Pavel Durov and Cocoon's Vision: Decentralized AI Emerges on TON

Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram, has issued a structural critique of traditional computing models during Blockchain Life 2025 in Dubai. According to the executive, cloud computing giants like Amazon and Microsoft operate as intermediaries that erode both profitability and data security. This diagnosis has led to the official introduction of a radically different platform: a distributed computing network built on the TON blockchain.

The Platform That Challenges Centralization

Cocoon represents an architectural alternative to established AI service providers. The system operates on a peer-to-peer model where GPU unit owners offer their computational capacity in exchange for Toncoin (TON), the network’s native token. Since its official launch on Sunday, the platform has already processed the first user requests, with hardware providers beginning to generate direct earnings from their hardware.

The Open Network, a layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram ecosystem, provides the underlying infrastructure. With an current price of $1.54 and a daily increase of 4.74%, TON continues to solidify its role as fundamental for decentralized services. The platform now hosts a project that addresses both economic issues and privacy protection simultaneously.

Why Centralized AI Poses a Risk

The cypherpunk community and security experts, including David Holtzman (Chief Strategy Officer of the Naoris protocol), have documented the inherent dangers of monolithic systems. AI controlled by a few entities grants governments and corporations the power to exert massive influence over individuals, compromising confidentiality, security system integrity, and enabling orchestrated social manipulation.

Cocoon directly addresses these risk vectors. Blockchain technology, once integrated into processing flows, can:

• Verify the authenticity of information sources
• Maintain immutable records of computational transactions
• Facilitate communication between nodes without trusted intermediaries

Market Consensus

In 2024, AI researchers from the Dfinity Foundation (supervisors of the Internet Computer protocol) and leaders of Onicai, a developer of decentralized AI solutions, codified seven principles for responsible AI. The core of these directives prescribes executing computational logic through non-permissioned blockchain networks, ensuring transparency and structural integrity of datasets.

A survey by Digital Currency Group last May quantified sector sentiment: 77% of 2,036 respondents expressed confidence that decentralized AI would generate greater social benefits compared to centralized architectures. This data confirms that Cocoon is not an isolated innovation but the realization of an already widespread trend in the blockchain landscape.

The release of Cocoon marks the shift from resistance theory against costly intermediaries to a concrete practice of distributing computational capacity.