Cocoon decentralized AI network officially launches on TON

Cocoon lets GPU owners rent out their computing power to handle AI tasks and user requests. In return, they receive Toncoin, TON’s native token. According to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, the platform has already processed its first AI queries, and participants are already generating income from their hardware.

Durov emphasized that major cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft act as costly intermediaries and reduce privacy, while Cocoon eliminates those barriers through decentralization.

Durov first announced Cocoon during the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, presenting it as a solution for users seeking privacy-preserving AI instead of relying on large centralized providers.

The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and long-time cypherpunk groups have often warned about the dangers of centralized AI, arguing that decentralized solutions serve the public interest.

Experts note that centralized AI gives corporations and governments excessive control over user data and digital behavior. David Holtzman, strategy chief at Naoris, told Cointelegraph that this can harm privacy, weaken cybersecurity, and allow manipulation at scale.

Using blockchain to support AI can reduce those risks by enabling verified data, tamper-resistant records, and secure communication between decentralized nodes.

In 2024, AI researchers from the Dfinity Foundation and developers from Onicai proposed seven key rules for ethical AI — including running AI models on permissionless blockchains to ensure transparency and data integrity.

A Digital Currency Group survey from May also found that 77% of respondents believe decentralized AI would benefit society more than centralized systems.