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Render Network Foundation Monthly Report — April 2025

8 min readMay 14, 2025

Key metrics, governance updates, events, partnerships, and other activities across the Render Network ecosystem that took place in April 2025.

So much is happening in the Render Network ecosystem that we decided to publish a monthly report covering the highlights. Our hope at the Render Network Foundation is that this helps us communicate updates more regularly with the community.

Below is our first monthly report. It covers key network metrics, governance updates, partnerships, foundation news, product updates, artist spotlights, and what’s coming up.

Your feedback is encouraged and appreciated. You’ll find all the ways to get in touch with us at our website, renderfoundation.com.

Ecosystem metrics

The Render Network Foundation tracks various metrics on its network. Below is the aggregate view of this month’s activity, last month’s activity, and month-over-month change for a few key metrics. Much of this information is found at stats.renderfoundation.com.

Glossary

Frames rendered — number of frames rendered by the network.

Burns — the USDC equivalent of Render tokens burned on the network. Additional burn and mint data and details of the burn and mint equilibrium model (BME).

Emissions — RENDER tokens minted, for the month per the emissions schedule for BME.

Payments to nodes — payments made, in RENDER tokens, to GPU operators on the network whose GPUs were used to complete rendering jobs.

Payments for availability — payments made, in RENDER tokens, to GPU operators who made their GPUs available to the network.

Total payments — the sum of payments made to GPU node operators for rendering and availability.

Governance updates

RNP-019 — Render Compute Network

April saw a new, distinct emissions and rewards framework proposed by the Render Network Foundation and a newly formed partner, RenderLabs, to support emerging general and AI-related compute use cases on the Render Network.

The Render Compute Network will be distinct from the longstanding rendering network used by artists for 3D graphic creation.

The goal of the proposal is to expand the network’s use in support of increasingly relevant AI-related use cases, including offline and edge machine learning, inferencing, and other tasks for generative AI models, agentic platform development, and more.

The proposal was amended after it failed to pass the first go-around, passing the second initial voting round on April 19th and then finalized on April 30th, 2025.

Detailed specs, including hardware and bandwidth requirements, are outlined in the RNP-019.

Partnerships

In April we announced strategic partnerships with two key AI compute organizations: The Manifest Network and THINK. They will both be working to make use of the Render Network’s distributed consumer-grade GPUs.

The Manifest Network will handle secure CPU compute and data persistence, while the Render Network will deliver low-latency compute using its GPU network. This approach offers startups like Jember a cost-effective alternative to centralized cloud providers for scaling AI workflows.

The partnership leverages the complementary strengths of both networks. The Manifest Network is designed for regulated, high-assurance applications requiring robust data governance, while the Render Network’s infrastructure delivers scalable consumer-grade compute prioritizing affordability and speed, making it ideal for tasks which can leverage its large distributed network. Together, they provide clients with a modular and flexible compute stack through a trusted decentralized network.

THINK has developed the Think Agent Standard, a framework for builders to create intelligent, on-chain AI agents to transact and communicate. It’s a modular, permissionless, and composable system that aims to unlock applications across compute, inference, and trusted execution environments. They would run next-generation AI models on the Render Compute Network.

These partners, and others, will be powered by the newly approved emissions framework for the Render Compute Network as outlined in RNP-019.

At the Render Network Foundation’s inaugural RenderCon (more on that below), both of these partners, along with Simulon, Intelligent Internet, and others shared their vision for supporting the next generation of AI products and services, powered by the Render Network.

Product updates

The Render Network recently expanded its support and integrations, including the public beta of Blender Cycles rendering, now live on the network. Check out the Blender Cycles article in the Render Network Knowledge Base to learn more.

A comprehensive set of video tutorials can help you get started.

Development for Blender Octane and Arnold support is actively underway. A new “Download with Desktop App” button was added to the Render Web Console, allowing for faster, one-click migration of finished renders into the Render Network Download Manager App.

Additionally, the Render Network’s AI tools have been enhanced with custom image and custom video inputs, alongside the integration of the Ray 2 Flash video model for faster, high-quality generative video outputs.

Ecosystem/Community

In the News

RenderCon, April 15th, 2025

The Render Network Foundation held its inaugural one-day conference, RenderCon, in Hollywood, California on April 15th. The event brought together artists, creators, community members, and thought leaders from across disciplines to share the latest trends in media, technology, and art.

