Acurast Launches 225,000-Smartphone AI Network on Base

Smartphones are the new cloud

Acurast has set out to leverage the billions of already-deployed smartphones around the globe to create a decentralized compute layer. Whereas traditional cloud providers have centralized servers that carry risks of censorship and data exposure, Acurasts model distributes workloads across devices in over 140 countries, all running confidential AI inference tasks within secure hardware enclaves.

Jesse Pollak, Creator of Base, said:

The network just went live on Bases mainnet, following its token generation event, and already handles production workloads securely.

Acurasts founder, Alessandro De Carli, said:

Confidential AI, native payments

A key part of this integration is the payment mechanism for compute.

Acurast now supports native USDC payments on Bases network without the need for bridging or offchain settlement layers. By embracing the x402 payment standard (originally developed to enable instant, HTTP-native stablecoin payments), AI agents can autonomously pay for compute resources in real time.

This opens the door for a pay-per-request model in decentralized services, where AI agents can automatically settle fees in USDC as they process tasks. Its a crucial building block for autonomous Web3 applications that interact with APIs, data services, and complex onchain logic without intermediaries.

A new layer for onchain AI workloads

Developers leveraging Acurast on Base can onboard devices and manage compute infrastructure via the Acurast Hub with a Base wallet.

Within the Hub, builders can deploy secure, autonomous AI agents, such as bots that execute trades, manage assets, or perform on-chain reconciliations. This happens while inputs and outputs remain encrypted and unseen by node operators.

All AI inference runs inside smartphone TEEs, meaning neither the device owner nor external observers can access confidential data during processing, key for privacy-focused applications in finance, identity, and enterprise workflows.

Beyond data centers

This move comes on the heels of strong growth for Acurast. Indeed, the decentralized compute network has expanded rapidly throughout 2025, moving from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of phones powering Web3 workloads.

Acurast is pushing forward the development of large-scale confidential computing, pulling together decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), onchain AI, and real-time machine-native payments.

With its native token now trading on major exchanges and the global network running live production jobs, Acurast aims to lay the foundation for a new class of onchain applications that are decentralized, verifiable, confidential, and autonomous by design.