Golem (GLM) is a decentralized compute marketplace that rents idle CPU and GPU power from anyone with a spare machine. The project was founded in Warsaw in 2016 by Julian Zawistowski, Piotr Janiuk, Andrzej Regulski, and Aleksandra Skrzypczak under Golem Factory. That makes it one of the original DePIN networks, predating Akash, Render, and most of the AI compute layer that followed. The pitch has stayed the same: data centers and home users have spare cycles, developers need cheap compute, and a permissionless marketplace can settle the trade in tokens instead of credit cards.
GLM is the utility token used to pay for compute on Golem. The original GNT token migrated to GLM in late 2020 alongside the launch of the new Golem (rewritten from the legacy Brass and Clay clients). Today’s Golem is an ERC-20 on Ethereum with a layer 2 settlement path through Polygon, and the requestor-provider model still drives the core flow. Requestors submit a job and a budget, providers bid for the work, and GLM streams across as the task completes.
GLM price today
GLM trades on Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, KuCoin, OKX, Gate, Bybit, and Bitfinex. The deepest pairs are GLM/USDT and GLM/BTC. The price card on this page pulls from a multi-venue feed and refreshes every 60 seconds. The reference quote is volume-weighted across the most liquid order books so a single thin venue cannot drag the headline number around.
What actually moves GLM price action:
DePIN sector cycle. GLM trades inside the decentralized compute basket. Rotations into and out of DePIN names dominate short-term moves more than Golem-specific news.
AI compute demand. When AI infrastructure runs hot and hyperscaler GPU capacity stays scarce, every compute marketplace token catches a bid, and GLM is one of the longest-running options in that group.
Provider count and task volume. The cleanest fundamental is paid task throughput and active provider count on the network stats dashboards. Sustained increases tend to lead price by weeks rather than follow it.
Ethereum gas costs. Golem settles on Ethereum and Polygon. High base-layer gas pushes small-job economics sideways, which suppresses retail provider activity until fees calm down.
BTC correlation. As a small-cap altcoin, GLM amplifies BTC moves in both directions. Most rallies and drawdowns start with a BTC trigger and finish with a DePIN rotation.
The numbers in the price card above are live. For multi-year scenarios, see our Golem price forecast.
FAQ
What is Golem Network used for?
Golem is a decentralized compute marketplace. Requestors use it to run containerized or sandboxed workloads (CPU jobs, GPU inference, batch rendering, scientific compute) on a network of independent providers instead of AWS or GCP. Payments settle in GLM, mostly on Polygon for cheap gas. Workloads typically ship as VM images or WASM modules so providers can run them safely without trusting the code.
When was Golem founded?
Golem Factory was founded in Warsaw in 2016 by Julian Zawistowski, Piotr Janiuk, Andrzej Regulski, and Aleksandra Skrzypczak. The 2016 ICO raised about 820,000 ETH in 30 minutes, one of the largest token sales of that era. That makes Golem one of the original DePIN compute networks, predating Akash, Render, and most modern AI compute layers.
What is the difference between GNT and GLM?
GNT was the original Golem token launched in 2016. GLM replaced it in November 2020 alongside the New Golem rewrite. The migration was one for one: one GNT swapped for one GLM. GLM is an ERC-20 on Ethereum with native Polygon support for cheap micro-payments. Maximum supply is 1 billion, all minted at migration, with no ongoing inflation.
Golem vs Akash: which is better?
Different focus areas. Akash is a Cosmos-native compute marketplace with strong GPU positioning, USDC settlement, and Kubernetes-compatible deployments. Golem runs on Ethereum and Polygon with its own yagna daemon and supports a wider mix of CPU and GPU workloads through VM and WASM sandboxes. Akash usually wins on enterprise GPU capacity; Golem wins on longest track record and broad workload support.
Can I stake GLM?
No. GLM is a utility token used to pay for compute, not a proof-of-stake or governance asset. There is no native staking yield from the Golem protocol itself. Some centralized exchanges and DeFi aggregators offer GLM yield products, but those are venue-specific and carry counterparty risk separate from the underlying network.
