io.net unveils revenue backed token burn targeting 12M IO tokens

io.net has launched a new token burn mechanism tied directly to network revenue and said the model could remove up to 12 million IO tokens from circulation over the next year, as the decentralized GPU provider reports rising enterprise demand and record AI inference activity.

According to a press release shared with crypto.news, the first burn was scheduled for June 11, coinciding with the network’s third anniversary, with future burns funded by revenue generated from customer usage rather than new token issuance.

io.net ties token burns to network revenue

Details released by io.net show that at least 50% of post-payout network revenue received in IO tokens will be permanently destroyed under what the company calls its Incentive Dynamic Engine, or IDE. Based on current earnings and its commercial pipeline, the company expects as many as 12 million tokens to be burned during the system’s first year.

The announcement comes as io.net reports its strongest commercial period to date. The company disclosed that it has signed an $8 million enterprise agreement, its largest contract so far, which it said contributes roughly $650,000 in monthly on-chain network earnings. Additional enterprise deals are currently progressing through advanced negotiation stages, according to the company.

Beyond enterprise adoption, io.net said it has become the largest decentralized physical infrastructure network, or DePIN, based inference provider on OpenRouter, an AI model routing platform used by developers to access multiple artificial intelligence models. Company figures show the network now processes more than 4 billion inference tokens each day while competing alongside centralized cloud computing providers.

Those developments arrive as demand for AI computing resources continues to climb. Citing industry spending trends, io.net noted that major technology companies have committed more than $500 billion toward AI infrastructure projects across 2025 and 2026. The company argued that access to high-performance graphics processing units remains limited by hyperscaler capacity constraints and pricing structures, creating opportunities for decentralized alternatives.

New model seeks to stabilize supplier earnings

Alongside the burn program, io.net said the IDE has been designed to address supplier retention challenges commonly faced by token-based infrastructure networks.

Under the framework, supplier payouts are linked to a stable U.S. dollar value rather than fluctuating token prices. According to the company, reserve mechanisms absorb market volatility, allowing providers to maintain predictable earnings even during periods of token price weakness.

CryptoEcon Lab, a tokenomics research firm that independently evaluated the system, tested the model under several stress scenarios. The firm found supplier returns remained stable during simulations that included a 55% drop in demand and a 50% decline in token price, according to results cited by io.net.

“Most token economies in our space are still built around the hope that prices go up. Ours is built around the certainty that people are paying to use the network. That’s a fundamentally different foundation,” said Gaurav Sharma, chief executive officer of io.net.

Looking beyond current operations, io.net said it is also developing capabilities that would allow AI agents to autonomously source and manage computing resources through its Agent Cloud platform. The company described the initiative as part of its effort to build a self-sustaining on-chain compute economy supported by decentralized infrastructure providers around the world.