Akash How To: Convert your Earned USDC on Akash to native AKT
When supplying infrastructure on the Akash network, one of the world’s premier decentralized compute marketplace and top DePIN, you will get rewarded for leases in two different tokens AKT, the Akash native token, and USDC.eth.axl which is Axelar USDC on the Akash chain. In your wallet you will see these two tokens:
I really wasn’t sure about what this other USDC.axl token was, I mean I knew it was USDC but if you love Akash like me you don’t want plain old USDC sitting around and you would prefer to swap that into native AKT — you may ask: How do I easily exchange the USDC to native Akash?
Well I spent a few weeks trying different methods, talking with different people, and was a bit frustrated to say the least. I am a complete newbie to the Cosmos ecosystem and didn’t understand terms like IBC and never heard of Axelar or Osmosis. So with a bit of trial and error and some research I came up with the following method to swap the USDC to native Akash without the need of other cryptos to pay fees. Using my Keplr wallet, something called IBC (explained later) and the Osmosis exchange I was able to swap the USDC for native AKT. This the process was complex and took me quite some time to figure out so I wanted to share with others who may be in my situation.
At a high level the process goes like this — transfer USDC on Akash to USDC on Osmosis and the swap that for AKT on Osmosis and then swap that for native AKT — but there are many steps to get us to the ultimate goal. What's nice about this process is that the tokens never leave your wallet, while it seems like you are transfer tokens all around the place you are just moving them to different chains on Cosmos but, in your own wallet.
Process Overview
USDC on Askash -> USDC on Osmosis -> Akash on Osmosis -> Native Akash.
Prerequisites
- Keplr Wallet with AKT and USDC.eth.axl on Akash.
- Add both the Axelar and Osmosis chains to your wallet using the “Manage Chain Visibility” function in the Keplr browser extension
- Your Osmosis wallet address. If you don’t have one go to osmosis.zone and connect your Keplr wallet and copy your Osmosis address.
Obligatory Warning
These steps are accurate at the time of publishing (January 2025) but things change, fees go up and down, chains, wallets and exchanges make updates or disappear. None of this should be considered financial advice and I highly suggest you test this process out with small amounts of money (I used $1 USDC my first time) before commiting to larger amounts. There are also many, many, many other ways to accomplish this but most other routes I have found require additional cryptos to pay fees. As always DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Now onto the steps…
Steps
- In your Keplr wallet select Settings > Advanced > and enable Developer Mode.
- Go back to your home screen and you should now see an “Advanced IBC Transfer” button below your tokens.
Note: IBC stands for Inter-Blockchain Communication. IBC transfers are an advanced function of the Cosmos ecosystem where you can send crypto assets from one blockchain directly to another without needing to use a bridge. This can only be done with cryptocurrencies that are built on the Cosmos SDK.
3. Click the Transfer Button and Select the USDC.axl on Askash token.
4. Click into the Destination Chain dropdown and select New IBC Transfer Channel.
5. In the Add IBC Channel screen set the “Destination Chain” to Osmosis and “Source Channel Id” to 9. Click Save.
Note: This is a one time setup. If you repeat these steps you should see this option in Step 4 meaning you can skip this step on subsequent run throughs.
6. In the Destination Chain it should now say “Osmosis (channel-9)”, if not select it in the drop down. Enter your Osmosis wallet address as mentioned in the Prerequisite, it will start with “osmo”. Click Next
7. Enter an amount, I suggest something small for the first try and click Next and Approve.
Note: This will send the USDC on Akash to USDC on Osmosis — technically it's still in your Keplr wallet. The transaction may take a few seconds or minutes and it may take even longer to show in your Keplr wallet browser extension but I found that in the web based Keplr dashboard the token shows near real time.
8. Once the transaction is confirmed go to your Osmosis Portfolio view, you should see your USDC.
9. On the Osmosis site go to “Trade” and swap your USDC for AKT — it should allow you to use the USDC for the trade fee so you don’t need the Osmosis native token. This is one of the key benefits of using Osmosis as other exchanges may require their native token.
10. The result should be that you receive AKT on Osmosis. Open you Keplr wallet to confirm this. If its not there wait a few minutes and click refresh.
11. In Keplr click on the AKT on Osmosis, select “Swap” and swap AKT on Osmosis for for native AKT. Click Next, Then Approve.
This should trigger an IBC transfer from Osmosis to AKT and give you the native AKT token — HELL YEAHHH!!!!!
Check you Keplr wallet and you should now just see the native AKT.
I hope you found this how to guide useful and a very special thank you to all those in the Akash providers discord who helped this total noob through all the trial and error that got me to this working route of exchanging my USDC to AKT.
