Golem (GLM) Price

GLM is the ERC-20 utility token of the Golem network and the settlement currency used when requestors rent providers' computing resources. Requestors submit work that requires computation, while providers supply hardware resources; fees generated by the service are paid to providers in GLM. Therefore, GLM's protocol-level role is not to represent ownership of a computing resource, but to connect the payer and service provider in a resource-rental relationship. Providers can also earn GLM by making hardware available to the network and completing resource rentals.

In Golem, requestors use GLM to purchase computing resources made available by providers, and providers receive GLM for resources they actually provide. Payment corresponds to the resource-rental service rather than a uniform subscription fee charged by the network. This means GLM usage depends on whether requestors initiate work, which providers they enter into resource rentals with, and how much service is actually consumed; holding GLM itself does not mean automatically obtaining computing resources or provider income.

GNT is the historical token used by Golem earlier; GLM is the ERC-20-compatible token introduced through a subsequent migration. Golem began the migration in late 2020 to allow payments to use Layer 2 solutions and to integrate more easily with decentralized trading and DeFi tools. The migration still allows holders to convert at 1 GNT : 1 GLM. The current Golem network uses GLM for peer-to-peer transactions, so the old GNT and the asset currently used for network settlement should not be confused.

GLM has a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens, the same as GNT's maximum supply. The GNT-to-GLM conversion ratio is 1:1, so this is an equal-amount migration: each 1 GNT converted corresponds to 1 GLM, rather than adding an extra unit. Therefore, unmigrated GNT and the corresponding GLM received through migration should not be added together and treated as two separate supplies; they are part of the same migration arrangement, and GLM's stated maximum supply remains 1 billion tokens.

Golem uses a pay-as-you-go model. Providers and requestors first agree on pricing coefficients, and fees can include items such as activity startup, activity runtime, and processor time; providers can request payment only after recording actual usage. At the end of an individual agreement, the provider can issue a consolidated invoice based on recorded usage, and the requestor pays in GLM after accepting it. Longer agreements can also make interim payments at pre-agreed intervals; providers also send debit notes recording accumulated costs, and if the requestor does not accept before the timeout, the provider may terminate the agreement to avoid continuing to accumulate uncovered costs. In addition to service fees, the requestor must bear the transaction fees of the selected on-chain payment platform.

tGLM is a simulated token on the Golem test network, intended only for development and testing, and has no real-world value. GLM is the ERC-20 token used for resource rentals and peer-to-peer transactions in the production environment. The difference lies in the applicable network and purpose: developers can use tGLM to run and validate applications on a test chain, but it cannot be treated as GLM usable for settlement on the production network, and a test-token balance should not be used to infer a real GLM balance.