Akash Network to Undergo Hard Fork on March 23rd
Akash Network has announced the Burn-Mint Equilibrium (BME) upgrade, scheduled for March 23 at 14:00 UTC. The upgrade introduces a fundamental change to AKT tokenomics: every AKT token used for deploying compute workloads on the network will be permanently burned, directly tying token value to real network usage.
In addition to the burn mechanism, the BME upgrade introduces WASM smart contracts to Akash, establishing a foundational layer for programmable functionality on the network. The proposal has been submitted for on-chain governance voting, with the upgrade conditional on community approval. The combined introduction of deflationary mechanics and smart contract capabilities marks a major milestone for the Akash decentralized compute platform.
What is a hardfork?
The cryptocurrency mainnet operates according to certain rules. To improve network performance or correct errors, changes are periodically introduced into it. A hard fork represents changes that are not compatible with previous versions of software supporting the cryptocurrency network. In order to continue to mine the cryptocurrency, miners need to update the software.
In some cases, as a result of a hard fork, a completely new cryptocurrency may appear, as happened with Bitcoin Cash and EthereumPoW.
