Six Months of MainNet

Gonka's MainNet launched on August 22, 2025 with version v0.2.0. Six months later, the network has gone through 24 releases and the protocol has changed substantially. This post collects the key numbers as of February 2026.

Release Cadence

From v0.0.1-alpha2 (August 2025) to v0.2.10 (February 17, 2026), the team has shipped 24 releases. That averages out to roughly one release every 10 days, though the actual cadence varies between 2-4 weeks depending on the scope of changes.

The release numbering tells a story:

  • v0.0.x — Pre-MainNet alpha builds (Aug 2025)
  • v0.1.x — Early MainNet stabilization (Sep-Nov 2025)
  • v0.2.x — Current series with PoC improvements, IBC upgrades, and SDK expansion (Dec 2025-present)

Each release follows the same process: code freeze, testnet deployment, validator verification, on-chain governance proposal, and MainNet activation. No release skips testnet.

GitHub Activity

The main gonka-ai/gonka repository has accumulated 380 stars as of mid-February 2026. The gonka-ai organization hosts 9 public repositories covering:

  • Core blockchain node (gonka)
  • SDKs for Python, TypeScript, Go, Rust, and Java
  • Documentation
  • Deployment tooling
  • Bridge contracts

The 43 open issues on the main repo serve as a public roadmap. They range from protocol-level changes (new consensus parameters, model switching logic) to SDK improvements (batch endpoints, embedding support) and infrastructure work (monitoring dashboards, node operator tooling).

Community Bounties

The bounty program has been active since late 2025. Contributors submit pull requests, and accepted contributions receive GNK token payments. In the v0.2.10 release alone, approximately 29,700 GNK was distributed across community contributors.

This is not a grant program with applications and committees. The process is direct: pick an issue, submit a PR, get it reviewed and merged, receive payment. Bounty amounts are set per issue based on complexity.

Network Architecture Numbers

The current network runs with:

  • Qwen3-235B-A22B as the primary inference model (235B total parameters, 22B active per forward pass)
  • vLLM as the inference backend on ML Nodes
  • IBC v8.7.0 for cross-chain communication
  • Cosmos SDK base with custom PoC consensus module
  • 3,000-block grace period (~5 hours) for MainNet upgrades

What the Numbers Suggest

A release every 10 days across 6 months signals active development, not stability theater. The 43 open issues indicate a growing scope — early issues focused on basic chain operations, while recent ones target cross-chain bridges, SDK ergonomics, and economic parameter tuning.

The 380 GitHub stars are modest compared to larger blockchain projects, but appropriate for a protocol that launched its MainNet only six months ago. The 9 public repos reflect a deliberate expansion from a single-repo project to a multi-component ecosystem.

The bounty numbers — 29,700 GNK in a single release — show that community contributions are not token gestures. Contributors are doing meaningful work on core protocol code, which is unusual for a chain at this stage.

Looking Ahead

The Ethereum bridge is currently being audited by CertiK. Once the audit completes and the bridge goes live on MainNet, cross-chain token transfers will open a new chapter of network activity. The next set of stats should look quite different.