Althea ALTHEAPrice $ 0.251

Althea is a decentralized internet service infrastructure that enables community-owned ISP networks powered by blockchain technology. It operates through a pay-per-forward system where routers and nodes automatically pay one another for bandwidth, allowing individuals who host equipment or relay traffic to earn income for providing connectivity.

The network runs on the Althea Layer-1 blockchain, built using the Cosmos SDK with EVM compatibility, optimized for fast, low-cost micropayments using stablecoins. These on-chain payments handle real-time billing and routing between users, relays, and gateways without centralized intermediaries. Althea’s architecture includes user nodes, relay nodes, gateway nodes, and exit nodes, which together form a fully decentralized internet access framework.

The project also introduces “Liquid Infrastructure,” a tokenization model that lets real-world assets like fiber networks or cell towers be owned collectively and generate on-chain revenue streams. Governance is managed through Subnet DAOs and the ALTHEA token, which supports validator incentives, upgrades, and protocol decisions.