HOUSTON – June 8, 2021 – Billionaire businessman Tilman Fertitta, sole owner of Fertitta Entertainment  which owns the restaurant giant Landry’s, the Golden Nugget Casinos and Hotels and the NBA’s Houston Rockets, has taken his next step in pioneering the cryptocurrency space by choosing to begin validating transaction blocks for the Akash Network, the world’s first decentralized open-source cloud, leveraging underutilized cloud capacity in 8.4 million data centers to bring more cost effective cloud resources to consumers in a safe and frictionless marketplace.

“We are always looking to be innovative and ahead of everyone else,” said Fertitta.

“The Akash Network is looking to build the future of cloud computing and is unique among many new blockchain companies as it has a functioning product that is meeting a real business need.”

Fertitta Entertainment has now gone beyond merely accepting and investing in cryptocurrencies, “We felt it was time to begin investigating mining or validating blocks as the next logical step in our digital asset strategy,” said Trey Zeluff, Director of Digital Asset Strategy.  “The Akash Network stood out to us as a promising business model led by a talented team that captures the very essence of crypto by using blockchain technology to decentralize the cloud.”

Fertitta’s validation node will confirm transactions on the Akash Network and commit those transactions to the Akash blockchain. The node earns rewards in Akash tokens (AKT) for this work similar to how bitcoin miners earn bitcoin for doing similar activities on the bitcoin blockchain. In addition to validating blocks for the Akash Network, Fertitta is also looking at opportunities to migrate some of his business’s cloud computing needs to the Akash Network to take full advantage of the savings offered by the new decentralized cloud.

Tilman Fertitta has been at the forefront of digital asset adoption. In 2018, his luxury automobile dealership Post Oak Motors was the nation’s first dealership to accept bitcoin and has since expanded to accepting multiple cryptocurrencies across his global hospitality empire including his restaurants and the Houston Rockets.

About Fertitta Entertainment, Inc.

Fertitta Entertainment, Inc. is Tilman Fertitta’s holding company for substantially all of his assets, including all of the equity in Golden Nugget, LLC and Landry’s, LLC, hotels, real estate, and other investments, including the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Golden Nugget/Landry’s is a multinational, diversified gaming, restaurant, hospitality, and entertainment company based in Houston, Texas.  The Company’s gaming division includes the renowned Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino concept, with locations in Las Vegas and Laughlin, NV; Atlantic City, NJ; Biloxi, MS; and Lake Charles, LA.  Entertainment and hospitality divisions encompass popular destinations including the Kemah Boardwalk. The Company also operates more than 500 outlets, including over 400 high-end and casual dining establishments around the world, with well-known concepts such as Mastro’s, Del Frisco’s, Landry’s Seafood House, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Rainforest Cafe, Morton’s The Steakhouse, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, McCormick & Schick’s Seafood, Chart House, Joe’s Crab Shack, and Saltgrass Steak House. Landry’s also operates the popular New York BR Guest Restaurants such as Dos Caminos, Strip House and Bill’s Bar & Burger.

It was announced on February 1, 2021 that FEI, the indirect parent company of Golden Nugget, LLC and Golden Nugget, is in the process of becoming a public company via a merger with Fast Acquisition Corp., which is a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (also known as a “SPAC”). The merger is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Following the closing of the transaction, Golden Nugget and GNVA will continue to be controlled by Tilman J. Fertitta. Mr. Fertitta will serve as the Chairman, President and CEO of the newly publicly traded company, and remain the public company’s largest shareholder with nearly 60% of all of the outstanding shares.

About Akash Network: 

Akash Network, the world’s first decentralized and open-source cloud, accelerates deployment, scale, efficiency and price performance for high-growth industries like blockchain and machine learning/AI. Known as the “Airbnb for Cloud Compute” Akash Network provides a fast, efficient and low-cost application deployment solution. Developers leveraging Akash Network can access cloud computing at up to three times less than the cost of centralized cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Utilizing containerization and open-source technology, Akash Network leverages 85% of underutilized cloud capacity in 8.4 million global data centers, enabling anyone to buy and sell cloud computing. For more information visit: https://akash.network/. 

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