Coin Healthcheck: Golem (GLM)

Golem (GLM) is a global, open-source, decentralized network that aims to connect thousands of computers all over the world through its blockchain to build a distributed supercomputer.

Founded in Switzerland in 2016, Golem is expected to become one of the most disruptive blockchain projects.

State of Project

Golem operates on the Ethereum blockchain. It is a lightweight, anonymous and censorship-resistant protocol, with a modular architecture.

The network functions as a peer-to-peer marketplace for excess computing power. It uses the distributed cloud to enable computing power available to every user.

Users are able to rent their hardware, they get compensated in Golem tokens (GLM).

GLM is an ERC-20 utility token, used to access the Golem Network and in P2P transactions for renting computing power and other spare digital resources. The Golem Network’s former token, GNT migrated to GLM at the end of 2020.

Golem enables fast and cheap GLM micropayments on Ethereum’s Layer 2.

Development and Achievements

Golem Brass Beta introduced and mainnet launched in 2018. Users could connect Golem to the Ethereum mainnet to earn and spend real GNT for computations.

Golem Beta II released in 2021. The upgrade fixed some previously reported bugs and included Service API, a new payment verification mechanism, and other service improvements.

Introduced Thorg, the first mining app powered and built by Golem, with Layer 2 Polygon payments in September 2021.

Released Golem Beta III in October 2021. Comes with support for Virtual Private Networks between the requestor and provider Virtual Machines.

Released Golem Beta IV in December 2021. Added Polygon support.

‘World Bank & Future Today Institute‘ Recognized the Golem Network in their 2021 ‘Tech Trend Report‘.

Fundraising

The Golem Network ICO opened in November 2016. Raised 820.000 ETH in less than an hour, and created 1.000.000.000 GNT in total.

Roadmap

Aims to give more power to developers for dApp creation in 2022.

Plans to create a convenient environment for dApps with extensive tutorials.

Plans to add features to Thorg: CPU tasks, gamification, more mining engines, affiliation program, extended customization.

Plans to increase the visibility of the GLM token through oracles, GLM support on different platforms (e.g. Compound), staking mechanisms, and additional chain integrations.

Team

Golem was created by ‘Golem Factory‘, a Switzerland-based organization co-founded by Julian Zawistowski, Piotr Janiuk and Andrzej Regulski.

The current team consists of nearly 30 employees and is hiring for multiple developer positions.

Key investors: ‘Continue Capital’, and investment companies ‘KR1', ‘SVK Crypto’, ‘Fundamental Labs’, & ‘Outlier Ventures’.

Community

Social media accounts: Twitter (172K), Reddit (21.8K), Discord (5.6K), Facebook (13K).

Has 171 open repositories on GitHub. Repositories include active and regular updates.

Key metrics

Maximum supply: 1 billion GLM

Circulating supply: 1 billion GLM

Market Cap: $463 million

All-time high (ATH): $1.32 (Apr 2018)

All-time low (ATL): $0.00913753 (Dec 2016)

Markets

Available on 50 cryptocurrency trading platforms, including the major ones.

Wallets

Ledger, Trust Wallet, MetaMask, Atomic Wallet.

Asset allocation

The total number of unique addresses that hold Golen coins (GLM) drastically dropped at the beginning of March 2022.

12% of the total supply belongs to the Golem project: 6% was distributed to team members and early contributors.

Verdict

The digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, big data, and blockchain all require large amounts of computing power, which have become the inevitable forms of innovation and productivity so far in this decade. The need for sufficient computing power is endless.
Golem has low competition. Although centralized virtual server providers such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have shown interest, currently there are no serious rivals to the Golem Network in the decentralized space.
The project is actively evolving, and boasts a highly contributing community and ambitious plans for its future development, which could heavily impact the whole Golem ecosystem and GLM’s price.
As with the cryptocurrency market in general, GLM has been experiencing a bear market since the end of November 2021. The token is nearly 65% down since its ATH and has not hit recorded such heights again four years on.
As a coin with strong fundamentals, a fixed supply, and small market cap, GLM might be a valuable asset to add to a crypto portfolio with the intention of holding it for the next bull-run.