A Privacy-Centric, Decentralized AI Framework

Pavel Durov, the co-founder of Telegram, has unveiled a new decentralized AI network to be developed on The Open Network (TON), a standalone layer-1 blockchain linked with Telegram.

Durov presented the Confidential Compute Open Network, or Cocoon, at the Blockchain Life 2025 forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to announce a framework that enables users to access AI features while protecting their data privacy from centralized AI providers.

He mentioned that users can contribute the processing power of their GPUs to the network in exchange for Toncoin (TON), the native cryptocurrency of TON. Durov also emphasized the necessity of decentralized AI for preserving human freedoms:

“Why is it crucial to pursue this approach over the sometimes more convenient centralized one? It’s vital, my friends, because the world has been heading in a strange direction. For the past 20 years, we have been progressively losing our digital freedoms.”

The decentralization of AI models has become a prominent topic among blockchain and AI developers, primarily due to privacy concerns and the risk that centralized service providers can censor or manipulate vital information in real-time without users’ awareness.

Related: Durov from Telegram: Time is running out to safeguard the free internet

Centralized AI issues highlight blockchain advantages

According to several executives in the crypto and Web3 sectors, centralizing AI brings risks to user data privacy, including vulnerabilities to data breaches and hacks.

David Holtzman, chief strategy officer of the Naoris decentralized security protocol, stated to Cointelegraph that storing large amounts of user data on centralized servers attracts hackers.