Cocoon Decentralized AI Network Launches on TON Blockchain

According to Cointelegraph, the Cocoon decentralized AI network, a privacy-focused distributed computing platform built on The Open Network (TON), officially launched on Sunday. TON is an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram messaging application. Cocoon enables graphics processing unit (GPU) owners to rent their computing power to the network, processing user queries in exchange for Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain. The decentralized AI network has already processed its initial user requests, with GPU owners beginning to profit from renting out their hardware. Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov highlighted the advantages of Cocoon, stating that centralized compute providers like Amazon and Microsoft act as costly intermediaries, increasing prices and compromising privacy. Cocoon addresses both economic and confidentiality concerns linked to traditional AI compute providers. Durov announced Cocoon's release at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, responding to user demand for an AI platform that safeguards privacy and data from large, centralized AI service providers. The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long cautioned against the adverse social impacts of centralized AI, promoting decentralized AI networks as a public benefit. Centralized AI systems grant governments and corporations significant control over individuals, potentially compromising user privacy, threatening cybersecurity measures, and enabling social conditioning by organized entities, according to David Holtzman, chief strategy officer of the Naoris decentralized security protocol. Blockchain technology can mitigate these threats by verifying information sources, ensuring tamper-proof records, and facilitating trustless communication among nodes on distributed computing networks. In 2024, AI researchers from the Dfinity Foundation, which oversees the development of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), along with executives from decentralized AI developer Onicai, proposed seven rules to ensure ethical AI. These guidelines include running AI through permissionless blockchain networks to guarantee transparency and data integrity. A poll conducted by the Digital Currency Group (DCG) in May revealed that 77% of the 2,036 respondents believed decentralized AI would benefit society more than centralized systems.