What is the Golem cryptocurrency and how does it benefit users?

Golem is a decentralised supercomputer providing shared computing power that users can access for a fee.

The processing power of the supercomputer is made up of the combination of the processing power of all users signed up to the Golem network. Users can range from one person with a laptop right up to data processing centres.

The Golem cryptocurrency is the means of payment for access to the network.

Lending processing power to Golem

Anyone joining the Golem ecosystem can lend out their computer’s spare processing power to others who wish to rent additional processing power.

Renting processing power from Golem

Users can rent additional processing power to either perform specific tasks or to speed up existing tasks that a user’s computer may be struggling with.

This could be anything, but the market opportunity Golem is targeting initially is around CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) rendering. This is a classic area where there are issues with processing power. Users and companies often outsource CGI processing to specialists due to the intensive computer processing required.

The Golem crypto token

The Golem Network Token (GNT) is the means by which payment is made for renting processing power. It’s an ERC-20 token, and one billion GNT was created and distributed via the crowdsale.

Users can only use the Golem crypto to rent processing power, so it acts solely as the means of payment that allows users and suppliers to use and participate in Golem’s products and services.

Golem crypto token price analysis

Even the casual observer of cryptocurrency prices will realise price movements can be volatile and feature large movements (up and down) on a daily basis.

At the time of writing, GNT is worth $0.069. An analysis of price movements during 2018 shows that it has experienced some volatile activity over the course of the year. In January, it opened at $0.82, so the current value shows just how far the price has fallen.

2018 was marked with double-digit percentage falls for GNT. Nine months out of 12 saw falls in price, the largest of which was nearly 50%. That sounds dramatic, but equally there was a price increase of 176% during April. Nevertheless, despite this huge monthly rise, generally the pattern has been persistent double-digit falls.

However, GNT is not alone in experiencing falls in 2018. The year has seen some dramatic falls for most cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of January, one Bitcoin was worth $13,850, and at the time of writing, it’s worth just $3,994.30. Ripple began the year at $1.98, and at the time of writing, the price is $0.36.

So there has been dramatic activity across the values of most cryptos this year, but the development of Golem as a product may also have contributed to the erosion in value of GNT. Some commentators point to the two years it took for Golem to move from its Beta to Alpha product as one of the reasons why investors are less enthusiastic.

Buying and selling Golem crypto

GNT can be bought and sold on a wide range of popular crypto exchanges. Some of the biggest exchanges that list GNT are Binance and Bitfinex.

If you want to find out more about crypto and blockchain, we have a range of cryptocurrency guides on our site along with the latest cryptocurrency news.