Topics Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Sahara AI (SAHARA): Redefining AI ownership for the people

Intermediate
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Explainers
Altcoins
30 Th06 2025

In today’s tech landscape, artificial intelligence remains largely under the control of a few major corporations. Most advanced models and datasets are centralized — locked behind proprietary systems, expensive APIs and closed platforms — limiting who can build, customize and benefit from AI advancements. This concentration has crippled diversity and transparency, creating barriers for developers, entrepreneurs and communities.

Sahara AI is changing this narrative by promoting decentralized AI ownership through blockchain technology. It empowers individuals to contribute and access AI models within a collaborative economy model. 

By pooling resources such as computational power, data and expertise, participants collectively train and govern AI tools. In return, they share in the rewards, ensuring value flows back to the community — rather than to a handful of corporations. In doing so, Sahara AI opens AI development to new voices, fosters open innovation and builds a more equitable AI ecosystem.

Let’s explore Sahara AI further and learn why it could be the catalyst for opening AI to the masses.

Key Takeaways:

  • Sahara AI is an AI-native blockchain platform designed to provide AI creators and users with a transparent and accessible way to build and earn from AI.

  • Its key features include a Data Services Platform (DSP), an AI Developer platform, an AI-native blockchain (Sahara Blockchain) and the Sahara AI Marketplace (available on beta).

  • You can buy the Sahara AI crypto token (SAHARA) on Bybit as a USDT Spot pair or a USDT Perpetual contract.

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What is Sahara AI?

Sahara AI is a blockchain-based, decentralized AI platform designed to provide an inclusive, transparent, monetized and secure ecosystem for creating high-value AI assets.

Sahara AI addresses the barriers that have prevented access for many to the resources necessary to build and develop AI assets. Control of resources, such as AI models and data sets, is in the hands of a few larger corporations, which has restricted access and hampered AI innovation through AI.

Powered by the Sahara Layer 1 blockchain, Sahara AI provides a permissionless framework and decentralized platform on which AI users can access the resources needed throughout the AI development process.

At the heart of its decentralization mission, Sahara AI believes in transparency, which is achieved through the Sahara DAO. Supported by the Sahara Foundation, this decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) promotes a fully decentralized governance system whereby its community is empowered to contribute significantly to the platform through proposals, discussions and voting.

Apart from facilitating the creation and operation of the Sahara DAO, the Sahara Foundation is also mandated to identify long-term development strategies and provide structured assistance as the project rolls out.

How does Sahara AI work?

Sahara AI is guided by three core pillars: sovereignty and provenance via decentralized governance, AI utility via usability and performance and collaborative economy through fair compensation.

Based on these three pillars, every participant can contribute to, collaborate with and benefit from the platform. They provide the foundation on which the ecosystem’s framework is built, a multi-layered architecture designed to decentralize the creation of, access to and ownership of artificial intelligence.

Rather than relying on siloed systems run by centralized entities, Sahara AI distributes value and control across a community-driven ecosystem. Its layered design enables seamless interaction between users, developers and AI models, fueling a truly collaborative AI economy.

Sahara AI architecture

At the core of Sahara AI’s architecture is a powerful synergy between the following four interconnected layers, each one playing a vital role in managing data, compute power, model training and deployment.

Application Layer

This layer serves as the primary interface for interacting with the Sahara AI platform. Whether you’re a seasoned or beginning developer, this layer will provide the tools you need for your AI development journey.

 Some of its key components include:

  • Sahara ID for identity management and secure access

  • Sahara Vaults for storing and managing your AI assets

  • Sahara Agents, consisting of AI agent entities

  • Sahara Toolkits, which are tools needed for developing and deploying AI assets, such as the Sahara SDK and API

  • Sahara AI Marketplace, which acts as a hub for publishing and monetizing your AI assets

Transaction Layer

This is the layer that fuels the Sahara AI platform. Powered by the Sahara Blockchain, it processes all transactions and ensures everything is recorded and verified.

Its key components are as follows:

  • Sahara Blockchain — This is a high-throughput, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that uses the Tendermint Byzantine fault–tolerant consensus algorithm to ensure Sahara AI’s efficient, scalable, secure and interoperable operation.

  • Sahara AI-Native Precompiles (SAPs) — These are precompiled smart contracts for training and inferencing, designed to optimize efficiency when building AI assets. They help ensure low gas fees and reduced computational overhead for developers.

  • Sahara Blockchain Protocols (SBPs) — These are the smart contracts that manage the entire life cycle of the AI asset development process. They track contributions and issue rewards, manage registration of AI assets, control access to the AI assets and maintain on-chain records of ownership.

Data Layer

Building AI assets requires vast amounts of data. The Data Layer on Sahara AI manages the large amounts of data needed when developing using AI. It provides data management through advanced encryption for security, ensuring data is available by indexing and providing data storage solutions for on-chain and off-chain data.

Execution Layer

This is Sahara AI's off-chain AI infrastructure. It supports all AI functions and uses cloud and decentralized resources to handle everything from training models to running AI tools.

The Execution Layer also includes key features such as AI agents, data vaults and special protocols that let people collaborate on building and using AI. It uses tools like encryption and fraud detection to keep data private and secure. The Execution Layer is the engine that makes Sahara AI's decentralized system work efficiently.

The Collaborative AI economy

The Collaborative AI economy is a model pioneered by Sahara AI that shifts the value of AI technology from centralized tech giants to everyday users and contributors. Instead of relying on closed systems and limited access, Sahara AI builds an open ecosystem in which individuals can participate in and benefit from developing, training and deploying AI prototypes.

