The upgrade expand’s Pocket open infrastructure beyond decentralized RPC, into the first permissionless Open API Network for AI, blockchain, and public data.
Pocket Network, the decentralized infrastructure protocol serving billions of data relays across dozens of blockchains, has launched its Shannon upgrade. This protocol migration brings Pocket into its next phase of growth, expanding its permissionless services from pure RPC to decentralized open data access – instrumental for AI training, cross-chain dApps, and more.
The upgrade is named after Claude Shannon, one of the founding fathers of the information age and an early artificial intelligence proponent.
The Shannon mainnet launch marks the completion of a major technical evolution. Originally a decentralized RPC network, Pocket has now transformed into a true open data platform—where anyone can provide or access data with clear incentives and no centralized control. Pocket’s full suite of services now make it the first truly permissionless Open API Network. Shannon enables this with protocol-level payments, automatic quality scoring, and a new model for permissionless coordination.
“Shannon pushes us closer to the vision we’ve held since the beginning: a fully decentralized internet infrastructure stack,” said Chris “Jinx” Jenkins, Head of Operations at the Pocket Network Foundation, “It’s not just about uptime anymore—it’s about building systems where no single party controls access to the data that applications rely on. Shannon makes Pocket the first real sharing economy for open data. We are offering something truly unique, Zero to One; builders have not had access to a truly permissionless open data set until now.”
Breaking the Internet’s Walled Gardens
With Shannon, Pocket is no longer just an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) provider. It becomes the foundational layer for open data markets. The upgrade includes several key features:
- Native protocol incentives for both supply- and demand-side participants
- Transparent and automatic quality scoring for nodes and data
- Open protocol-level coordination, removing the need for centralized gateways
- Accelerated support for AI workloads, blockchain data, and other public data sources.
As AI continues to shape software and hardware development, the importance of reliable, censorship-resistant access to open data becomes more urgent. Pocket’s Shannon upgrade arrives at a moment when many AI systems still depend on centralized APIs and vulnerable infrastructure.
Pocket Foundation is also scaling to meet the operational demands of this new phase. With Shannon live, the Foundation is expanding its support for ecosystem builders and strengthening its governance model through transparent reporting and resource efficiency.
About Pocket Network
Pocket Network is a blockchain data ecosystem that provides unstoppable open-source infrastructure for Web3 applications through a decentralized network of node operators. Their mission is to empower developers with reliable, performant, and cost-effective access to any public blockchain data anywhere in the world. By decentralizing the API layer, they are building a more resilient and censorship-resistant foundation for the applications of tomorrow.
