores how Aleph Cloud makes this possible by leveraging its distributed and trustless network.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
➤ Aleph Cloud uses decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) technology to help developers build and scale DApps on-chain, providing access to AI, computing, storage and databases.
➤ The network’s native cryptocurrency, ALEPH, is used for payments, staking and incentivizing node operators.
➤ You can earn ALEPH by running a node or delegating your stake via a node.
What is Aleph Cloud?
Aleph Cloud is a DePIN and Supercloud computing network that allows developers access to computing, storage, databases, and AI.
DePIN refers to projects developing blockchain-based management systems for real-life uses, such as data marketplaces, energy grids, and transportation systems. They represent a new, decentralized way of approaching building and managing infrastructure using blockchain and crypto-economic incentives.
It is open-source, off-chain, peer-to-peer (P2P) and guarantees resilience for application operations in the web3 ecosystem.
“We are the only decentralized cloud which provides confidential virtual machines using AMD SEV. We are the exclusive partner of Ubisoft regarding decentralized cloud.”
Aleph Cloud
Aleph Cloud is blockchain agnostic or compatible with multiple blockchains. Its key use cases include supporting decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, dynamic non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming, and artificial intelligence (AI) projects.
Many decentralized applications (DApps) in the web3 space rely on centralized services like AWS, Google Cloud, or Infura for storage, computation, and database hosting. This creates single points of failure, which contradict the core principles of decentralization.
With Aleph Cloud, developers can host application data and NFT metadata and run applications across its distributed network, ensuring resilience and eliminating reliance on centralized services.
TwentySix Cloud
One of the standout products under the Aleph Cloud umbrella is TwentySix Cloud. Twentysix Cloud is a user-friendly interface built upon Aleph Cloud’s decentralized infrastructure.
It enables developers to build DApps on-chain without directly interacting with Aleph Cloud’s underlying network. It serves as an alternative to centralized cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Some of the products that developers can take advantage of are:
- Virtual machines (VM): Create and manage Linux virtual machines and the creation of on-demand and persistent functions.
- Storage: Store and manage files on IPFS with support for IPFS pinning to ensure data remains persistently available and accessible across the network.
- Indexing: Leveraging decentralized storage and computing, you can label and organize data from any blockchain.
- VRF: Generate secure and verifiable randomness for games and on-chain applications.
- Web3 hosting and custom domains: Host your website, whether static or dynamic, utilizing IPFS on serverless architecture. You can also create custom domain names.
- SSH access: Securely access and manage your virtual machines using standard tools.
LibertAI
The flagship large language model (LLM) library from Aleph Cloud, LibertAI, offers several tools. It uses open language models stored on IPFS, executes prompts on private VMs, and does not use your data to train its models. Additionally, it is all free. Here is a list of the free, open-source models that are available today:
- Nous Hermes 2 Pro
- Nous Hermes 2
- NeuralBeagle
- Mixtral
- Llama 3 Instruct
- DeepSeek V3
- DeepSeek R1
LibertAI utilizes the LTAI token on Base and Solana. You can use it to access exclusive features, upgrade to advanced models, API calls, and much more.
Aleph Cloud features
- Decentralized storage: Users can store data over a dispersed network of nodes thanks to Aleph Cloud’s decentralized storage system.
- Decentralized computing: By enabling decentralized computing features, the platform lets programmers run applications across all of the network’s nodes. This is very helpful for processing large datasets and running intricate algorithms in a trust-minimized way.
- Confidential virtual machines: Use private and secure virtual machines to process confidential data (personal data, interact with blockchain wallets, …).Users’ and developers’ privacy and security are backed by AMD’s Confidential Computing (SEV), which guarantees that sensitive information and operations remain encrypted.
- Web hosting: Similar to Vercel or Fleek, Aleph Cloud provides completely decentralized web hosting services. With this service, developers may host websites and web apps on a decentralized network, which increases security, redundancy, and censorship resistance.
- Decentralized database: Enables DApps and their users to easily store settings and data on a resilient distributed database with high availability
- GPU: Currently in private beta, the general public will have access to it in January 2025. Utilized for AI training, rendering of images and videos, gaming, and other purposes.
How does Aleph Cloud work?
From the network architecture to the messages and services, there is a lot to take in on how the platform works behind the curtains. Let’s break it down piece by piece.
Aleph Cloud network
To understand how Aleph Cloud works, you must first understand its network. The Aleph Cloud network is the cornerstone of all of the services and platforms built on top of the protocol. The network comprises two sets of nodes distributed globally: Compute Resource Nodes (CRNs) and Core Channel Nodes (CCNs).
CCNs function similarly to remote procedure call (RPC) nodes in a blockchain network. They relay messages from the client to another node via an application programming interface (API).
