Lately, I’ve been playing around with MODELOC. In simple terms, it’s a “large model compute pool + trading marketplace”: some people share their unused official/intermediary credits into the pool, and others use compute power to call these models through a unified gateway. The real selling point can be summed up in just one word—cheap. But many first-time users get confused by terms like “Assets, USD, Compute Power, and Energy.” This post will break down the pricing system once and for all.
Start with three key concepts
There are really only three things to keep straight on the platform:
| Concept | What it is | Fixed Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Balance | The money you deposit | Top up 1 RMB = 1 Asset (1:1 pegged) |
| USD ($) | The official pricing unit for models | Assets ↔ USD float based on top-up exchange rate (about 1 USD ≈ 7 RMB) |
| Compute Power | The billing unit to call models | 1 Compute Power = US$0.0001 of official usage (fixed peg) |
The compute power used on MODELOC isn’t traditional compute in the literal sense; it’s more like a currency unit. On MODELOC, 1 USD = 10,000 compute power;
Currently, the market rate is 0.00001 CNY/compute power. That means 10,000 compute power is 0.1 CNY, so when you top up 1￥, you get $10 worth of credit.
If some sharers set an even lower rate, your actual cost can go even lower.
To remember in one sentence: Top up to get assets, buy compute power to make calls. Assets are money; compute power is “call fuel,” with each unit pegged to US$0.0001 of official model usage.
How do you get compute power? Three ways
- Buy on the market (the best value)—Use assets to buy compute power at the market price.
- Share tokens to earn—Share your unused official/intermediary credits in the pool and get a share of compute power when someone uses them.
- NodeLoc Energy / Redemption Codes—If you’re a NodeLoc veteran: you can use NodeLoc Pay energy (forum points) to directly top up and buy compute power in the market, without converting to RMB first.
Topping up currently supports Alipay and USDT (TRC20). USDT automatically converts into assets and usually arrives in about 1 minute.
How is billing calculated when you call a model?
Every time you make a call, the system calculates the cost as official USD price × actual usage, divides that by US$0.0001 to get compute power, and then multiplies by the pricing multiplier on that share:
Deducted compute power = Official USD cost ÷ 0.0001 × multiplier
- The platform settles strictly at the official price, no markups or hidden fees.
- The pricing multiplier is set by the sharer (0–1, default is 1). Some set it very low to attract users—I’ve seen as low as 0.05, meaning you only pay 5% of official price through their share, so the same compute power lasts 20 times as long.
Why is it so much cheaper than official?
That US$0.0001 above is just the official peg. On the market, the price of compute power against assets is determined by real transactions—sharers with tons of unused credits are willing to sell cheap, so:
- Market discount: 1 RMB usually buys way more compute power than the official value (the share and market pages show labels like “market price is X% of the official price”).
- Stacking multipliers: Pick a share with a low multiplier to save even more.
With both discounts stacked, your real out-of-pocket for a call can be just a fraction of official top-up cost. Market rates fluctuate in real-time; check the platform for current ratios.
Is it an “exchange”? — No
This needs to be clear to avoid misunderstandings:
- It’s a pure matching system—no leverage, not financial.
- Only compute power earned from sharing revenue can be listed for sale on the market; compute power bought cannot be resold—so arbitraging low buy/high sell is blocked by design, keeping compute power as “call fuel” at its core.
Security and Fairness
- The plaintext upstream key you share is only handed over to the hidden gateway for hosting, never stored or displayed to callers.
- Every share must pass a full integrity test and score (0–100) is shown on the share card before being submitted. Bad or tampered intermediaries can’t enter the pool.
- The platform doesn’t add markups; what the sharer earns is what the caller spends—no taking a cut in between.
Summary
MODELOC’s pricing logic boils down to: Official USD pricing → pegged to compute power (1=$0.0001) → buy in the market below official price → pick low multiplier shares to call. Two layers of discounts bring flagship model running costs way down. NodeLoc users can directly use energy points, making it even more accessible.
You can find the full conversion reference in the official docs: POOL OVERVIEW. Feel free to check out modeloc.com to run a free test (no registration required), or try the “Redeem Compute Power” in the pool to test the waters.
And finally, right now, invite a friend to join MODELOC and both you and your friend get 100,000 compute power—about $10 worth.
