On the web, nobody takes a website's word for who it is. A certificate authority vouches for it, and the padlock in the browser shows that it did. Billions of dollars now sit in loans and tokens backed by data-center GPUs, and those GPUs have nothing like it: the lender checks them once, from invoices and a site visit, and after that relies largely on what the borrower reports. We wrote about how that works, and where it stops, in How lenders verify GPU collateral.
Paralon Proof is our answer: a certificate authority for GPUs. It shows, live and from the servers themselves, that the GPUs behind a loan are there, are the ones that were financed, and work.
Proof of silicon
Crypto exchanges publish proof of reserves so that anyone can check that the coins they hold exist. We call the same idea for hardware proof of silicon: evidence, from the machines themselves, that the GPUs a loan, a token or a capacity claim rests on exist and work. A balance sheet says the GPUs were bought. Proof of silicon says they are still there today.
What it shows
For each loan, one view of every GPU behind it:
- Present: every financed card is there, checked every minute, not once at closing.
- The one financed: each card matched to the list that was financed. A card missing or swapped is an alert that hour, not a finding at the next audit.
- Measured, not declared: every card made to do work and measured on the card itself, so it is known by what it delivers, not by the name it reports.
- Online: a server that stops answering is known within minutes.
- Signed, and checkable: every report signed; once a day, a facility's reports become one proof published onchain, which a lending contract can read and anyone can check any report against.
And if a borrower stops paying, the same servers can rent on the Paralon marketplace where they stand, by the minute, as spot capacity, or kept private for buyers the lender chooses. Collateral that would sit idle earns while the lender decides.
What is live, and what the pilot adds
We say this plainly because the difference matters to anyone who lends money on it.
Live today, on every Paralon node. Every GPU is measured before it serves, again after every reboot, after each rental and daily when idle (how). Each machine has one identity and cannot be registered twice. Every server reports every minute. For capacity rented through Paralon, we know the revenue to the minute, because we bill it.
In the pilot, built with the first partners. The same view for GPUs that never rent through Paralon, matching every GPU to the financed list, signed reports, alerts on the terms of the loan with a monthly report to file, and the daily proof onchain with a feed per facility. We are building these with the first lenders and protocols, around what their loan terms actually test, rather than guessing at it.
Who it is for
- Lenders and private credit funds that hold a lien on GPUs and want to see the collateral, not a report about it.
- Onchain protocols that tokenize GPU loans and need an oracle for hardware a smart contract cannot see.
- Neoclouds and GPU data centers that want to prove the capacity they sell, to their lenders and their customers alike, with a public proof page and a badge for their site.
What it does not claim
Not what the hardware is worth. Proof says a GPU is there and works. What it is worth is a valuation, and stays with the firms that do valuations.
Not revenue earned elsewhere. We know the revenue of capacity rented through Paralon. What a borrower earns outside it is shown as declared, next to what the machines show.
Not that a busy GPU is a paid one. Utilisation shows a card at work, not who pays for the work.
Not an official status. "Certificate authority for GPUs" is a comparison with the web, describing what Paralon Proof does. Nobody appointed us, and we would rather earn the name than claim it.
Join the pilot
Bring one facility. Write to [email protected] with the hardware, where it runs and what your loan terms test, and we will set up the first one with you. Everything else is on the Paralon Proof page.
Frequently asked questions
What is Paralon Proof?
A live view of GPU collateral, read from the servers themselves: every GPU behind a loan present, the one that was financed, online and measured, with signed reports, alerts on the terms of the loan and, for tokenized loans, a daily proof published onchain. The measurement is live on every Paralon node; the collateral features are in pilot.
What is proof of silicon?
Our name for proof of reserves applied to hardware: evidence, from the machines themselves, that the GPUs a loan, a token or a capacity claim rests on exist and work. A balance sheet says the GPUs were bought; proof of silicon says they are still there today.
Is Paralon an official certificate authority?
No. A certificate authority for GPUs is a comparison with the web, where a certificate authority vouches that a site is who it says it is. It describes what Paralon Proof does, not an official or regulatory status.
Does the borrower have to rent the GPUs through Paralon?
No. The collateral keeps running the borrower's own work or their customers'. Renting spare capacity through Paralon is an option, and the only case in which we can also show revenue.
How do I join the pilot?
Write to [email protected] with the hardware, where it runs and what your loan terms test. We set up the first facility with you.
