$ACU Token Price Prediction 2026: How to Interpret the Future Trend After the New High?

Since launching the Token Generation Event (TGE) and listing on multiple top exchanges on January 20, 2026, Acurast (ACU) has quickly become a focal point in the crypto market. Its price has experienced rollercoaster movements: after an initial sell-off during listing, it rebounded strongly by 55.88% on January 27, reaching a high of $0.2952.

According to the latest data from Gate, as of January 27, 2026, the latest price of ACU is approximately $0.2222, with a market cap of about $48.22 million, and active trading continues on mainstream exchanges such as Gate and Binance Alpha.

01 Market Status

As a rising star in the DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) sector, Acurast (ACU) has recently attracted market attention. As of January 27, 2026, ACU’s real-time price is $0.2222, with a market cap of approximately $48.22 million, ranking 430th in the cryptocurrency market.

This price performance is based on solid fundamentals. The Acurast network has successfully connected over 165,000 smartphones, completed more than 200,000 computing deployments, forming a vast decentralized computing resource pool.

Compared to other DePIN projects, Acurast’s core innovation lies in utilizing the idle computing power of smartphones worldwide to build a verifiable, scalable confidential computing network.

In terms of market liquidity, ACU’s trading volume over the past 24 hours reached $79.33 million, with significant trading activity. Currently, ACU is listed on more than ten mainstream exchanges, including Gate and Binance Alpha, with Gate being one of the main platforms due to its good liquidity and user base.

02 Recent Catalysts

In late January 2026, a series of key events caused sharp fluctuations in ACU’s price. On January 20, ACU was simultaneously listed for spot trading on platforms like Gate and Binance Alpha, immediately attracting widespread market attention.

The listing effect drove short-term buying, causing ACU’s price to surge 118% within 24 hours. Subsequently, Gate launched the ACU/USDT perpetual contract, further amplifying speculative sentiment.

On January 27, ACU again showed strong upward momentum, with a single-day increase of 55.88%, far exceeding the average performance of the overall crypto market. Behind this rally, besides increased liquidity from exchange listings, the improvement of on-chain infrastructure played a key role.

On the same day, decentralized exchange Aerodrome launched a new ACU/USDC liquidity pool on the Base network, offering AERO tokens as rewards to liquidity providers. This move effectively locked some circulating ACU, reducing short-term selling pressure.

Positive sentiment on social media also contributed to the price rise. Notable trader CryptoTony pointed out on January 23, “Participants in Binance Alpha and CoinList may have already completed their sell-offs; the chart shows the price has bottomed out.” This view was widely accepted by the market.

03 Technical Roadmap

The roadmap released by the Acurast team for 2026 reveals a clear development path, with technical milestones that could serve as important support for future prices.

The first major upgrade is the full activation of governance functions, allowing ACU holders to participate in protocol decisions through on-chain voting, including fund allocation and parameter adjustments. This shift will elevate ACU beyond a utility token, endowing it with governance value, potentially encouraging long-term holding.

The development plan codenamed Cargo is also scheduled for 2026, aiming to create modular “computing containers” that greatly simplify deploying serverless applications on the Acurast network. If successfully implemented, this tool will significantly lower development barriers, attract more applications to join the network, and directly increase demand for ACU.

Most notably, the Cray project plans to connect hundreds of smartphones to form a “computing cluster,” breaking through the capacity limits of individual devices and enabling the network to handle high-performance computing tasks such as large language models.

If this technology is realized, Acurast will evolve from a simple decentralized computing platform into an infrastructure capable of supporting AI and other high-intensity workloads, greatly expanding its market potential.

04 Challenges Analysis

Despite promising prospects, ACU still faces multiple challenges that could exert pressure on future prices. One major concern is the inflation mechanism embedded in the tokenomics.

Acurast has a fixed annual inflation rate of 5%, used to reward stakers and the project treasury. While this mechanism incentivizes network participation, it also means the market must absorb additional token supply each year, potentially limiting price growth.

The supply release schedule also poses pressure. ACU’s total supply is 1 billion tokens, with only about 217 million in circulation, roughly 21.7% of the total. Tokens held by the team, advisors, and early supporters are locked for 24 to 36 months, with linear release.

This implies that over the next few years, approximately 78% of the total supply will enter circulation. Without strong new demand, this could create ongoing downward pressure on the price.

Market competition is another factor to consider. The DePIN sector has seen the emergence of multiple projects, and Acurast needs to demonstrate its technological advantages and network effects to secure sustainable market share.

Although over 165,000 devices are connected, how to effectively commercialize these hardware resources and generate stable revenue remains a key challenge for the project.

05 Price Forecast

Based on comprehensive analysis, the following forecast framework for ACU’s future price movement can be outlined:

In the short term (1-3 months), ACU may continue to experience high volatility. CMC AI’s analysis on January 27 indicated that ACU needs to hold the key technical support level of $0.2371 to lay the foundation for further upward movement.

Meanwhile, early investors (such as CoinList participants) may continue to realize profits, which could influence short-term price trends. These investors acquired tokens at around $0.09 and have strong incentives to sell some holdings as prices rise.

In the medium term (6-12 months), ACU’s price will depend more on the balance between network growth and token release. If Acurast advances according to its roadmap, successfully activates governance, and launches Cargo and Cray projects, network usage and token demand are expected to increase significantly.

LBank’s technical analysis shows that short-term predictions based on 4-hour price data suggest a potential upward trend, while long-term predictions based on weekly data are more conservative.

Long-term (1-3 years), ACU’s value will be closely tied to its network effects. If Acurast can establish a leading position in decentralized computing, attract enterprise clients, and generate stable revenue, the token price could break through current ranges.

Some models project that by 2027, ACU could reach around $0.2631, and by 2030, it might further rise to approximately $0.3045.

Future Outlook

Gate exchange data shows that after experiencing sharp fluctuations, the market is gradually returning to rationality. Facing a 5% annual inflation mechanism and 78% of tokens yet to be released, Acurast needs to demonstrate that its network growth can sustainably outpace inflation.

Crypto analyst RobieCoin pointed out: “Acurast, before its tokens enter circulation, has already processed deployments on over 165,000 phones across 200,000 deployments.” This practical application scale provides unique support for the project’s long-term value.

As the roadmap progresses with governance activation, Cargo containers, and Cray clusters, ACU is transforming from a simple trading asset into an economic bridge connecting global idle computing resources with distributed application demands.