Proposal: Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana

[isaac9905]

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.

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, 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.

This proposal was posted via governance proposal 346. The migration was an open discussion held in sig-economics and steering committees on a monthly cadence. Community discord is highly encouraged across the Akash Ecosystem.

References

• Why We Selected Solana for Akash (Oct 26 2026)
• AEP-79 and the Akash Chain Migration Program
• Plan version pinned by commit: 0805c517a16952df95573906e2a4da7128ef0b66
• Discussion: GitHub Discussion #1123