Telegram is set to become the first major client for Cocoon, a new decentralized network designed to process artificial intelligence queries privately on The Open Network (TON) blockchain. The move, announced by CEO Pavel Durov at the Blockchain Life conference in Dubai on October 29, will leverage the messaging platform’s vast user base to bootstrap a new economy for secure AI computation.

A Marketplace for AI Computation

The Cocoon network functions as a two-sided marketplace connecting developers who need computing power with GPU owners willing to supply it. In this ecosystem, developers can access the necessary hardware to run their AI models, paying for the service with Toncoin (TON). In return, GPU owners earn TON tokens by contributing their computational resources to execute these inference tasks.

According to its official channel, the onboarding process for the network is now live. Application developers can specify the AI model they intend to run, such as DeepSeek or Qwen, along with their projected daily query volume. On the supply side, GPU owners looking to participate must detail their hardware capabilities, including the number of GPUs, model type, VRAM capacity, and expected uptime.

Strategic Backing and Long-Term Vision

This initiative follows earlier hints from Durov, who had revealed during an October trip to Kazakhstan that Telegram was developing technology at the intersection of blockchain and AI. He framed the effort as a necessary step toward offering confidential and transparent AI services to the platform’s billion-plus users.

Shortly after the official announcement, AlphaTON Capital confirmed its strategic investment in high-performance GPU infrastructure to support Cocoon’s rollout. The firm, a major player in the TON ecosystem, stated it would deploy advanced GPU fleets across global data centers to provide a reliable computational backbone for the network.

AlphaTON CEO Brittany Kaiser described the firm as a “cornerstone contributor” to the ecosystem. Executive Chairman Enzo Villani added that Cocoon’s architecture addresses a critical market need, emphasizing that “privacy and security are paramount in the AI era.”