Hundreds of thousands have joined the F@H project to combat the COVID-19. The Director of Folding@Home’s (F@H), Gregory Bowman, said there is an exponential rise in support as 400,000 people have recently downloaded F@H.

Folding@Home is a dispersed GPUs network that utilizes its computing infrastructure to stimulate protein folding. On Feb 27, Folding@Home launched an initiative to build a global computing network to help pharmaceutical institutions to diagnose COVID-19.

According to an official statement from the company, 300,000 consumers were already using the platform before the pandemic. Past resource contributions were used by F@H’s other targets as the platform also uses its computing power to fight Alzheimer’s disease, epigenetics, and some cancers. However, after the platform started offering its network to help remedy the pandemic, a rapid increase in sign-ups soared network contributions, highlighting people’s desire to offer support with whatever resources they have.

Crypto Firms Join the F@H Initiative

To support the Folding@Home initiative, various major crypto firms have joined the project. Coreweave, the U.S largest Ethereum miner, has provided 6,000 GPUs. According to Venturo, it is expected that the diverted computing power compared to 0.2% of an entire hash rate is worth about $3,600.

On 14 March, a U.S. chip manufacturer, Nvidia, inspired gamers to support the network. The company announced:

“PC Gamers, let’s put those GPUs to work. Join us and our friends at @OfficialPCMR in supporting folding@home and donating unused GPU computing power to fight against COVID-19!“

In recent weeks, a decentralized network, Golem, and a blockchain-based platform, Tezos, have also joined the initiative, however, their contribution isn’t comparable to Coreweave. Still, they have diverted a slice of their hashing power to fight the pandemic, a move that could alert the two projects’ large communities to add in further support for the program.