QumulusAI, a provider of GPU-powered cloud infrastructure for artificial intelligence, has announced a $500 million non-recourse financing facility arranged by Permian Labs and distributed through the USD.AI Protocol. The financing structure marks a milestone in the use of blockchain-based credit markets to scale AI infrastructure at a global level.
The new facility enables QumulusAI to finance up to 70% of approved GPU deployments using stablecoin liquidity from USD.AI’s blockchain-based credit marketplace. This model provides faster and more flexible access to capital compared to traditional bank or private credit financing, giving the company a non-dilutive pathway to scale its distributed AI infrastructure.
The partnership represents a significant evolution in how compute resources are financed. With global AI infrastructure demand expected to exceed $6.7 trillion by 2030, most available capital has remained concentrated among major hyperscalers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta. By contrast, USD.AI’s model creates a decentralized alternative that directly connects hardware operators like QumulusAI to on-chain sources of liquidity, enabling greater access to capital and transparency in financing.
Permian Labs, the developer behind USD.AI, created the financial and technical framework that underpins this model. The firm issues GPU Warehouse Receipt Tokens (GWRTs), which represent physical GPUs as financeable digital assets. These tokens can then be used as collateral within the USD.AI ecosystem, allowing operators to borrow stablecoin-based credit that is fully secured by underlying compute assets.
This mechanism not only gives AI infrastructure providers access to fast, non-dilutive financing, but also opens up new yield-generating opportunities for blockchain depositors who fund the credit pools. It effectively bridges institutional capital and decentralized finance (DeFi), channeling liquidity into real-world assets such as GPUs and data centers.
For QumulusAI, the financing facility provides the capital required to rapidly expand its distributed AI infrastructure network. The arrangement signals institutional confidence in the company’s integrated approach to building scalable AI supercomputing systems—combining high-performance cloud computing, purpose-built data centers, and controlled power generation under one operational model.
The transaction also underscores the growing adoption of tokenized financing models in the AI and infrastructure sectors. For Permian Labs and USD.AI, it highlights the increasing fusion of blockchain and institutional finance, using digital assets to fund tangible compute operations that power machine learning, research, and enterprise AI workloads.
QumulusAI delivers high-performance computing solutions optimized for AI training and inference workloads, targeting enterprises, research institutions, and startups that require scalable, cost-efficient GPU access. The company’s vertically integrated model focuses on improving cost control, energy reliability, and deployment flexibility for organizations seeking AI cloud solutions.
Permian Labs, meanwhile, continues to pioneer the connection between institutional capital and real-world AI infrastructure through blockchain innovation. Its USD.AI protocol is the world’s first decentralized credit market purpose-built for GPU-backed assets, designed to deliver instant settlement, deep liquidity, and scalable yields through its dual-token system of USDai (a stablecoin) and sUSDai (a yield-bearing version).
KEY QUOTES:
“This partnership represents a paradigm shift in AI infrastructure financing. By leveraging Permian Labs’ tokenization framework, we can scale faster and more flexibly – meeting the surge in AI compute demand without the constraints of legacy financing.”
Mike Maniscalco, CEO of QumulusAI
“QumulusAI is exactly the type of innovative AI operator we built USD.AI to serve. Their integrated approach to AI supercompute—combining HPC cloud, purpose-built data centers, and controlled power generation—fits seamlessly with our tokenized financing model, proving how blockchain can unlock institutional capital for real-world infrastructure.”
Conor Moore, Co-Founder and COO of Permian Labs
