Introduction

VirtEngine is a secure, transparent, and decentralized cloud computing marketplace that connects those who need computing resources (tenants) with those that have computing capacity to lease (providers).

Instead of a central operator setting prices and controlling access, the marketplace runs as a public blockchain: orders, bids, leases, usage records, and payments are all protocol state, validated by a decentralized set of validators and settled without an intermediary.

The VirtEngine Suite

The VirtEngine Suite is the reference implementation of the VirtEngine Protocol described in patent AU2024203136B2. It is composed of a single binary, virtengine, which contains:

• a CometBFT-powered blockchain node implementing the decentralized exchange, and
• client functionality to access the exchange and network data in general.

The chain is built on the Cosmos SDK, with the marketplace, identity, economics, and infrastructure logic implemented as 27 custom modules under x/ — see the module map for the full inventory.

What runs where

Layer	Component	Role
On-chain	virtengine node	Orders, bids, leases, escrow, settlement, identity, governance
Off-chain	Provider daemon	Deploys workloads, meters usage, signs and submits usage reports
Off-chain	HPC node agents	Report node health/capacity from SLURM/MOAB clusters
Client	CLI / SDK / portal	Create deployments, submit jobs, query network state

Lineage and license

VirtEngine is written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0. The repository includes some source code derived from the Akash Network decentralized cloud infrastructure marketplace; VirtEngine extends that lineage with identity (VEID), HPC scheduling, settlement/dispute pipelines, fraud and audit systems, and its own economic modules.

Intellectual property notice

You are free to use, modify, and distribute the source code under the Apache License 2.0. However, certain methods, processes, and system architectures implemented in the codebase are protected by patent claims, including patent AU2024203136B2. The Apache 2.0 license grants a patent license only to the extent of the contributions made by the patent holder to the project. Reproducing or deploying the patented methods outside the scope of that license may require separate authorization from the patent holder.

Network status

The repository ships active development from main. Mainnet launch preparation artifacts are checked in, and the recorded launch decision is planned for the January 2027 launch window. The network should not be described as live before formal launch confirmation — see Mainnet Launch Posture for details.

Where to next

• How the Marketplace Works — the full order → bid → lease → deploy → usage → settlement lifecycle.
• Architecture — chain, consensus, and module groups at a glance.
• Becoming a Provider or Tenant Overview — role-specific onboarding.