Ocean Protocol is open-source software for publishing, selling and computing on data without giving up control of it. Each dataset becomes an ERC721 data NFT, and access to it is sold as ERC20 datatokens. Its Compute-to-Data feature lets other people run approved algorithms on private data that stays where it is stored. The newest change is Ocean Network, a peer-to-peer compute network that opened as a beta on March 16, 2026. The OCEAN token is now a separate matter. Since the Ocean Protocol Foundation left the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance on October 9, 2025, Ocean's own documentation says the token "has no intended utility value."
The newest development: Ocean Network's compute beta (March 16, 2026)
On March 16, 2026, Ocean Network announced the beta launch of its peer-to-peer compute orchestration layer in a press release distributed by Chainwire. According to the release:
- The beta is aimed first at people who need compute. They can submit jobs now. Node operators are expected to join later and rent out idle GPU and CPU capacity.
- To keep the service reliable at launch, Ocean is renting GPUs, including NVIDIA H200s, from Aethir under a partnership dating from 2025.
- Early users receive $100 in free compute credits.
- The beta is open worldwide, and capacity grows as more nodes take part.
Two open-source tools in Ocean's GitHub sit underneath the network:
- Ocean Node. The README says Ocean Nodes "run everything you need in the Ocean stack" and "replace three previous components: Provider, Aquarius and subgraph." Its documentation covers how to configure Compute-to-Data, including GPU resources and pricing.
- Ocean Orchestrator. It "lets you submit a containerized compute job to remote nodes, monitor it" and "automatically pull the results back."
How a dataset becomes an on-chain asset
Ocean's product page says that "upon publishing a dataset, it becomes a data asset" with its own NFT and datatoken. The two tokens do different jobs:
- Data NFT (ERC721). Ocean's developer docs say data NFTs "represent holding the copyright/base IP of a data asset." Whoever holds the data NFT controls the asset.
- Datatoken (ERC20). Datatokens "represent licenses to access the assets." The docs say "owning 1.0 datatokens grants you the ability to consume the corresponding dataset." The license terms set how long that access lasts, for example one day or one week.
- Pricing. "The publisher can set a free or fixed price."
In practice, a data owner keeps the rights through the NFT and sells access through the datatoken. A buyer gets a license, not a copy of the ownership rights.
Compute-to-Data: the algorithm goes to the data
Compute-to-Data is aimed at data that is too sensitive to hand over, such as medical, financial or company records. Ocean's documentation says it "enables the data to remain on-premise while granting third parties the ability to perform specific compute tasks on it." Typical tasks are statistical analysis and AI model training.
The data owner stays in charge. Ocean's docs say "you have control over which algorithms can be run on your dataset." The March 2026 press release says jobs run in isolated containers next to the data, and only the outputs are returned.
The main limitation is that a buyer cannot inspect the raw data before paying. Buyers depend on the publisher's description of the dataset and on what the approved algorithm is allowed to return.
How Ocean Protocol got from token to compute network
Step through the dated changes to Ocean's rewards, the OCEAN token and its compute network to see what still applies in 2026.
- November 30, 2023Challenge Data Farming retiredretired
Ocean's Data Farming documentation dates the end of Challenge Data Farming to this day.
- May 3, 2024veOCEAN, Passive and Active Data Farming retiredretired
Ocean's docs say these three programs were retired on this date, alongside an airdrop to veOCEAN holders.
- July 2024OCEAN merged into the ASI Alliance's FETpast
Ocean's token page says OCEAN was the utility token until 2024. That July it was merged into FET, and holders could convert OCEAN to FET through a bridge.
- October 9, 2025Ocean Protocol Foundation leaves the ASI Alliancepast
The Block reported the foundation's exit, effective immediately. About 81% of OCEAN's supply had been converted into FET since July 2024, leaving about 270 million OCEAN; the bridge was still open that day at 0.433226 FET per OCEAN.
- October 24, 2025Fetch.ai dispute made publicpast
Cointelegraph reported that Fetch.ai's CEO offered to drop pending legal claims if the foundation returned 286 million FET. The foundation denied any misappropriation and said it had received no written offer.
- March 16, 2026Ocean Network compute beta openscurrent
According to the press release, the peer-to-peer compute beta opened worldwide for people submitting jobs, with $100 in free compute credits for early users; node operators are expected to join later.
- Through 2026Predictoor Data Farming is the one active programcurrent
Ocean's Data Farming docs say weekly Predictoor rewards are 100 USDC through 2026, with rounds from Thursday 00:00 UTC to Wednesday 23:59 UTC.
This lists only the dated events in the article: it does not show the current OCEAN-to-FET bridge status, whether the Fetch.ai dispute has been settled, or how the compute beta has performed since launch.
Ocean Protocol is a decentralized data and compute protocol designed to let developers, data owners and data scientists publish, access and process data or AI workloads while retaining greater control over the underlying assets.
The OCEAN token after the ASI Alliance exit
Before 2024
Ocean's token page says that "until 2024, the Ocean Token ($OCEAN) was the utility token powering the Ocean Protocol ecosystem." It was used for staking, governance and buying data. In July 2024, OCEAN was merged into the ASI Alliance's token, FET. Holders could convert OCEAN to FET through a bridge.
October 9, 2025
The Block reported that day that, in a blog post, the Ocean Protocol Foundation said it had withdrawn its designated directors and resigned from the ASI Alliance "effective immediately." The post said about 81% of OCEAN's supply had been converted into FET since July 2024, leaving about 270 million OCEAN. The Block also reported that the OCEAN-to-FET bridge was still open at that point, at 0.433226 FET per OCEAN.
What the token is now
Ocean's documentation describes OCEAN as "an ERC20 token solely representing the ideals of decentralized AI and data." It also says it "has no intended utility value nor is it a staking, platform, governance, payment, NFT, DeFi, meme, reward, or security token." Supply is "capped at approximately 270,000,000," and Ocean says that "with buybacks and burns, the supply of $OCEAN will be decreasing over time."
The dispute with Fetch.ai
On October 24, 2025, Cointelegraph reported that Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh offered to drop all pending legal claims against the Ocean Protocol Foundation if it returned 286 million FET. Fetch.ai says those tokens were sold during the merger. Bubblemaps on-chain data cited in the report links them to an Ocean-linked multisig wallet that converted about 661 million OCEAN. The foundation denied any misappropriation. It said it would not act on a verbal offer and had not received a written one.
What remains of the rewards programs
Ocean's Data Farming documentation lists only one active program, Predictoor Data Farming, which rewards predictions:
- "Weekly Predictoor rewards are 100 USDC through 2026."
- Rounds run from Thursday 00:00 UTC to Wednesday 23:59 UTC. Rewards can be claimed from the following Monday.
- veOCEAN, Passive Data Farming and Active Data Farming "were retired on May 3, 2024, alongside an airdrop to veOCEAN holders."
- Challenge Data Farming was retired on November 30, 2023.
Who is behind it
Ocean's About page names Bruce Pon and Trent McConaghy as co-founders. The Ocean Protocol Foundation is the organization that left the ASI Alliance and maintains the documentation cited here.
How to check the current state yourself
- Token status and supply: Ocean's token page in its documentation.
- Rewards: the Data Farming page, which states the weekly Predictoor amount.
- Software: the ocean-node and ocean-orchestrator repositories on GitHub, where release history shows whether the compute stack is still being developed.
- Bridge and dispute: official statements from the Ocean Protocol Foundation and the ASI Alliance, rather than secondary summaries.