Is GLM a good investment?
GLM is a long-history DePIN bet on decentralized compute and the AI infrastructure cycle. The network has paying requestors, real provider count, and a fixed supply, but adoption growth has been steady rather than explosive, and the price has historically swung 80% to 90% peak-to-trough across cycles. Treat it as a higher-risk allocation, size it accordingly, and expect volatility well above blue-chip layer-1s.
Where can I buy Golem?
GLM trades on Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, KuCoin, OKX, Gate, Bybit, and Bitfinex. The deepest pairs are GLM/USDT and GLM/BTC. Coinbase and Kraken handle US fiat best. For long-term holdings, withdraw to a self-custody wallet (MetaMask, Rabby, or Ledger). Withdraw on Polygon if you plan to use GLM as compute payment, since most settlement happens there.
Who created Golem?
Golem was founded in 2016 by a Polish team in Warsaw: Julian Zawistowski (CEO), Piotr Janiuk, Andrzej Regulski, and Aleksandra Skrzypczak. They built it under Golem Factory, the company that still supports core development. Julian Zawistowski has remained a public-facing leader for the project across the GNT-to-GLM migration and the New Golem rewrite.
A typical Golem job starts with a requestor who has a containerized workload and a budget. The requestor describes the job, sets a price ceiling, and submits it to the network. Providers running the Golem daemon (yagna) see the open offer and bid on it. Once the requestor accepts a bid, payment streams in GLM as the task makes progress, and the result returns to the requestor when the work completes.
Job submission. Requestors package the workload as a Golem application using the Python or JavaScript SDK. Most workloads ship as VM images or WASM modules so providers can run them in sandboxed environments without trusting the code.
Provider bidding. Yagna nodes around the world watch the network for offers that match their available resources. Bids are scored on price, reputation, and resource match.
Payment streaming. Lease payments stream in GLM as the task runs, with mid-job checkpoints so neither side eats a full failed run if a node drops.
Result delivery. Outputs return to the requestor over the network. The provider releases the result hash, the requestor verifies, and the final GLM payment settles.
Reputation. Providers build reputation through completed jobs. Higher-reputation nodes attract more work, which is the long-term game for serious providers.
The economics are simple. Providers with cheap power, idle servers, or geographical advantages can bid lower than centralized clouds and still profit. Requestors pay what the market actually clears at instead of a hyperscaler list price.
Tokenomics and the GNT to GLM migration
Golem ran a 2016 ICO that raised about 820,000 ETH in 30 minutes, one of the largest token sales of that era. The original token was GNT. In November 2020, alongside the new Golem rewrite, the team migrated GNT one for one to GLM, an ERC-20 with native Polygon support. GLM has a fixed maximum supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens, all minted at the migration. There is no inflation tail and no ongoing emission schedule.
What GLM tokenomics actually look like:
Fixed supply. 1 billion GLM was minted during the migration. No new tokens are emitted by the protocol itself.
Utility token. GLM pays for compute on the network. It is not a staking or governance token in the proof-of-stake sense.
Ethereum and Polygon. GLM lives on Ethereum mainnet with a Polygon bridge for cheap micro-payments. Most active task settlement happens on Polygon to keep gas costs manageable.
Treasury. Golem Factory retained a portion of the original supply to fund development. The treasury has been visible enough that long-term holders can model runway against headline burn rates.
The fixed-supply model is unusual for a 2024-era DePIN token. Most newer compute marketplaces emit native tokens to bootstrap providers. Golem skipped that route and now relies on actual paid task volume to drive demand for GLM.
Golem vs Akash, Render, and modern DePIN
Golem gets compared to a long list of newer networks that took inspiration from the original 2016 design. Each comparison sets a different bar and tells a different story about Golem’s strengths and weaknesses.
Golem vs Akash. Akash is a Cosmos-based compute marketplace with deep GPU positioning and USDC settlement. It launched mainnet in 2020 and grew fast through the AI cycle. Golem is older, runs on Ethereum and Polygon, and focuses on broader CPU and GPU jobs through its yagna daemon. Akash currently leads on enterprise GPU capacity; Golem leads on long-tail provider count and brand recognition with crypto-native developers.
