Cocoon’s decentralized AI network, a privacy-preserving distributed computing platform built on The Open Network (TON) – an independent Layer 1 blockchain tied to messaging app Telegram – launched on Sunday.
Cocoon allows graphics processing unit (GPU) owners to lease their computing power to the network, processing user queries and requests in exchange for Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain.
According to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, the decentralized artificial intelligence network has processed the first user requests, and GPU owners are already benefiting from renting their equipment. He he said: :
“Centralized computing providers like Amazon and Microsoft act as costly intermediaries that drive up prices and reduce privacy. Cocoon solves both the economic and confidentiality issues associated with legacy AI computing providers.”
Durov announced the release of Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October as a response to user demand for an AI platform that would protect privacy and data from huge, centralized AI service providers.
The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long warned about the negative social impacts of centralized AI, advocating for decentralized AI networks as a public good.
Related: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov may leave France after travel ban is lifted: report
Decentralized AI and Sovereignty: An Antidote to Centralized Dystopia
Centralized AI systems give governments and corporations enormous power over individuals, which can threaten user privacy, compromise established cybersecurity protections and lead to social conditioning by organized actors, David Holtzman, chief strategy officer of the decentralized security protocol Naoris, told Cointelegraph.
He added that these threats can be mitigated by applying blockchain technology to artificial intelligence to verify information sources, ensure records are tamper-proof and enable nodes in distributed computer networks to communicate in a trustless manner.
In 2024, artificial intelligence researchers at the Dfinity Foundation, the nonprofit organization leading the development of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), and executives from decentralized artificial intelligence developer Onicai, unveiled seven principles for ensuring ethical AI.
These included running AI through a permissionless blockchain network to ensure data transparency and integrity.
AND vote conducted in May by the Digital Currency Group (DCG) found that 77% of 2,036 respondents said decentralized AI would bring greater benefits to society than centralized systems.
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