Request credit, transfer lumens and record actual GPU usage.
Reviewed · 2026-10-12
On this page · 11
- 1. RequestResearcher enters GPU, hours and purpose
- 2. Review & creditAdministrator transfers from their balance
- 3. Record usageResearcher records GPU hours used
Example rate: H100 1 GPU × 2 hours × 3.57 = 7.14 LM. Use the administrator's actual configured rate. Recording usage does not start or stop Runpod.
1. Understand lumens (LM) and GPU time
- Open Timebank in the top menu. Your available balance is in lumens (LM), shared across all GPU types.
- One A6000 GPU for one hour equals 1 LM. H100 does not need a separate currency; its configured rate converts hours into the same LM balance.
- Example: if the administrator sets H100 to 3.57 LM per hour, one H100 for two hours costs 7.14 LM. Two GPUs for two hours each means a quantity of four GPU-hours, costing 14.28 LM. The rate 3.57 is illustrative; use the rate displayed in your account.
- Available hours on each GPU card equal your balance divided by that GPU's rate. Do not add the hours across cards: they are alternative views of the same balance.
- This is an internal research-time ledger. Recording an entry does not pay Runpod, start or stop a GPU, or automatically measure usage. Operate and stop the actual server separately.
2. Check your balance and transactions
- Check your available balance at the top. A new account may remain empty until credited.
- In My transactions, inspect the date, type, reason, sender/recipient, LM change and the GPU, hours and rate used at the time.
- A plus sign is a credit; a minus sign is a transfer out or recorded GPU usage. Entries are newest first, with 10 per page. Expand an entry to read the full reason, exact amount and transaction time.
- Submitting a credit request does not increase your balance. Verify the credit entry after an administrator approves and transfers the funds.
- Rate changes do not rewrite historical transaction amounts. If a calculation seems unexpected, expand the entry and use its saved rate rather than today's rate.
3. Researcher: request additional credit
- Under My account transactions, choose Request credit from administrator.
- Select the GPU type and check its displayed LM-per-hour rate.
- Enter the total number of GPU-hours needed. For one A6000 for five hours, enter 5. Do not enter an LM amount in the hours field.
- Explain the project, planned experiment and time estimate under Reason, for example five comparison runs of about one hour each. Review the calculated amount and save.
- Credit requests starts collapsed, showing pending and processed counts. Expand it to filter Pending, Processed or All, with five requests per page. Open an individual request to read its full reason and review note. An administrator may approve a different number of hours. Check the actual credited amount after approval.
- Ordinary researchers cannot top up their own accounts. For an urgent request, identify the existing request to the administrator instead of submitting duplicates.
4. Researcher: record actual GPU usage
- Confirm the GPU type and time actually used on the server, then open Timebank → Usage record.
- Select the GPU and enter the hours: 30 minutes is 0.5; 90 minutes is 1.5. For multiple GPUs, add GPU count multiplied by hours.
- Describe the research or experiment, review the hours and converted LM amount, then save.
- The amount is deducted from your balance and recorded in My transactions. Separately confirm that the actual server has stopped.
- Insufficient balance prevents the transaction. Request credit and record the usage after it arrives. Report an incorrect entry to the administrator or Support with its details; do not record the same usage twice.
5. All researchers: transfer to a colleague
- Choose Withdraw / deposit to another researcher. Active researchers as well as administrators can transfer within their own balance.
- Select the recipient by both name and @username. You cannot transfer to yourself.
- Choose a GPU and hour quantity and enter a reason. To provide one H100 hour, choose H100 and 1; at a rate of 3.57 this transfers 3.57 LM.
- Recheck the recipient and amount before saving. One transaction debits your account and credits theirs.
- Verify the recipient and debit in your ledger; the recipient checks their credit entry. Credit notifications follow their delivery preferences. For an incorrect transfer, discuss correction with the administrator and recipient using the saved transaction details.
6. Administrator: set up the bank
- Open Timebank as a platform administrator and locate Administrator bank operations. Ordinary researchers do not see these controls.
- Register GPU types under GPU conversion rates. A6000 remains the base at 1 LM per hour. Enter the lab-approved conversion for additional GPUs such as H100.
- Check the time represented by actual Runpod prepayment or budget. Open Administrator account deposit, enter the GPU, hours and supporting reason, and save.
- Verify the increase in your administrator balance. This credits the internal ledger; it does not make a Runpod payment.
- Distribute credit using Withdraw / deposit to another researcher. Expand Researcher accounts and choose Deposit beside a person to preselect the recipient. The administrator's balance decreases by the amount distributed.
7. Administrator: review a credit request
- Open the new request notification or choose Review / credit beside a pending request in Timebank.
- Check the applicant, GPU, requested hours and purpose. Choose Approve credit or Reject.
- For approval, confirm Approved hour quantity. Keep the requested hours or enter a different amount. The GPU type stays the one requested.
- Add a review note and save. The approved quantity is converted at the GPU's current rate and transferred from the administrator to the applicant. Sufficient administrator balance is required.
- Rejection records the decision and note without transferring credit. Check the request list for the outcome. Reviewed requests cannot be approved again. Restore a retired GPU before approving a pending request that uses it.
8. Administrator: edit, retire and restore GPU rates
- Open GPU conversion rates. For a new GPU, enter its name and lumens per GPU-hour, enable Available, and save.
- Use Edit beside an existing GPU. Enter 3.57 if one H100 hour should equal 3.57 A6000 hours. The new rate applies to subsequent transactions.
- A GPU with transaction or request history cannot be renamed. Add a new GPU if a different name is needed. A6000's name, base rate and availability are fixed.
- Retire an unused GPU through its delete confirmation. This removes it from new-transaction choices while preserving old entries, requests and balances. A6000 cannot be retired.
- To restore it, edit the retired setting, enable Available and save. If another administrator changed the setting, reopen the form and review the latest values first.
9. Administrator: award research credit
- Choose Award credit, or use the administrator-only award link on a featured researcher's profile.
- Check the recipient, GPU and hours. State the research activity, article or review supporting the award in the reason.
- Review the converted amount and administrator balance, then save. Credit moves to the recipient and is recorded as an award.
- Magazine selection or an AI score does not automatically pay an award. An administrator reviews and confirms the recipient and amount.
10. Notifications and common problems
- Open Profile menu → Settings → Notification preferences and find Time bank deposits, withdrawals, usage and requests. Choose in-platform, email or browser delivery and save. Email and browser also require their overall channel switches.
- Credit notifies the recipient; a new request notifies platform administrators. Administrators can also receive changes to other researchers' accounts, including transfers, usage and awards.
- For immediate delivery, exclude Timebank from digest categories. Administrator policy or disabled delivery channels can prevent delivery.
- Missing GPU: ask for a rate to be registered. Insufficient balance: request credit. Missing recipient: check active account status. Unexpected amount: check GPU, hours and the transaction's saved rate.
- If a save seems slow, inspect the ledger or request list before creating another transaction. If unresolved, send Support the page URL, time of action, expected amount and observed result.
Read compact transactions and credit requests
- Scan short transaction summaries and expand a transaction for its reason and approval explanation. Collapsing a summary does not delete the original text.
- Transactions are paginated. Check date, type, amount and the historical conversion in details; do not confuse it with today's conversion rate.
- Credit request status starts collapsed. Open its summary, filter Pending/Processed/All and use pagination.
- Saving or reviewing a request may open that specific item. Check approval, explanation and actual credit state.
- Collapsing or filtering does not change transactions, balances or approvals. Actual transfers/approvals use their separate confirmation flow.