Golem vs Render. Render targets creative GPU work (3D rendering, VFX, OctaneRender pipelines) through OTOY tooling that creative studios already use. Golem is general compute and supports a much wider workload mix, including generic CPU jobs that Render does not target. Render usually wins on creative pipelines; Golem wins on raw breadth and on workloads that do not need a specific renderer.
Golem vs centralized clouds. AWS, GCP, and Azure win on enterprise SLAs, networking, and the surrounding service catalog. Golem wins on permissionless onboarding, no KYC for small jobs, and pricing for the long tail of workloads the hyperscaler sales motion ignores.
Golem vs newer DePIN compute. Bittensor, io.net, Aethir, and Gensyn all target slices of the AI compute stack. Each ships a different design (subnets, GPU pooling, token incentives, ZK-verified ML). Golem is the closest thing to a generalist in that group and remains the longest-running option with active code.
No single comparison settles it. Golem is strongest when the workload is generalist, the requestor is price-sensitive, and the buyer values a 9-year track record over the latest tokenomics. It is weakest when a workload needs tightly coupled multi-GPU training or a regulated SLA.
Real workloads that run on Golem
Through 2023 and 2024, Golem worked through several waves of demand: scientific compute, AI inference, batch rendering, and generic Python jobs. The provider network is wider than headline GPU names but narrower than AWS in any single region.
Scientific compute. Academic groups have used Golem for batch jobs in protein folding, climate modeling, and molecular dynamics. The network handles embarrassingly parallel jobs (many independent tasks) better than tightly coupled simulations.
AI inference. Stable Diffusion, Whisper transcription, Llama-family inference, and similar single-node AI workloads run on Golem GPU providers. Throughput is good for batch jobs and weaker for low-latency interactive use.
Batch rendering. Blender Cycles and similar CPU and GPU rendering jobs distribute well across Golem providers, especially for indie studios that cannot justify a dedicated render farm.
Generic Python and WASM. The yagna runtime supports VM images and WASM modules. Anything that fits in those sandboxes can run, which covers most data processing, ETL, and machine-learning preprocessing pipelines.
Golem is not a replacement for an AWS region. It is a way to run independent, parallelizable, sandbox-safe workloads on commodity hardware at a fraction of hyperscaler list price. Teams that match that profile get good value; teams that need a managed Postgres alongside their compute do not.
How to buy and use Golem (GLM)
Buying GLM is simple. Using it as a requestor or provider takes a few extra steps because the daemon (yagna) has to run on a machine, but most buyers stop at step three and just hold GLM as a DePIN allocation.
Pick an exchange. Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, KuCoin, OKX, Gate, Bybit, and Bitfinex all list GLM. Coinbase and Kraken offer the deepest US fiat liquidity. Compare withdrawal fees and confirm the venue supports both the Ethereum and Polygon networks for withdrawals. Our exchange ratings compare the leading options.
Pass identity verification. KYC on regulated platforms usually clears in under 10 minutes with a government ID and a selfie. Some venues let users withdraw small GLM balances without full verification.
Fund the account and place the order. Bank transfers (ACH, SEPA) cost the least at 1 to 3 business days. Cards are instant but cost 2 to 4%. Stablecoin deposits (USDC, USDT) settle in minutes for a single network fee. A limit order beats a market order on GLM, since spreads can widen during quiet hours.
Withdraw to a self-custody wallet. MetaMask, Rabby, and Ledger Live all handle GLM as a standard ERC-20. Withdraw on Polygon if the goal is to use GLM as a requestor or provider, since most active payment settlement happens there. Withdraw on Ethereum if the goal is long-term cold storage with a Ledger.
Optional: run yagna. Providers install the yagna daemon, register a wallet, and start accepting jobs. Requestors install the SDK, write a small Python or JavaScript script, and submit work. Both flows are documented on the official Golem handbook and are the only way to actually use GLM as compute payment instead of a passive holding.
