As AI workloads explode, gaming goes mainstream, and blockchain matures beyond speculation, the strain on traditional cloud infrastructure is becoming impossible to ignore. Hyperscalers still dominate, but their centralized, decades-old architectures were never designed for a world where every startup, enterprise, and solo builder needs affordable, on-demand compute. At the same time, millions of high-performance gaming PCs and GPUs sit idle for most of the day.
In this interview, GAIMIN CEO Nokkvi explains how his team is turning that imbalance into an opportunity with Orbon Cloud—building a decentralized, gamer-powered compute network via the GAIMIN Launcher. He walks us through his journey from academic research and enterprise data infrastructure to leading a company at the intersection of cloud, gaming, and blockchain, and shares why he believes distributed compute will become a core pillar of the global infrastructure stack by 2026 and beyond.
Please, walk us through the professional journey (Education & Work history) that led you to where you are right now; a CEO of a company at the intersection of innovative technologies, Blockchain, Gaming and Distributed Compute.
My professional journey is rooted in mathematics, statistics, and data science. I began my studies at the University of Iceland and continued with graduate work at Yale University. This STEM foundation shaped my analytical approach and problem-solving mindset long before I entered the intersection of compute, gaming, and blockchain.
Before moving into this space, I gained valuable experience in cloud, data infrastructure, and supply chain management. At NetApp, a Fortune 500 digital infrastructure company, I worked with enterprise-scale systems and learned how global cloud operations function at massive scale. I later applied that knowledge in the public sector, leading the project of setting up large-scale data lakes for the Association of Municipalities in Iceland. These experiences taught me how to design and manage systems for scale, reliability, and efficiency.
When I joined the team initially as CFO, I applied the same data-driven focus on optimization, cost-efficiency, and long-term sustainability. It quickly became clear that the global compute market was facing a major imbalance. Demand for cloud solutions and compute is rising rapidly with a catch up of having to build expensive, complex and environmentally unfriendly data centers. At the same time, millions of high-performance PCs and hardware sit idle for most of each day.
Stepping into the CEO role was a natural progression of my goal to solve this problem. Orbon Cloud tackles the global shortage of accessible compute through an aggregator network. A key example of this network is the GAIMIN Launcher, which connects directly with gamers worldwide and enables them to earn rewards by contributing their spare compute power. This approach builds a sustainable and scalable compute ecosystem, providing a practical solution to a critical global infrastructure challenge.
You’re building the future of cloud with a unique decentralized infrastructure model. Can you tell us a bit about it?
The truth is that there is no such thing as the cloud. It is, at its core, just someone else’s compute hardware. The major cloud providers, AWS, Microsoft, and Google, have been extremely successful because they control more than 60 percent of the market, but their solutions were engineered over 20 years ago based on the assumptions and constraints of that time.
Our approach is different. We ask how we would build the cloud from scratch today. How could we make it more efficient, more scalable, and more conscious using all the knowledge and technology we have now. That mindset is the foundation of Orbon Cloud. By leveraging a decentralized network of underutilized compute through the GAIMIN Launcher and other aggregators, we are creating a global compute ecosystem built for the demands of today rather than constrained by legacy architecture.
Who is this Cloud tech solution built for?
Our solution is built for anyone who is tired of paying the cloud tax. The cloud tax is the operational and financial burden that comes with using the current cloud model. Orbon Cloud is not designed to compete with AWS, GCP, or Azure. We are designed to complement them by addressing the most frustrating and costly aspects of the existing cloud.
Our first solution focuses on storage, removing punitive fees such as API call charges, egress fees, and the operational overhead of managing cross-region replication. By building on open standards, setup takes less than a minute, after which we manage everything and provide a single predictable price per product. For storage, that means you only pay for storage.
In short, Orbon Cloud is built for anyone who wants a simpler, more predictable, and more efficient cloud experience without the hidden costs and complexity of traditional providers.
How does the Orbon Cloud solution fundamentally differ from traditional providers like Google, AWS, and Azure?
Orbon Cloud fundamentally differs from traditional providers because we prioritize freedom and flexibility. Our model is built on open standards, which means you can set up, migrate, or scale your workloads quickly and easily without being tied to a specific provider. It’s a microservice infrastructure, allowing you to use the components that you like from us.
Additionally, we eliminate the hidden costs and operational burdens often referred to as the “cloud tax,” such as unpredictable storage fees, egress charges, and complex replication requirements. In short, our solution gives enterprises the power to use the cloud on their terms while still benefiting from a global, reliable compute network.
How do you see the forecast for 2026 and upcoming developments in the distributed compute space? Is there something you foresee for the industry in, say, five years?
I am very optimistic about the next five years for distributed compute. Traditional cloud providers will continue to play an important role. However, demand is growing for decentralized, hybrid, and edge architectures. This is being driven by AI, real-time applications, and what seems to be increasing outages from the major cloud players. Distributed compute networks will provide scalable, flexible, and transparent access to GPU and CPU resources. At the same time, they can reduce costs and simplify operations compared with traditional cloud solutions.
What challenges drove you to create this unique approach?
We created this approach to solve the inefficiency and high cost of traditional cloud providers. With the emergence of AI, solopreneurs and lean teams are achieving more than ever but often lack the time or resources to manage complex cloud infrastructure. Our compute network is thus not only a cool backend solution but also an user experience in demand that is simple, accessible, and cost-effective for everyone.
What is your personal attitude towards a merge of blockchain, gaming and cloud technologies? How will they coexist in the upcoming years?
In the coming years, I believe these three will coexist in a highly complementary way. Blockchain will be the backbone for secure transactions and decentralized coordination. Gaming will act as both a driver of engagement and a source of distributed compute resources. Cloud infrastructure, both traditional and decentralized, will provide the reliability and performance needed to support this ecosystem. Together, they create a virtuous cycle for new opportunities.
As for GAIMIN as an organization, what will be your primary focus and top priorities in 2026?
In 2026, our primary focus will be on scaling Orbon Cloud and expanding the GAIMIN Launcher ecosystem. Our top priorities are onboarding more enterprises and gamers, ensuring network reliability, and maximizing user rewards and engagement. We will continue to innovate at the intersection of gaming, cloud, and blockchain to provide a simpler, more efficient alternative to traditional cloud infrastructure.
As demand for compute continues to outpace the capacity and economics of traditional cloud, solutions like Orbon Cloud’s—decentralized, and built on open standards—offer a glimpse of what the next generation of infrastructure may look like. Rather than trying to replace AWS, Google, or Azure, Nokkvi’s vision is to sit alongside them, stripping away the “cloud tax,” unlocking idle hardware, and giving both enterprises and individuals more freedom in how they consume and provide compute. If his forecast for 2026 and the next five years proves correct, blockchain, gaming, and distributed cloud will not be separate verticals, but tightly interlinked pillars of a more efficient, user-aligned infrastructure layer for the internet.
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Source: https://finbold.com/nokkvi-dan-ellidason-gaimin-interview/
