Akash Network To Ditch Its Own Chain for Solana to Cut Costs and Reach More Users

Akash Network, a decentralized cloud computing platform, has secured overwhelming support for a proposal to migrate from its sovereign Cosmos-based blockchain to Solana.

Proposal 346, titled “Migrate the Akash Protocol to Solana,” has received 98.05% Yes votes, representing approximately 51.06 million $AKT. No votes accounted for 1.91%, while abstentions and veto votes represented 0.04% and 0%, respectively.

The vote opened on October 26 and runs until November 2, with a quorum requirement of 33.4%. The present turnout of 58.10% already exceeds the quorum threshold. With ‘Yes’ votes at 98.05%, the proposal is mathematically guaranteed to pass, even if every remaining vote goes against it.

The proposal authorizes the planned migration, but it does not immediately move the marketplace or its running workloads to Solana. Those changes require further preparation and a separate governance decision.

Why Akash Chose Solana

Akash began searching for a new blockchain in October 2025 after founder Greg Osuri announced plans to phase out the project's sovereign Cosmos SDK chain. At the time, the team said it would evaluate networks based on security, liquidity, community strength, and growth potential.

In a blog post, the Akash team outlined its reasons for selecting Solana. Akash currently relies on approximately 100 validators to secure its blockchain and maintains its own versions of Cosmos SDK, CometBFT, and gogoproto. The team argues that migrating to Solana would reduce infrastructure and maintenance costs by eliminating the need for a separate consensus layer. It estimates entire marketplace transaction fees on Solana will be approximately 0.075 $SOL per day, which comes out to about $7.5 at current prices.

The team also points to Solana's capacity for growth. Akash estimates that its marketplace processes around 15,000 transactions daily, compared with Solana's reported 112 million daily user transactions.

Solana's established DePIN ecosystem offers another reason for the move. Helium, Render, io.net, Hivemapper, and Nosana already operate on the network. Akash cites Helium's 2023 migration and Render's token transition as examples of projects that have moved infrastructure or tokens to Solana.

Finally, Akash highlights Solana's liquidity and user base, citing approximately $15 billion in stablecoin supply, 2.2 million daily fee payers, and a leading position in weekly decentralized exchange volume. The team believes this ecosystem could expose its decentralized computing marketplace to more onchain users. It also points to consolidation within Cosmos, including Noble's March 2026 departure, as part of the changing landscape.

How the $AKT Migration Will Work

Under Proposal 346, $AKT will launch as an SPL token, with holders receiving 1 SPL $AKT for every $AKT removed from circulation on the Cosmos chain. The team expects to launch the token approximately 2 weeks after the proposal passes, subject to 2 independent audits of the token and migration portal. The one-way conversion portal will remain open for 2 years after launch.

Self-custody holders will connect their Cosmos wallets and select Solana addresses. The proposal says they will not need $SOL to complete the conversion. Console-managed balances will migrate automatically, while exchanges will handle their own migration schedules. Holders with $AKT on Osmosis or other Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC)-connected chains must first return their tokens to Akash's native chain.

Staked $AKT will follow a separate process that initiates unbonding, claims outstanding rewards, and queues the tokens for conversion after the 21-day unbonding period.

What Happens to Providers, Tenants, and Staking?

The marketplace transition will happen later, after audits and migration rehearsals. A separate governance vote will determine the cutover date. Providers will upgrade their software and register on Solana. Tenants can retain their deployment configuration files, known as SDL files, while existing leases continue during the transition.

After cutover, live workloads can continue for 90 days, giving tenants time to redeploy. When the old chain halts, its validators will lose their roles and associated income. The transition will also end old-chain inflation and staking rewards, while Akash will lose native IBC connectivity and rely on third-party bridges for future Cosmos connections.

Will Solana Keep Absorbing “Dying Blockchains”?

A broader consolidation has been unfolding across the crypto industry over the past 2 years, with projects increasingly abandoning their own blockchains to migrate to Solana. Akash is the latest example of this trend, following Zeta Network's decision in September 2026 to leave its dedicated Layer-1 after operating it since 2023.

Zeta's governance proposal received 99.4% support for the move, bringing its flagship application, Anuma AI, and more than 300,000 connected users to Solana. The project cited Solana's emerging AI infrastructure, including its Agent Registry and x402 payments layer, as key reasons for the migration.

Akash’s proposal drew a direct invitation from Solana Foundation Vice President of Technology Jacob Creech, who has called on Layer-1s, Layer-2s, and applications operating on "dying blockchains" to consider moving to Solana. Creech argued that Solana has handled substantial network traffic, consistently expanded its capacity, and demonstrated security suited to institutional use.

As more projects reassess the costs and benefits of maintaining independent chains, Solana's established liquidity, infrastructure, and user base could make it an increasingly attractive destination.

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