Decentralized training has gone from theory to reality. Projects including Nous Research, Prime Intellect, Pluralis, Templar, and Gensyn are running real training at global scale.

Last year, Galaxy Research published its first piece on the intersection of crypto and AI. It examined ways cryptocurrency’s trustless and permissionless infrastructure could serve as a foundation for AI innovation. Among them were the emergence of decentralized marketplaces for processing power, or compute, in response to shortages of graphics processing units (GPUs); the early promise of zero-knowledge machine learning (zkML) for verifiable onchain inference; and the potential for autonomous AI agents to streamline complex interactions and use crypto as a native medium of exchange.

At the time, many of these initiatives were nascent, compelling proofs of concept that hinted at practical advantages over centralized offerings but not yet scaled enough to reshape the AI landscape. In the year since, however, meaningful progress has been made toward making decentralized AI a reality. To capture this momentum and surface the most promising developments, over the coming year, Galaxy Research will publish a series of pieces that dive into specific verticals at the crypto x AI frontier.

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