KuCoin AMA With TARS AI (TAI) — Pioneering the Future of AI Commodities on the Solana Blockchain

Time: April 17, 2025, 10:00 AM - 11:17 AM

KuCoin hosted an AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session in the KuCoin Exchange Group, featuring Rick Bagshaw, Ecosystem Lead of TARS AI.

Official Website: www.tars.pro

Follow TARS AI on X and Telegram
 

Rick: At Tars AI, we’re building the foundational infrastructure for the AI economy on Solana, fast, scalable, and permissionless. Our latest product we've built is the TARS AI agent marketplace, it’s a decentralized hub for tokenized AI commodities, including AI Agents powered by our own large language model, TGPT.

Our ecosystem also includes Sona, our AI assistant designed to onboard the next wave of users into Web3 through intuitive, AI-driven experiences. Sona is available on the Solana phone, it’s similar to Siri but Web3 native.

Our vision is to offer a full-stack platform where users can build their own agents, leverage TGPT or other models, tap into decentralized compute, and tokenize their AI agents, all within the TARS ecosystem. We’re not just building tools, we’re building the rails for the future of AI in Web3.

 

Rick: So speed and scalability is everything and Solana's high throughput and low fees are exactly what AI workloads need to be viable at scale. 

 

The infrastructure is perfect for fast, cost-efficient on-chain interactions, from agentic action logging to decentralized compute access.

 

It lets us support hybrid architectures, where AI can run off-chain for performance but be verified and monetized on-chain, combining speed, scalability, and security. 

 

This is really important for us to be able to create the best products for communities and users and bring real world adoption to the Tars ecosystem.

 

Rick: Another great question! So the main challenges are Scalability, Privacy, Trust, and Cost!

 

So with scalability, AI is very compute-heavy, you need very powerful computers (data centers) to ensure you can serve requests and power AI. But with Solana and GPU-sharing network, this helps and allows Tars to scale. 

 

For Privacy & Trust, closed-source AI is a black box. We bring verifiability with trusted execution environments (TEEs), on-chain attestations, and even ZK proofs in the future.

 

Finally, we enable tokenized access to AI models, datasets, and compute, creating a circular, permissionless economy for AI.

 

We’re making it possible to build AI dApps that are open, composable, and incentive-aligned, the opposite of Big Tech walled gardens.

Rick: I'm glad you asked, and this is where it gets really exciting!

 

Exchanges like KuCoin are already a critical bridge between retail and Web3 infra. As AI ecosystems mature, users will need easy access to the tools, models, and marketplaces powering this new wave of DeFi intelligence.

 

There’s huge potential for KuCoin to integrate AI tools directly into user experience, AI-powered trading agents, DeFi assistants, risk analytics, and more. That’s where we see real synergy between what we’re building at TARS and KuCoin’s ecosystem.

 

Rick: Yes, absolutely! We’re addressing this from multiple angles.

 

Our hybrid architecture enables off-chain compute with on-chain verifiability, giving transparency without exposing raw data. Trusted execution environments like Intel SGX and AWS Nitro Enclave allow AI actions to be verified without interference.

 

On top of that, we’re exploring ZK Proofs for provable logic and on-chain provenance so users know where data came from and how it was used, all without compromising privacy. 

 

We actually believe this is where blockchain technology can help AI massively!

Rick: The key is solving problems better than Web2. Think:

 

• AI trading agents that outperform bots

 

• AI customer support in DeFi apps

 

• Agent-based DePIN automation

 

• Tokenized AI datasets for niche industries

 

With TARS, users don’t need to understand how it all works. We’re building Web2-style UX with Web3-level transparency and security, plus economic incentives to drive participation.

 

For example, we make it super easy to get started making your own AI agents, you can create one in less than three minutes, and you can view our social media accounts or our Developer relations manager, Armielyn to watch videos on how to do this.

Rick: Well I think it's going to be an exciting year for AI and crypto in 2025. 

 

We’re laser-focused on launching our AI Agent Frameworks and expanding the TARS AI Marketplace. That includes more tokenized AI models, staking mechanisms, and deeper integration with decentralized compute networks.

 

We’ll also be unveiling new builder toolkits that let anyone, from developers to solo founders, build their own AI-powered Web3 product, plug it into our infra, and launch it on-chain.

Rick: Great question! For us, Agentic AI (so AI agents) is a big part of our roadmap for this year. We've recently launched our AI agent marketplace, we have our own agents on there, but we're not about keeping doors closed. The best way to grow and have user adoption is through collaboration. We're working with a number of AI companies, utilizing their agents and also allowing users to build their own.

 

With agents, there are so many verticals you can work in, the possibilities are limitless. We have some really big plans this year so definitely follow our socials to get the latest tech updates from our team!

 

Rick: Thanks for the great question!

 

The background of our project is really cool actually. We were the very first AI project to actually get a grant directly from the Solana Foundation to build AI on Solana. 

 

Our top three priorities are working with more great partners to use our tech, such as companies using our LLM TGPT for support, or maybe one of our agents to handle their social media. Get real world adoption into our platform and of course, AI. Continue to push our innovative products, we've built an LLM, AI assistant and now an agent marketplace, we have more on the way!

 

Rick: This is a solid question, thank you! 

 

I can name a few, but maybe if I focus on just two. The first is our work with Solana from our earliest inception. This allowed our team to work with the best and brightest to ensure Tars is built for scalability and speed. But also, our team is on the bleeding edge of what's happening in AI. 

 

Just last month, myself and other team members went to the Nvidia GTC event in San Jose, where we met with leaders in the space, sharing insights and new developments that will help us create the best products.

 

Rick: Yes, we actually already have one! So Solana has their own cell-phone called Saga, we have our own assistant on that phone. It's like Siri for example, so you can ask it to perform tasks such as set reminders, make calls etc, but it's Web3 native. 

 

So the AI and Web3 part come from this, you can ask it to buy and sell tokens, swap and stake etc. Solana has a new cell-phone coming out this year and we will have our AI assistant there too!

 

Rick: This is a really good question, and it all comes down to user choice, and decentralization! 

 

First, if you ask an LLM such as ChatGPT or Grok a question, you're going to get very different answers, right? The source of truth and how those LLMs are trained can vary, so we want users on our platform to have a choice. You can use our own LLM TGPT for our agents, but you can also choose other LLMs too, we don't want to be centralized and say, “You have to use ours or this particular model”; we want choice. Plus, we wanted our LLM to understand Web3 better, trained to do tasks and manage Web3 for our users.

 

Participate in the TARS AI AMA quiz now for a chance to win 177.00 TAI.  

 

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The form will remain open for five days from publishing this AMA recap.

 

KuCoin and TAI have prepared a total of 35,000 TAI to give away to AMA participants.

 

1. Pre-AMA activity: 14,065 TAI

2. Free-ask section: 850 TAI

3. Flash mini-game: 6,810 TAI

4. Post-AMA quiz: 13,275 TAI

 

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