Acurast

Acurast is a decentralized compute layer that turns idle smartphones into a global cloud. Its core business lets developers deploy serverless workloads—such as REST APIs, scheduled jobs, and AI inference—onto phones secured by hardware Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). This provides verifiable execution, meaning code runs exactly as written, with data sealed from device owners.

The main pain point it addresses is the concentration and opacity of traditional cloud computing. Acurast offers a cheaper, more distributed alternative where compute is sourced from millions of existing devices, reducing reliance on data centers. Its key differentiator is the combination of TEE-based hardware security with a decentralized network, enabling confidential and tamper-proof processing without trusting any single operator.

Over the past six months (Feb–Aug 2026), Acurast has expanded its ecosystem. It now supports confidential AI inference for models like llama.cpp, and powers ZK proof generation for privacy protocols such as Anoma and Namada. The network has onboarded over 160,000 phones, processing more than 500 million transactions. It has also strengthened its role in Web3 automation, enabling cross-chain workflows for projects like peaq and xcBTC. No major negative events were reported during this period, though the project remains dependent on smartphone hardware availability and user participation.