In a landmark development at the intersection of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, on-chain lending protocol USD.AI has approved a monumental $500 million loan facility for Australian AI infrastructure provider Sharon AI. This transaction, first reported by The Block in November 2024, represents one of the largest blockchain-based financings in AI history and signals a major shift in how technology companies access capital for hardware-intensive operations.
The loan will directly support Sharon AI's ambitious GPU deployment expansion across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The company plans to utilize the facility immediately, beginning with an initial $65 million GPU acquisition scheduled for completion this quarter. This strategic move comes as global demand for AI computing power surges, with NVIDIA recently reporting a 265% year-over-year increase in data center revenue.
USD.AI operates as a specialized blockchain-based lending platform designed for AI startups facing barriers in traditional financial systems. The protocol's innovative model provides loans collateralized by tokenized GPU assets, creating a transparent and efficient financing mechanism. This addresses critical pain points: traditional banks often hesitate to finance rapidly depreciating hardware, while venture capital prefers equity in software over debt for hardware.
The protocol converts physical GPU assets into digital tokens on the blockchain, enabling transparent valuation and creating liquid collateral. This approach has gained traction among AI infrastructure providers in regions with less developed venture capital ecosystems, including Australia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe.
Industry experts view the transaction as a potential blueprint for future AI infrastructure financing. Dr. Eleanor Vance, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne's Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, stated: "This deal demonstrates how blockchain technology can solve real-world financing problems in the AI sector. The tokenization of GPU assets creates a new asset class that combines the stability of physical hardware with the liquidity of digital assets."
The timing coincides with increasing global competition for AI supremacy. Australia has positioned itself as an emerging AI hub, with the government announcing a $1.2 billion investment in AI capabilities through its Digital Economy Strategy. Sharon AI's expansion, facilitated by the USD.AI loan, could significantly enhance Australia's position in the global AI landscape.
USD.AI employs sophisticated risk management, maintaining conservative loan-to-value ratios between 50-70% of the tokenized asset's assessed worth. The protocol implements automated monitoring systems that track GPU performance metrics in real-time. Sharon AI will deploy the newly acquired GPUs across data center locations in Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore, with approximately 40% of the new capacity pre-committed by enterprise clients in financial services, healthcare, and scientific research.