Always send a small test transaction first when moving large balances between an exchange and a self-custody wallet. Mixing up the Ethereum and Polygon networks during a withdrawal is the most common way GLM gets stuck in support queues.
Risks of holding Golem
GLM carries a different risk shape than a layer-1 store-of-value token. The compute marketplace category is crowded with newer networks, the project no longer has the brand momentum it had in 2017, and adoption growth has been steady rather than explosive even during the AI cycle.
Competitive pressure. Akash, Render, Bittensor, io.net, Aethir, and several pre-token networks all target slices of the same DePIN compute pie. Golem’s 9-year head start no longer guarantees it the largest share of the next wave of demand.
Adoption pace. Task volume on Golem has grown but not at the pace investors expected after the 2020 rewrite. Without a clear acceleration, GLM trades more on sector rotation than on its own fundamentals.
Tokenomics ceiling. A fixed 1 billion supply with no staking and no fee burn means token demand depends almost entirely on people buying GLM to pay for compute. Speculative demand drives most of the actual price action.
Ethereum dependency. GLM lives on Ethereum and Polygon. ETH gas spikes and Polygon outages both hit Golem usage directly, with no workaround inside the protocol itself.
Brand and narrative drift. Golem was the original "decentralized supercomputer" narrative. Newer projects market harder, run faster token launches, and own the AI-compute mindshare on crypto Twitter. That is real risk for an OG token holder.
Drawdown. GLM (and legacy GNT) printed multi-cycle highs near $1.30 in 2017 and again near $0.80 in 2021, then gave back 80% to 90% in the following bear markets. Position sizes should assume similar retracements remain on the table.
This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to a licensed advisor before allocating real capital.
Golem price analysis
At the time of writing, Golem (GLM) trades at $0.139457, with a 24-hour trading volume of $7.67M and a total market capitalization of $139.35M. The asset is currently ranked #237 among all tracked cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Over the last 24 hours, the GLM price has rose +1.96%. On the seven-day chart, Golem has climbed +1.97%, showing consistent upward momentum across both timeframes. Short-term price swings are often amplified by liquidity conditions, news flow, and derivatives positioning, so traders should confirm signals across multiple indicators before acting.
Golem's all-time high of $1.32 was set on April 13, 2018. The current market price is +89.51% below that historical peak. Distance from the all-time high is a common reference point when evaluating long-term recoveries and identifying macro support or resistance levels.
How to buy Golem
Buying Golem (GLM) is straightforward once you know which exchange to use and which trading pair offers the best liquidity. The steps below describe the typical flow used by most investors today.
Choose a reputable exchange. Pick a platform that lists GLM with deep liquidity, transparent fees, and strong security practices. Our top-rated exchanges guide compares the leading venues side-by-side.
Create and verify your account.Complete the exchange's KYC process — most platforms require a government-issued ID and a short identity check. Verification is usually a one-time step that takes just a few minutes.
Deposit funds. Fund your account with fiat currency via bank transfer, card, or a stablecoin like USDT or USDC. Stablecoin deposits typically offer the fastest settlement and lowest fees.
Place a buy order. Navigate to the GLM/USD or GLM/USDT pair and either execute a market order for instant fills or set a limit order at your preferred entry price.
Secure your GLM. For long-term holdings, consider moving your tokens to a non-custodial wallet — a hardware device for the highest security, or a reputable software wallet for frequent access.
You can also use the built-in Golem converter above to estimate exactly how much GLM you would receive for a given amount in USD before placing an order.
Is Golem a good investment?
Whether Golem is a good investment depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility. Like all cryptocurrencies, GLM carries significant market risk — prices can rise or fall sharply in a single day, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Potential strengths
Ranked #237 by market cap with an established trading history and active exchange coverage.
Ongoing ecosystem development and community engagement, as reflected in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethereum Ecosystem sector activity.
Key risks to consider
Volatility: 24-hour moves of 5–15% are common in crypto markets.
Regulatory uncertainty: changes in policy across major jurisdictions can materially affect price and access.
Liquidity and custody risk: not all exchanges are equally safe, and self-custody requires careful key management.
This page provides data and analysis for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research, diversify, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
