Darkbloom
Public Alpha - Low-cost private inference on idle Macs

Cost-efficient private AI inference

Darkbloom routes encrypted requests to hardware-verified Apple Silicon providers, delivering comparable model performance at about 50% lower cost than typical API providers. Prompts stay hidden from operators, and Mac owners earn from compute they already own.

Your app Darkbloom Mac Studio verified Verified Macs serve inference MacBook verified Encrypted 50% lower cost Private encrypted request in - private result out
01 - What You Get
For developers

Private inference without a new SDK

Change the base URL and keep your existing OpenAI client. Requests are encrypted before they leave your app and routed to verified Apple Silicon providers.

Open Console ↗
For Mac owners

Turn idle Apple Silicon into earnings

Run a provider on hardware you already own. Darkbloom matches your Mac with inference demand, and operators keep 100% of inference revenue during the public alpha.

Start Earning ↗
02 - Why It Costs Less
Most inference pricing includes several layers between silicon and the developer.

Capacity is bought, rented, repackaged, and metered before it reaches an API call. Each layer adds margin. Darkbloom routes demand to idle Apple Silicon instead, where the hardware is already paid for and the marginal cost is mostly electricity.
Typical API supply chain NVIDIA AWS Google Cloud Azure CoreWeave API providers End users
Apple has shipped over 100 million machines with serious ML hardware: unified memory, high bandwidth, Neural Engines, and enough RAM in high-end systems to serve large MoE models. Most of that capacity sits idle for long stretches every day.

Darkbloom turns that idle capacity into a private inference market.

Developers get lower prices without changing SDKs. Mac owners earn from machines they already own. The coordinator matches demand to providers, but prompts stay encrypted and hidden from the operator.
100M+
Apple Silicon machines shipped since 2020
50%
lower cost at comparable model performance
18hrs
average daily idle time per machine
100%
of inference revenue goes to the hardware owner
03 - The Privacy Problem
Routing to idle machines is only useful if the operator cannot read the request.

Prompts can contain customer conversations, internal plans, source code, and other sensitive context. A marketplace promise is not enough when inference runs on hardware you do not own.

Darkbloom is designed around a stricter guarantee: the coordinator can route requests, the provider can serve them, but neither should get a usable view of the prompt.

Private inference requires privacy that can be verified, not just promised.
04 - Privacy Architecture

Operator-blind by design

Darkbloom removes the practical software paths an operator could use to observe inference data. Four layers work together, each independently verifiable.

Encryption

Encrypted end-to-end

Requests are encrypted before transmission. The coordinator routes ciphertext, and only the matched provider's hardware-bound key can decrypt the request.

Hardware

Hardware-verified

Each provider uses a key generated inside Apple's tamper-resistant secure hardware. The attestation chain traces back to Apple's root certificate authority.

Runtime

Hardened runtime

The inference process is locked down at the OS level. Debugger attachment and memory inspection are blocked so the operator cannot inspect a running request.

Output

Traceable to hardware

Responses are signed by the specific machine that produced them. The attestation chain is public, so users can verify the hardware behind the result.

E2E Encryption encrypted before it leaves your device OS Integrity SIP enforced · signed system volume · binary self-hash Memory Isolation Hypervisor.framework · Stage 2 page tables Hardened Process debugger blocked · no shell access Your inference data prompts · responses · model state ↑ operator is here — every path inward is eliminated

The operator contributes compute, not visibility.

Your prompt is encrypted before it leaves your app. The coordinator routes traffic it cannot read. The provider serves the request inside a hardened process the operator cannot inspect.

Read the paper ↗
05 - Developer Experience

OpenAI-compatible API

Keep your SDK, request shape, and streaming code. Point the client at Darkbloom and start routing private inference.

python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.darkbloom.dev/v1",
    api_key="your-api-key"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gemma-4-26b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    stream=True
)

for chunk in response:
    print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="")
Streaming - SSE in the OpenAI format
Large MoE - selected models up to 239B params
06 - Pricing

50% lower cost, comparable performance

Idle Apple Silicon keeps the cost structure simple. Pay per token with no subscription or minimum, with selected model prices set around 50% below typical API-provider rates for comparable models.

ModelInputOutputTypical APIvs typical API
Gemma 4 26BMoE · 128K context$0.03$0.165$0.3350% lower
GPT-OSS 20BMoE · 128K context$0.015$0.07$0.1450% lower

Prices per million tokens. Typical API means published list rates for comparable models from major API providers.

07 - Earn

Earn from your Mac

Install the provider, choose when your Mac is available, and earn from inference jobs matched by the network. During the public alpha, operators keep 100% of inference revenue.

100%
of inference revenue goes to you
Low
marginal cost on Apple Silicon

Install via Terminal

Downloads the provider binary and configures a background launchd service.

terminal
$ curl -fsSL https://api.darkbloom.dev/install.sh | bash
No dependenciesAuto-updatesRuns as launchd service

Earnings estimate

What your Apple Silicon Mac could earn serving inference on the Darkbloom network.

Estimated annual earnings

/yr

 

This is a projection, not a promise. Usage earnings assume healthy, sustained network demand — live demand fluctuates and can run below this. The base reward requires an attested, healthy machine that stays online ≥90% of each settlement period, and is paid from a fixed monthly pool — an earnings floor while eligible, not a guarantee.

Live network catalog. Your earnings estimate uses the best-earning model automatically.

Base rewards (earnings floor)

On top of what you earn from real inference, attested machines accrue a monthly base reward for staying online. It is paid in 5-minute prorated increments, while real usage remains the upside on top.

Unified memoryPer monthPer year
512GB$40$480
192GB$30$360
128GB$26$312
96GB$22$264
64GB$18$216
48GB$16$192
32GB$12$144
24GB$10$120
Under 24GB
  • Rewards settle every 5 minutes and require staying online ≥90% of that period.
  • Usage earnings are paid on top of the base reward — you keep 100% of both.
  • Base rewards go to attested, online, healthy machines up to a fixed monthly budget, prorated per settlement period; not a guarantee.
How we estimate this

The top of the range assumes healthy, sustained demand: your Mac serves requests 60% of the time it is online, averaging 2.5 concurrent requests while active — not a saturated network (the engine can batch more at peak). Live demand fluctuates and can run below this, which is why we show a range: the base reward is what attested machines accrue for staying online regardless of traffic, and usage earnings grow with demand.

Usage (at 60% util.)
revenue − electricity
Base reward
memory tier, online ≥90%
Top of range / mo
usage + base reward
  • Base rewards are paid to attested machines online ≥90% of each 5-minute settlement period, up to a fixed monthly budget — not a guarantee.
  • Actual usage depends on network demand, model popularity, your reputation, and how many other providers serve the same model.

Read the technical paper

Architecture, threat model, security analysis, and economic model for private inference on distributed Apple Silicon.

Download PDF ↗