The Cocoon decentralized AI network, a privacy-preserving decentralized computing platform built on the Open Network (TON), an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram messaging application, went live on Sunday.
Cocoon allows owners of graphics processing units (GPUs) to lend their computing power to the network to process 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 AI network is processing the first requests from users, and GPU owners are already making money from renting their hardware. he said:
“Centralized computing providers like Amazon and Microsoft act as expensive intermediaries that drive up prices and reduce privacy. Cocoon solves both the economic and confidentiality issues associated with traditional AI computing providers.”
sauce: Pavel Durov
Durov announced the release of Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October, in response to user demand for an AI platform that protects their privacy and data from large-scale, centralized AI service providers.
The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long warned about the negative societal consequences of centralized AI and advocated for decentralized AI networks as a public good.
Durov announced Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai. sauce: Blockchain Life 2025
Related: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov free to leave France after travel ban lifted: Report
Decentralized AI and self-sovereignty: the antidote to centralized dystopia
Centralized AI systems could give governments and corporations tremendous influence over individuals, violate user privacy, threaten traditional cybersecurity safeguards, and lead to social conditioning by organized actors, David Holzman, chief strategy officer at Naoris Decentralized Security Protocol, told Cointelegraph.
These threats can be mitigated by applying blockchain technology to AI to verify sources, ensure records are tamper-proof, and allow nodes on distributed computing networks to communicate in a trustless manner, it added.
In 2024, AI researchers at the Dfinity Foundation, a nonprofit organization leading the development of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), and executives from Onicai, a decentralized AI development company, outlined seven rules for ensuring ethical AI.
This includes running AI through a permissionless blockchain network to ensure transparency and data integrity.
In a May poll conducted by Digital Currency Group (DCG), 77% of 2,036 respondents said decentralized AI would benefit society more than centralized systems.
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