Rewards are distributed as Sahara Points (SP), which reflect a user's contributions. Users can earn these rewards by participating in Sahara AI's Data Services Platform (DSP) and AI Developer Platform. Those who are deemed high-quality contributors also receive additional seasonal SP bonuses and public recognition as they climb the leaderboard.

The result is a decentralized, community-driven AI ecosystem in which value is distributed fairly, innovation is democratized and contributors have a real stake in the AI systems they help create. It's a future of AI ownership that includes everyone — not just major tech companies.

Sahara AI key features

Sahara AI is feature-packed to provide value and utility to different stakeholders in the AI lifecycle, especially developers looking to build AI systems and assets. The Sahara AI ecosystem provides the tools needed to build an AI-focused future. To accomplish this goal, it consists of the following key features.

Sahara Blockchain infrastructure

The Sahara Blockchain, one of the components of the Transaction Layer on Sahara AI, is a Layer 1 blockchain that powers every aspect of Sahara AI. Core products fueled by this blockchain include the Data Services Platform, the AI Developer platform, the AI marketplace and the Sahara Legends (reward-filled gaming experience).

The first phase of the Sahara Blockchain was through a private testnet that attracted many developers. Now, the project has rolled out the SIWA Testnet, the first public rollout of the Sahara Blockchain. Through SIWA, web3 developers can deploy Sahara AI's smart contracts, integrate their SDKs and APIs and monitor network activity in real time.

The Sahara Blockchain is EVM-compatible, meaning developers can easily deploy their smart contracts across various Ethereum-compatible networks with little or no code modification. It uses a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism consisting of the Tendermint Byzantine algorithm, ensuring high throughput and fault tolerance.

In addition to the Sahara Blockchain, Sahara AI’s off-chain infrastructure consists of AI Execution Protocols. This infrastructure powers the creation, configuration and deployment of AI agents in real time, and ensures that AI agents have the necessary tools and structures to function efficiently.

Data Services Platform (DSP)

The Data Services Platform (DSP) on Sahara AI rewards everyday people for participating in data tasks in real-world AI ecosystems. Anyone can earn rewards by logging into the platform and completing different training data tasks — for example, reviewing images, text or audio, or offering opinions on dating behaviors.

Once you complete tasks on DSP, you'll receive Sahara Points (SP) for your contributions, based on the complexity of the tasks. The points are divided into two categories: Base Points for every data task completed, and Bonus Points for completing more complex tasks.

You can track your progress on a dashboard on the home page of the platform, where you'll find info about the number of tasks you've completed, your rank and rewards and much more.

AI Developer Platform

The AI Developer Platform (formerly known as the AI Studio) is dedicated for developers with AI development tools, such as the Sahara AI agent builder needed to build, test and deploy AI assets. You can access data to build AI agents, fine-tune prompts for AI model training processes, launch models and AI agents and even track their progress.

The AI Developer platform is powered by the Sahara Blockchain, and is available only through a whitelist. Early testers on the platform earn credits, Sahara Points and other exclusive benefits.

Sahara AI Marketplace

The Sahara AI Marketplace is a hub for buying, selling or trading AI assets, such as datasets, AI models and AI agents. Buyers can access these high-quality assets in order to accelerate their AI development. Sellers (such as developers) can also monetize their creations and earn through a revenue-sharing model.

Powered by the Sahara Blockchain, the Sahara AI marketplace provides a secure and transparent way to own, monetize and track your AI assets.

What is the Sahara AI crypto token (SAHARA)?

SAHARA is the native token of the Sahara AI platform. It powers all of the platform’s functions, ensuring seamless value exchange among all stakeholders.

The SAHARA token’s core utilities are as follows:

  • AI asset and licensing access — Allows users to access licensed datasets in order to interact with the AI models on the platform

  • Per-Inference payments — Used to pay for every inference for AI agents

  • Network operations — Used to pay for all gas fees needed when operating on the network

  • Network security — Holders can stake their SAHARA tokens to act as validators and secure the network

  • Ecosystem incentives — Used to reward early contributors who have earned Sahara Points and made high-quality contributions to the platform

  • Governance — Token holders can vote on various governance matters through the Sahara AI DAO

The Sahara AI token was launched on Jun 25,2025, with distribution as shown below:

Sahara AI token distribution

Source: Sahara AI

Where to buy the Sahara AI crypto token (SAHARA)

SAHARA is available on Bybit as a USDT Spot pair and as a Perpetual contract. To buy SAHARA on Bybit, register and complete KYC on Bybit, then fund your account with USDT. Now, you're ready to make your first trade.

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Closing thoughts

Sahara AI represents a bold and timely shift in the way artificial intelligence is created, accessed and owned. By decentralizing AI development and empowering a global community of contributors, it disrupts the traditional gatekeeping of major tech corporations.

Using innovative tools like the Data Services Platform, Sahara AI rewards users for their input and fosters a collaborative environment in which data, computation and creativity drive value.

Whether you're a developer, data contributor or AI enthusiast, Sahara AI opens the door to meaningful participation in an open-source, transparent AI economy. As its platform continues to evolve — through its blockchain infrastructure, developer tools and emerging token economy — it holds the potential to redefine how we build and benefit from AI operations in the years ahead.

If you're looking for a future in which AI belongs to the people, Sahara AI is a project worth watching — and contributing to.

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