The Neura Roadmap: A Public Update for the AI Blockchain

Greetings, Neura Community!

As one of the most exciting projects Ankr has embarked on this year, we are excited to give you an update on our 2024 plans to complete the launch of the Neura mainnet as well as give an overview of what we’ve accomplished thus far. This blog post was written to address all of the most pressing questions we can at this time.

For those new to Neura, you can find more information by reading the blogs below or by visiting our site at neuraprotocol.io!

Learn more about Neura

Introducing Neura: A New Era of AI x Blockchain Innovation

Neura Testnet and Road To Mainnet Program Launch

Q1: Designing the Innovative Neura Stack & Strategy

The first quarter was dedicated to establishing a strong foundation for Neura. We assembled Ankr’s world-class team of blockchain engineers, cryptography experts, and AI specialists. Together, they meticulously planned our strategic direction, designing a platform that went beyond what has been done before in the blockchain x AI space.

March culminated in the release of our comprehensive whitepaper, outlining the vision and technical details of the Neura protocol, including:

• Comet BFT Consensus: We detailed the chosen consensus CometBFT consensus engine and explained how it ensures secure and scalable transaction processing for AI workloads.

• IBC Protocol: Neura also supports the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC) through the Cosmos SDK. This offers integration with the wider Cosmos network, including the influential Babylon module.

• EVM Compatibility: Aligned with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Neura establishes a foundation for seamless interoperability. This allows applications to utilize Ethereum's development tools, facilitating the deployment of AI models and cloud services.

• GPU Accessibility and Scaling: Neura tackles the persistent infrastructure scalability challenge faced by AI projects by creating a vibrant ecosystem of decentralized GPU providers, ensuring that AI and cloud computing projects have immediate access to necessary computational resources.

• Financial Scalability Via IMOs: Neura introduces Initial Model Offerings (IMOs), a new funding mechanism designed to democratize investment in AI development while ensuring transparent ownership and equitable revenue sharing with token standards like ERC-404 and ERC-7641.

• Decentralized Storage Mechanisms: With only critical transactions occurring on-chain and AI data storage occurring off-chain, Neura offers the best of high performance and data integrity with our decentralized data storage collaborators IPFS, EigenLayer, Arweave, and Celestia.

• Bitcoin Security: The whitepaper outlines how Neura’s integration with the Babylon protocol creates Bitcoin-level security for AI apps using our platform via BTC restaking.

Read the full whitepaper

Q2: Testnet Takeoff and Security Bulletproofing

April marked a significant milestone with the launch of the Neura Devnet, our dedicated testing environment. This phase allowed developers and enthusiasts to explore the Neura platform's capabilities firsthand. Their invaluable feedback helped us refine and optimize the system for real-world AI applications.

Security is paramount at Neura, so May saw the completion of a rigorous preliminary security audit conducted by the team. This audit assessed the resilience of our smart contracts, consensus mechanism, and overall network architecture against potential vulnerabilities.

June brought the exciting release of our Practice Initial Model Offering (IMO) for our community members. This test IMO served as a valuable practice run for our innovative fundraising mechanism, demonstrating its potential to revolutionize AI project financing.

Q3: Paving the Way for Mainnet with Enhanced Security and Reliability

We're currently laser-focused on preparing for the grand launch of the Neura Mainnet. July is dedicated to further enhancing platform security and reliability. Our engineers are meticulously conducting penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and stress tests to ensure the Neura Mainnet can withstand real-world threats and deliver exceptional performance for AI applications.

Q4: The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting for: Mainnet Launch and Ecosystem Explosion

Get ready, because Q4 is going to be monumental! We'll be deploying the full Neura Mainnet, marking the official arrival of the future of AI on the blockchain. This is just the beginning – brace yourselves for:

• Partial ANKR Token Migration: A seamless migration of a portion of the ANKR token supply to the Neura chain, enabling enhanced TVL and value capture within the Neura ecosystem.
• First Movers Advantage with Initial Model Offerings (IMOs): The acceptance of groundbreaking AI protocols for the very first IMOs on the Neura Mainnet. This will empower these projects to securely raise capital, obtain GPU resources and fuel the next wave of AI innovation.
• Seamless DeFi Integrations: The Neura Mainnet will integrate with leading DeFi protocols, enabling users to leverage advanced financial instruments for AI projects.
• Advanced Computational Resources Rollout: We'll be partnering with providers to roll out cutting-edge computational resources specifically designed for AI tasks. This includes access to powerful cloud GPU computing, empowering developers to build and train next-gen AI models on the Neura platform.

How Can the Community Benefit During Neura’s Mainnet Launch?

The Neura mainnet will provide a plethora of ways Ankr and Neura community members can get involved and earn a variety of benefits and rewards including:

Contribute to Mainnet IMOs

Assist in crowdfunding new AI projects set to launch on Neura by owning their ERC-404 (share in ownership) and ERC-7641 (share in revenue) tokens. Community members have a large opportunity to be the first to get in on the ground floor of investing in AI models on Neura. All participants will need ANKR tokens to take part in any IMO.

Participate in the GPU economy

In the near future, Neura and its partners will allow for the democratized ownership of GPU resources on the network. This means that community members will be able to own a portion of GPU power and earn a share of fees from AI projects using GPU for task completion.

Join in securing the network

As detailed in the Neura whitepaper, The ANKR token will become the sole currency for all transactions, including AI model usage, IMO token purchases, and network staking for security and consensus. When the network becomes live, those interested can stake ANKR to secure the Neura blockchain while providing safety for all apps deployed on the chain.

Use Neura’s Ecosystem of AI Apps

Neura is already seeing a large amount of interest in companies wishing to deploy to our mainnet ahead of launch. Our community, especially those who participated in the Testnet IMO events, will be the first to have the opportunity to use the innovative AI applications

Questions? Let’s Hear Them.

This roadmap is just a taste of the incredible things we're building together. We're fueled by the passion and support of our amazing community, and we can't wait to embark on this exciting journey with you. Stay tuned for regular updates, and join the conversation with any other questions on our social media channels!

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