Various keynotes and panels covered topics from GPU rendering to filmmaking, product design, VFX, virtual production, and immersive media.

Group photo at RenderCon 2025

Attendees were treated to in-depth conversations on the latest developments in AI technologies, workflows, and IP provenance tools. Catch up on the highlights and watch the recorded sessions.

The event was covered by multiple media outlets, including the Denoised podcast, and news site DigitalLA.

Render Network Foundation team updates

This month we also welcomed Silvia Lacayo as the foundation’s head of marketing and communications.

We’re also delighted that Luke Duncan has been promoted to the role of Community and Governance Manager after four years as a moderator for the Render Network.

Learn more about these team updates.

The Solana Breakout Online Hackathon

April 14th-May 16th, 2025

This online hackathon from Solana, organized by Colosseum, encourages builders across the world to build a crypto startup on the Solana ecosystem. In addition to cash prizes, winners also have a chance to join the Colosseum accelerator program.

The Render Network is sponsoring the virtual contest’s DePIN track. Builders interested in creating real-world decentralized infrastructure are encouraged to compete in the DePIN track which has a top prize of $25,000.

The contest ends May 16th, 2025. There’s still time to participate.

Learn more at colosseum.org/breakout.

Artist spotlight

Every year artists use the Render Network for largescale productions. A notable event in April was Coachella, where not one, but three artists produced visuals that were either part of a performance or assisted with the development of sets and lighting.

Ness_Graphics x M99 Studios

After creating visuals for Diplo’s 2019 Coachella set, Ness and M99 created stunning visuals for DJ Mustard’s 2025 set. Needless to say that it was outstanding.

Chelsea Evenstar and David Ariew

This power creative duo rendered the stained glass visual for musician and producer Zedd’s set at Coachella in April, which made headlines for featuring the LA Philharmonic in a stunning performance.

Kris Clemson x Lighting Design

Creating accurate lighting visualizations for concerts and events is a big part of the attendee experience. Kris produces some of the most realistic setups that help the set designers and other stakeholders understand how the light changes and affects the space.

Hardron Founders Club x Polygon x AggLayer

A new 12,000sqft campus in Dubai was designed and built with the assistance of Render-power-user, Kyle Gordon, who utilized Render Network during the design phase. The state of the art community space was created from scratch and is aimed specifically at the web3 community for events and office space.

MHX x RENDER API — Redefining Generative 3D with Houdini and Render Network

Motion designer and 3D generalist MHX joined Sunny from the Render Network Foundation to talk about his journey from Cinema 4D to Houdini, his love for data-driven design, and how he scaled his onchain art project “Zen Blocks” with the power of decentralized rendering. From automating thousands of frames to building generative sculptures from wallet activity, MHX shared how the Render Network’s API unlocked a whole new creative pipeline — without compromise.

Watch our interview with MHX.

What’s coming up

The Render Compute Network — recruiting nodes and test partners

With the passing of RNP-019, our goal is to recruit an initial cohort of node operators to get started. We’ll also be teaming up with interested partners who are ready to test out the Render Compute Network for AI-related tasks as they build their applications.

If you’re interested in partnering with us to see how affordable, scalable, and modular decentralized compute can help your business, reach out at compute@renderfoundation.com.

For those interested in joining the first cohort of node operators, a waitlist will open soon. Stay tuned!

Render Royale: The Premier Monthly 3D Contest

Hosted by the Render Network Foundation, Render Royale is open to digital artists using Redshift, Octane Render, or Blender Cycles. The contest invites creators to submit their best work — rendered on the Render Network — for a chance to win cash prizes, gain recognition, and be part of a global showcase of talent.

Each month features a brand-new theme to inspire your imagination. May’s theme is ‘Fantasy Worlds.’ So fire up your render engine, dive into your dreamscape, and submit your scene by May 25th.

Enter now at renderfoundation.com/royale

Catch us at upcoming events

Find us at Solana Accelerate in New York City, May 19–23, 2025. Representatives from the Render Network Foundation will be attending.

We’ll be at Motion Plus Design, a curated motion design festival, in New York, June 14, 2025 and Paris, November 8, 2025.

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Render Network
Render Network

Written by Render Network

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