Aethir and MetaStreet Launch Yield Pass to Turn Nodes into Tradable Financial Instruments

Aethir Checker Nodes, which form the backbone of Aethir's DePIN stack, provide enterprise-grade GPU cloud computing services to clients in AI and gaming.

Aether, a decentralized cloud infrastructure company, and MetaStreet, a finance firm, have jointly launched Yield Pass on the Arbitrum blockchain. Aether finds underutilized graphics processing units (GPUs) and offers them as a service to companies that need them for cloud gaming and more.

And now the new partnership introduces NodeFi – a new frontier of decentralized finance (DeFi) – turning Aether nodes into dynamic financial instruments through tokenization.

Yield Pass creates new opportunities for liquidity, yield generation, and risk management, empowering node holders to maximize earnings and unlock the full financial potential of decentralized infrastructure.

Nodes are the cornerstone of decentralized infrastructure, powering computation, storage, and scalability for blockchain networks. With the rising demand for Web3 applications, cloud computing, and AI-driven solutions, the node economy is projected to grow significantly, with the global blockchain infrastructure market expected to surpass $100 billion by 2030.

Despite their intrinsic value, nodes have traditionally lacked liquidity and financial flexibility as their use has been confined to network operations rather than financial optimization.

Aether Checker Nodes, which form the backbone of Aether’s DePIN stack, provide enterprise-grade GPU cloud computing services to clients in AI and gaming. With a network of over 43,000 GPUs, including 3,000 NVIDIA H100s, Aether supports some of the world’s most demanding workloads.

These nodes ensure service quality across the infrastructure, rewarding holders with ATH tokens and ecosystem perks through Aether EcoDrops. By integrating MetaStreet’s Object-Oriented Finance expertise, Yield Pass unlocks the financial potential of these nodes, offering holders innovative tools to optimize liquidity, yield, and risk management.

Through Yield Pass, Checker Node holders can unlock immediate liquidity by tokenizing and trading future node emissions, enhance earnings through staking and reinvestment, and transform nodes into versatile financial assets.

Yield Pass introduces two tradable assets for node holders: Yield Pass (YP), an ERC-20 token representing future yield emissions, and Discount Pass (DP), an ERC-721 token representing ownership of the node without future yield. This structure allows node holders to sell future emissions, retain ownership, borrow against Discount Pass tokens for reinvestment, and hedge risks—all while participating in MetaStreet’s Ascend loyalty program to earn additional incentives like Node Crystals.

The companies said Arbitrum’s scalability, low fees, and holistic ecosystem make it the ideal platform for Yield Pass, enabling seamless minting, trading, and liquidity provision. As one of the most advanced Layer 2 blockchains, Arbitrum provides the infrastructure necessary for fostering innovation in NodeFi and integrating decentralized infrastructure with DeFi.

“Nodes represent untapped potential in DeFi,” said David Choi, cofounder of Permian Labs, developers of the MetaStreet protocol, in a statement. “They hold immense intrinsic value but lack the liquidity and financial flexibility found in other asset classes. Yield Pass bridges this gap, turning nodes into dynamic financial instruments.”

“At Aethir, we are committed to empowering our node holders with innovative solutions,” said Dan Wang, CEO of Aethir, in a statement. “Partnering with MetaStreet to launch Yield Pass on Arbitrum creates unparalleled opportunities for our community. It’s a major step forward in integrating decentralized infrastructure with decentralized finance.”