A CRN is a node that handles the actual computations and storage on Aleph Cloud. A CRN must maintain at least one connection with a CCN, and CCNs are incentivized to maintain a connection with at least three CRNs. The requirements to run a compute node are:
- Platform: A bare metal server is required since virtual servers are often too slow and unable to run nested virtualization.
- Processor using x86_64 (alias amd64) architecture (2 options):
- Min. 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.0ghz+ CPU (gaming CPU for fast boot-up of microVMs)
- Min. 12 core / 24 threads, 2.4ghz+ CPU (datacenter CPU for multiple concurrent loads)
- Memory: Min. 64GB of RAM
- Storage: 1TB (NVME SSD preferred, datacenter fast HDD possible under conditions, you’ll want a big and fast cache)
- Connectivity: Minimum of 500 Mbit/s, both IPv4 and IPv6 configured
Here is a simple comparison of Aleph Cloud’s network compared to a blockchain’s:
- A client sends a message to a CCN, similar to a wallet sending a transaction to an RPC node. The message is replicated across the other CCNs.
- A CCN relays the message to the CRN, similarly to how an RPC node sends transactions to a validator/miner node.
- The CRN handles the computation and storage requested by the message. This is similar to a validator/miner node executing a transaction.
Messages
With Aleph Cloud, a message is similar to a transaction on a blockchain network. Messages represent all the data that transits on the network and, therefore, all the possible operations on the network. These operations are:
- Store data in a key/value database
- Store files by pinning content on IPFS
- Run programs in a decentralized way
- Start virtual machines
Messages are also similar to blockchain transactions in that they have a header and a body, otherwise known as header fields and content fields in Aleph Cloud, and are cryptographically signed with the private key of a wallet
The left image is a message on Aleph Cloud, while the right image is an example of a blockchain transaction on Bitcoin. Both have header fields and a transaction or message body containing the contents of the transaction or message.
File Storage
You can store a message natively on Aleph Cloud or pin an IPFS CID on the Aleph Cloud network. Pinning is not just another word for storage; it refers specifically to the act of persisting data on the public IPFS network. Data added to IPFS is distributed across nodes but isn’t guaranteed to remain available unless it is pinned.
Pinning ensures that specific files (or data objects) remain stored and retrievable on a specific IPFS node. Projects often use IPFS pinning services to ensure their content (e.g., DApp data, NFTs, or other resources) remains reliably accessible in the decentralized ecosystem.
Virtual machines
Aleph Cloud provides two solutions for running applications inside virtual machines on its decentralized infrastructure: A fast, lightweight and on-demand execution of programs or functions, and a persistent creation of dedicated virtual machines instances.
Indexing
You can index data from multiple blockchains. As of early 2025, the supported blockchains are BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, and Solana. You can fetch historical data for:
- Transactions
- Blocks
- Logs
- State
You can also aggregate data points into buckets, index multiple accounts and their events, and index and aggregate across multiple blockchains at the same time.
ALEPH token
ALEPH is the native token of the Aleph Cloud ecosystem and is a very important part of its framework. It has three main functions:
- Service payments: Users pay for Aleph Cloud services with ALEPH (ex., storage, indexing, computation, etc.)
- Staking: Node operators stake ALEPH to participate in network operations.
- Incentives: Node operators earn ALEPH in return for their services.
The token’s maximum supply was initially 1 billion ALEPH. However, this supply has halved and is currently 500 billion ALEPH. The distribution is:
- Incentives pool: 40%
- Business development: 20%
- Company pool: 20%
- Innovation pool: 10%
- Marketing pool: 8%
- NULS Foundation pool: 2%
The token exists on Ethereum, Solana, BSC, Base, Tezos, and Avalanche.
How to stake ALEPH
There are a few different ways to earn ALEPH: run a node or trust a node with your stake. Users who hold at least 10,000 ALEPH can participate in delegated staking to earn rewards. Rewards are distributed and compounded every 10 days.
To stake ALEPH, in short, you must:
- Head to the official website.
- Connect to a supported wallet
- Select a node
- Press “stake” on your chosen node.
Here’s each step in a little more detail.
1. Go to the website: Head over to account.aleph.im to connect your wallet.
2. Select a wallet: Choose your supported wallet to continue.
3. Select a node: After you have connected your wallet, select a node to stake with. Press “Stake” to continue. Sign the following message that pops up in your wallet to complete the staking process.
4. View your balance: Once you have successfully staked, you can view your balance and rewards.
A trustless way to scale
In today’s modern era of web3 and artificial intelligence technology, both secure computation and reliable storage have become essential for the progress of these fields. Aleph Cloud uses off-chain technology in a trustless way to scale decentralized applications that require these primitives. In this way, Aleph Cloud attempts to overcome the limitations of both centralized and decentralized technologies.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investing in or staking the Aleph token does not guarantee profit. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Frequently asked questions
What is the utility of the ALEPH token?
What is Aleph Cloud?
How does Aleph Cloud work?
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