2025 Annual Financial Overview & Network Milestones
As we look back at the Render Network ecosystem in 2025, we’re sharing a comprehensive overview of emissions, expenditures, and network usage across both Network operations and Foundation operations, along with key milestones that shaped the year.
In our midyear update, we revisited how the burn-mint equilibrium (BME) model works and addressed two recurring questions:
- What is the Foundation doing with emissions allocated to operations?
- Why are emissions front-loaded in the early years?
Those overviews remain relevant and can be found in our July monthly report. In this annual update, we build on that with a full-year view and context around how 2025 marked a pivotal year in the network’s evolution. With 2025 emissions totaling 5,637,150 RENDER, split evenly between Network operations and Foundation operations, outflows are summarized in a table, followed by contextual explainers.
We’ve also included net cumulative token balances through the end of 2025, for both Network operations at 4,636,925 RENDER and Foundation operations at 2,019,647 RENDER.
From immersive, large-scale artistic production to the launch of dedicated AI compute infrastructure called Dispersed, 2025 was foundational for what’s to come for Render Network.
Emissions Overview: January 1 — December 31, 2025
All figures below are denominated in RENDER unless otherwise noted.
Network Operations
Line items explained for 2025:
Accounting note: As noted at mid-year, small variances versus on-chain figures may occur due to accrual vs. cash accounting, with reconciliation in subsequent periods.
Takeaway:
Network operations in 2025 prioritized creator grants and node incentives while maintaining a surplus for future RNP initiatives.
Foundation Operations
Line items explained for 2025:
What “Provision of Services” covered in 2025:
- Protocol and software development
- Infrastructure maintenance
- Communications
- Marketing and growth initiatives (E.g. RenderCon, Breakpoint headline sponsorship, SUBMERGE)
- Business development and partnerships
- Grants administration
- Operations
- Risk and compliance
- Staff compensation
- Software and operating expenses
Takeaway:
Foundation operations expanded in 2025 to support both the core rendering network and new AI compute infrastructure via Dispersed.
As the network continues to grow, net surplus resources are deployed for sustained development and ecosystem growth.
Network Usage
Line items explained for 2025:
Takeaway:
Demand for decentralized GPU rendering continued to grow in 2025, reinforcing real-world utility of the network.
*Network operations are provided in USDC as well as RENDER to account for RENDER / USDC exchange fluctuations. This more closely reflects growth.
2025 Milestones: Scaling Creative & AI Compute
To contextualize the numbers, it’s worth recapping how 2025 marked a defining year for the Render Network’s capabilities and direction.
Submerge at ARTECHOUSE NYC
The Render Network Foundation sponsored SUBMERGE: Beyond the Render, an immersive exhibition held at ARTECHOUSE in New York City. This took place in two parts throughout 2025: an experimental launch in January and a more fully developed program in September.
SUBMERGE: Beyond the Render was the largest use of the Render Network across a single coordinated project to date:
- 16 artists
- 12 immersive 3D works
- Fully rendered on the Render Network’s distributed GPUs
This use of the network to power a multi-artist, large-scale immersive exhibition of this complexity showcased what the network has been capable of for some time, at commercial scale. The project demonstrated that decentralized GPU infrastructure can reliably support:
- Studio-grade commercial production
- Large-format immersive installations
- Independent artist experimentation
- Cross-disciplinary creative collaboration
SUBMERGE: Beyond the Render served as proof that decentralized compute is not just viable — it is production-ready at scale. Coverage across national and local New York city media, including PCMag, brought the Render Network to new audiences.
Launch of the Dispersed Network
2025 also marked the launch of Dispersed, a dedicated compute subnet by the people beyond the Render Network, designed to support emerging AI workloads.
Built with more than five years of operational experience running a distributed GPU rendering network, Dispersed represents the next phase of infrastructure evolution: purpose-built compute capacity for AI-enabled and general compute workflows.
While still in its early stages, initial integrations and testing in 2025 laid the groundwork for expanded case studies in 2026, including creative-AI convergence projects such as The Bitmap by artist MHX, which demonstrates how decentralized GPU infrastructure can support generative image and video pipelines.
The launch of Dispersed signals a long-term strategic direction: positioning decentralized GPU infrastructure at the intersection of creativity and AI. It’s still early days for both Dispersed and the AI industry; the next few years are expected to generate new opportunities and growth for both.
AI-Enabled Product Development
In parallel, ecosystem partners including OTOY continued expanding AI-focused tools such as OTOY Studio and Canvas, early indicators of how rendering and generative AI workflows may increasingly converge.
These early experiments in 2025 are setting the stage for:
- AI-assisted 3D content creation
- Generative image and video pipelines
- Hybrid rendering + AI compute workloads
We believe this convergence will drive sustained demand across both the core rendering network and the Dispersed network in 2026 and beyond.
Looking Ahead
2025 was a year of experimentation, product expansion, continued growth in network usage, and foundational infrastructure expansion. It was also a year where teams were brought on to build internal processes and discipline to manage growth into the future in a responsible, performance-based manner.
In order to sustainably and consistently deliver narratives of emerging models of decentralization, internal discipline is key to ensuring marketing and growth initiatives are iterated and optimized.
Key themes from 2025 that carry over into 2026:
- Thoughtful, measured spending of front-loaded emissions
- Continued surplus available for reinvestment for long-term, category-building initiatives
- Sustained network demand despite macro volatility
- Demonstrated capability at immersive, large-scale production
- Entry into dedicated AI compute infrastructure
As AI application development accelerates globally, demand for GPU compute is expected to grow for years to come. Specifically in 2026, we hypothesize the convergence of AI and traditional media will play an increasingly important role in compute access. We expect to be able to support this via both the Render Network and Dispersed.
By continuing to invest in decentralized infrastructure — both for rendering and AI workloads — the Render Network is positioning itself to compete in a rapidly evolving compute landscape in 2026 and beyond.
We will continue to share transparent updates as growth programs mature and as new initiatives move from experimentation to production scale.
Onward into 2026.
