E02 / ENGINEERING CONTRIBUTOR

Gonka AI.

Bitfury-backed L1 for AI compute. Zpoken is part of Gonka's decentralized contributor set — engineering on the Proof-of-Compute consensus layer, bridge security stack, and application surface.

relationshipEngineering contributor
scopePoC · bridge · application
network11K+ GPUs · $50M raised
stateOngoing

§1 — Gonka in one paragraph.

Gonka in one paragraph.

Gonka is an L1 for AI compute. The thesis: nodes contribute GPU time to a network that runs ML inference, and consensus weights mining power by verified compute contribution rather than raw hash rate or token stake. The verification problem is harder than PoW or PoS — the work being verified is ML inference on a 235B-parameter transformer, which cannot be cheaply spot-checked the way a hash computation can. Gonka is backed by Bitfury and ProductScience, with $50M raised, and runs at over 11K GPUs.

§2 — What Zpoken contributes.

What Zpoken contributes.

Zpoken contributes engineering, not capital. The relationship is open-source contributor — commits and pull requests are public on the gonka-ai/gonka repository alongside contributions from other engineers in the contributor set. Zpoken is not a Gonka employee, not a Gonka investor, not part of the Gonka core team. The framing is contributor — the same shape as the rest of the open-source contributor set.

[01]
Sprint mechanism + statistical validation
─ POC CONSENSUS
[02]
PoC v1 → v2 migration · BLS slot keys
─ POC CONSENSUS
[03]
MMR off-chain artifact storage
─ POC SCALING
[04]
vLLM-integrated PoC
─ POC RUNTIME
[05]
Bridge security · CertiK audit closure
─ BRIDGE LAYER
[06]
app.gonka.ai · inferenced CLI
─ APPLICATION

Engineering depth on each line item is documented on the case study page — see /work/gonka for the full PoC consensus contribution narrative, the off-chain artifact-storage architecture, the vLLM integration call, and the bridge security work.

§3 — What makes this contribution substantive.

What makes this contribution substantive.

The contribution is consensus-design depth, not implementation help.

PoC verification of ML inference on a 235B-parameter transformer is a different verification problem than PoW or PoS. Sprint mechanism design, BLS slot-key precomputation, MMR off-chain artifact-storage architecture, and the vLLM-integrated PoC pattern are consensus-design contributions, not implementation tickets. They are the kind of contribution that requires reading the cryptography literature and shipping into a live production network.

The contribution is public and verifiable.

Every contribution lives on the gonka-ai/gonka repository. A senior CTO can read the commits, the PRs, and the issue threads to verify the substance — not just take Zpoken's word for it.

The contribution is ongoing, not one-shot.

Recent contribution areas include multi-model PoC support, BLS gas-scaling patches, DevShards reward distribution, and continuous PoC infrastructure. The relationship is contributor in the open-source sense — the cadence is sustained engagement with the project's roadmap.

— CAPABILITYDecentralized AI→
— CASE STUDYGonka — full depth→
— SISTER ECOSYSTEMWormhole→
— INTERSECTIONDeAI × Cosmos SDK→
— ENGAGEMENT

DeAI compute network or inference verification? Start with a 30-minute call.

If you're building a DeAI compute network, an inference verification layer, or any consensus mechanism that has to verify off-chain compute work on-chain, the engagement starts with a 30-minute call.

That call is with a founder. Shapes, discovery, and terms → /engagement

Book a call→ Open the form