Dialogue with the Liberman Brothers: How will the decentralized AI network Gonka disrupt the monopolistic era of artificial intelligence?

CN
3 hours ago

Core Summary: Witnesses of Bitcoin's rise from $20 to $100,000 are now returning to the battlefield with "Gonka" — a decentralized AI computing power network that has gathered over 6,000 H100 GPUs in just three months, attracting a $50 million investment from Bitfury. It aims to transform AI computing power from "giant data centers" into "globally shared infrastructure," potentially rewriting the rules of AI geopolitical competition.

I. From Bitcoin to Gonka: The Overlooked "Computing Power Diamond"

"Gonka: gonka.ai" means "competition" in Russian. This name encapsulates both technical significance and a sense of ideological urgency.

"The scale of Bitcoin's computing power has actually surpassed the combined total of Google, Microsoft, and Amazon's cloud data centers," said David Liberman (Twitter: https://x.com/daliberman). "But this computing power is engaged in meaningless hash calculations — this conceals a massive computing power diamond: if we redirect this power towards AI inference, we can build the world's largest distributed intelligent infrastructure."

This is precisely the starting point of Gonka: replacing Bitcoin's "meaningless hashes" with "useful AI inference," allowing miners' GPU computing power to directly serve real AI tasks while maintaining the fairness of decentralization.

II. What is Gonka? A "Sprint for Computing Power"

For ordinary users, the logic of Gonka is simple:

  • It is a "decentralized OpenAI API": developers can call Gonka's interface just like they would with ChatGPT, but the underlying computing power comes from thousands of GPUs worldwide, rather than a single company's data center;
  • It is a "shared market for computing power": anyone (or institution) can rent GPUs to access the network and earn token rewards based on their contributed computing power — the daily rental fee for a single GPU is only $50, with earnings directly linked to computing power;
  • It is "Bitcoin for the AI era": using "Proof of Compute" instead of "Proof of Work," each GNK token is backed by real AI computations rather than speculative expectations.

"We've transformed traditional mining into a 'sprint for computing power,'" Daniel explained. "Miners don't need to hash 24/7; they just need to run AI inference at full capacity for a short time to prove their computing power — for the rest of the time, these GPUs are serving developers."

III. 100-Fold Growth in Three Months: Gonka's "Exponential Surge"

In just 100 days since its launch, Gonka's computing power skyrocketed from 60 H100 GPUs to 6,000 (currently over 10,000) — equivalent to building a medium-sized AI data center in three months.

"This isn't something we 'made'; it's something the ecosystem 'grew'," David said. "Fifteen years of accumulation in the blockchain industry has helped people understand the value of 'decentralized infrastructure' — now, the anxiety over AI monopolies has triggered this demand explosion."

Bitfury's $50 million investment (https://www.odaily.news/zh-CN/post/5207968) has further fueled this surge: the pioneer of Bitcoin ASIC chips predicts that Gonka will surpass OpenAI's computing power scale within 15 months, becoming one of the largest AI infrastructures in the world.

IV. Fighting Against Giants: "We Fear the Consequences of Inaction More"

When asked if they are concerned about a backlash from OpenAI or Google, the brothers' response was straightforward:

"We fear the future where 'a few control superintelligence' — you have to beg them to use AI, and they can revoke your access at any time."

Gonka's "non-targetability" is its defensive weapon:

  • It is an open-source protocol, not a company;
  • There are no centralized servers; computing power is distributed across thousands of nodes worldwide;
  • Even if the founders disappear, the community can continue to maintain the network.

"OpenAI was founded by people afraid of Google's monopoly," David said. "What we're doing now is making AI's 'anti-monopoly' more thorough — not replacing one company's monopoly with another, but allowing everyone to participate."

V. Opportunities for Small Countries: "No Need to Compete with China and the U.S., Just Don't Fall Behind"

For countries like Uzbekistan, Gonka offers a path to "bypass chip monopolies":

  1. Participate in open-source contributions: encourage local developers to write code for Gonka, quickly building a reputation for AI talent;
  2. Invest in AI ASIC chips: avoid Nvidia's restrictions and collaborate with emerging ASIC chip manufacturers to deploy computing power using cheap electricity;
  3. Regional computing power alliances: Central Asian countries jointly deploy computing power to form a scale that can influence the market.

"Small countries don't need to compete with China and the U.S. on computing power; they just need to lower their AI costs to be as low as those of large countries," Daniel said. "Gonka can reduce AI computing costs by 1,000 times — by then, the accessibility of technology will level the playing field between nations."

Conclusion: The "Highway Revolution" of AI

"Centralized AI will build 'skyscrapers,' but what the world needs is 'highways' — to deliver artificial intelligence to every corner."

The Liberman brothers use "highways" to metaphorically describe Gonka: skyscrapers (large models) are important, but without highways (distributed computing power), artificial intelligence will never reach ordinary people.

The endpoint of this "highway revolution" is a future where "artificial intelligence is no longer monopolized":

  • Developers can call GPT-level models for just a few dollars;
  • Small countries can build their own AI services without relying on large countries' cloud providers;
  • Everyone can share in the dividends of the AI era by contributing computing power.

"Bitcoin has proven that decentralized infrastructure can win," David said. "Gonka aims to prove that AI can do the same."

End Note: This article is compiled from the podcast dialogue of the Liberman brothers and does not constitute investment advice. As an emerging protocol, Gonka carries multiple risks, including technical and market risks; please view it rationally.

About Gonka.ai_

Gonka is a decentralized network aimed at providing efficient AI computing power, designed to maximize the utilization of global GPU computing power to complete meaningful AI workloads. By eliminating centralized gatekeepers, Gonka offers developers and researchers permissionless access to computing resources while rewarding all participants with its native token GNK.

Gonka is incubated by the American AI developer Product Science Inc. The company was founded by seasoned professionals from the Web 2 industry, the Liberman siblings, former core product directors at Snap Inc., and successfully raised $18 million in 2023, with an additional $51 million in 2025. Investors include OpenAI investor Coatue Management, Solana investor Slow Ventures, Bitfury, K5, Insight, and Benchmark partners, among others. Early contributors to the project include well-known leading companies in the Web 2-Web 3 space such as 6 blocks, Hard Yaka, and Gcore.

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