Akash has spent years running its own blockchain to coordinate a compute marketplace. On November 2, 2026, Akash announced that it will leave that chain and rebuild on Solana, after its community approved Governance Proposal 346 with 97.27% of voting power in favor (Mintscan final tally: ~59.98M AKT Yes, turnout ~69.4% against a 33.4% quorum). [1] [3]

The details matter more than the headline, because this is not a one-click token swap. AKT moves first, the marketplace moves later, staking rewards eventually end, and the migration only goes one way. [3] This piece covers what was decided, what wasn’t, and what each type of participant should be paying attention to.

New to how Akash leases and ACT credits work? Start with our earlier explainer. [5]

What was actually approved

Proposal 346 asked AKT stakers to approve two things: moving the Akash protocol from its sovereign Cosmos chain, akashnet-2, to Solana mainnet, and launching AKT as a native Solana (SPL) token with a one-way migration portal that stays open for two years. [3]

Just as important is what the proposal does not do. It sets no cutover date and does not move the marketplace. Live leases, staking and governance continue on akashnet-2 unchanged for now. The marketplace only moves after audits and migration rehearsals pass, and after a separate cutover proposal passes. [3] Akash’s own report says the full move needs at least two more on-chain votes after this one. [2]

So Akash has committed to Solana and authorized the token launch; it hasn’t “moved” yet.

Why leave its own chain?

Akash’s core argument is that it pays the full cost of running a sovereign blockchain without using what makes one useful. According to the team, about 100 validators bond AKT only to secure consensus, and the core team maintains its own forks of cosmos-sdk, CometBFT and gogoproto. [2] Its review of the codebase found nothing in the marketplace that needs custom consensus, which it contrasts with dYdX, whose order book does. [2]

The selection process began with an open request for proposals (AEP-79) on December 15, 2025 [4], followed by a 15-document Chain Migration Program published August 10, 2026. That program weighed seven options against 15 hard requirements; two cleared every bar: Solana mainnet and an existing Ethereum layer-2. [2]

Akash says Solana won on fit rather than on every dimension. Its stated reasons:

  • No chain to run. Security is inherited from Solana, with no bonding or SOL stake. Akash estimates network fees for the whole marketplace at about 0.075 SOL a day at current volume. [2] [3]
  • Cost under load. By Akash’s own designs, a marketplace operation costs about 9x less than on an EVM L2 on a calm day and about 300x less under load. [3] These are Akash’s modeled estimates (they assumed SOL at $150 and ETH at $1,917), not measured results. [2]
  • Runtime fit. Native Pyth price feeds, the Token-2022 standard to keep ACT a non-transferable compute credit, and fee-payer relayers so users don’t need to hold SOL. [2]
  • DePIN neighbors. Helium, Render, io.net, Hivemapper and Nosana already settle on Solana, and Akash cites Helium’s and Render’s migrations as playbooks. [2]

Akash is also candid that the EVM L2 option won on several points, including Ethereum’s security budget, live slashing, Cosmos connectivity and lower execution novelty. [2]

What Akash gives up

The trade-offs are spelled out in the proposal itself. Akash gives up sovereign consensus, validator income and the validator role on akashnet-2, native IBC links to Cosmos (future links would go through third-party bridges), and live slashing, since Solana’s SIMD-0212 is still in governance. Some actions that are atomic today, like closing a deployment and refunding losing bids, will run through automated “cranks.” [3]

Gas fees will be paid in SOL, while leases continue to be paid in ACT. [2]

What changes for each group

AKT holders. AKT launches as an SPL token and migrates 1:1, keeping the ticker and six decimals. AKT sent through the portal leaves circulation on akashnet-2, so Akash says total supply does not change. [3] 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. [3]

Stakers. Staked AKT can migrate in one portal transaction that starts unbonding and claims rewards; the SPL AKT arrives after the 21-day unbonding period. [3] Staking rewards and old-chain inflation end at cutover. Akash says new staking mechanisms will be announced before cutover. [2] [3]

Validators. The validator role and its income end at “halt,” 90 days after cutover. [3] Akash says a validator continuity payout will cover the wind-down, but its size is still open. [2] [3]

Providers. Before cutover, providers run one daemon upgrade, re-register on Solana with collateral, and get re-audited. Between cutover and halt, old-chain earnings are paid weekly in SPL AKT. Akash says there is no protocol take on lease payments at launch. [2]

Tenants (buyers). SDL files don’t change. After cutover, new deployments go to Solana; existing leases keep running for 90 days until halt. One detail worth noting: top-ups made on the old chain after cutover are not credited on Solana. [2] [3]

The points of no return

There are two. For the token, it is token launch: once the portal opens, every migration is final, and there is no path back. For the marketplace, it is cutover: governance or validators can still stop the move until about six hours beforehand. [3]

On timing, treat the on-chain proposal as the binding text: token launch is expected two to three weeks after passage, once two independent audits of the token and portal code are complete, with the exact date announced through official Akash channels. [3] Akash’s earlier selection report said two weeks. [2] Don’t plan around any specific date until Akash announces it.

What’s still undecided

The proposal lists open items 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 two years, the emissions curve on Solana, and the size of the validator continuity payout. [3] Akash’s report adds that the treatment of unvested AKT is also still being settled. [2]

That emissions curve is the big one for token readers. Today’s staking rewards come from old-chain inflation, which ends at cutover. [3] What replaces it, if anything, is not yet public.

What to watch

  • The official portal announcement. Akash calls phishing the top threat and says there will be one official portal domain, announced through official channels. [3]
  • Audit reports. Akash commits to publishing audit reports within 30 days. [3]
  • Exchange support. Akash’s own risk table flags split liquidity while two versions of AKT trade, and a fallback if exchanges reject Token-2022. [2]
  • Provider re-registration. Akash’s cutover gate requires 20+ providers, including the top five by GPU capacity, confirmed seven days before cutover. [2]
  • The cutover proposal, which will set the date and wind-down terms. [3]

Bottom line

This is a structural change, not a rebrand. Akash is betting that running on shared infrastructure, next to other DePIN networks, matters more than owning its consensus layer. Whether it pays off depends on things that haven’t happened yet: clean audits, providers showing up on day one, and a clear answer on emissions after staking ends. For now, the safest move for most holders is to wait for the official portal and verify every address.

Risk note: This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Token migrations carry smart-contract, phishing and liquidity risks, and crypto assets can lose value. Do your own research and only use official channels when migrating tokens.

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