One may assume that with a billion customers, Telegram and its TON cryptocurrency could be world-beating. However identical to many different cryptocurrencies, TON hasn’t carried out effectively over the previous yr as crypto winter winds appear to be blowing arduous.
The blockchain misplaced almost $700 million in TVL since its 2024 peak. So, is TON useless or the best comeback but to come back?
The Toncoin Tragedy
In accordance with knowledge aggregator CoinGecko, the worth of TON is down 67% over the previous yr. That’s fairly a cooling off for TON.
Beforehand, Telegram-based meme cash akin to Notcoin and Hamster Kombat had led to Toncoin hitting an all-time excessive of over $8 in June 2024.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Whereas the worth of TON hasn’t carried out in addition to these 2024 salad days, there may be nonetheless ahead movement when it comes to improvement inside the Telegram ecosystem.
A good US surroundings led to Telegram Pockets changing into accessible to Individuals in July 2025.
In November 2025, Coinbase lastly listed TON on its change, a probable nod to the messaging app’s roughly 100 million customers in the USA.
Now, as 2026 rolls out, Telegram is bringing alongside AI – and TON – into the longer term.
A TON of DAT-titude
An indication of a maturing TON is that there are actually a number of related Digital Asset Treasuries, or DATs, working across the ecosystem. Most well-known is the Manuel Stotz-run TON Technique (NASDAQ: TONX).
However there’s additionally AlphaTON (NASDAQ: ATON). rebranded from Portage Biotech in September 2025 and serving to to hopefully spearhead a TON-AI evolution.
On the coronary heart of that is the decentralized protocol Cocoon AI, which Telegram CEO Pavel Durov introduced in late 2025.
AlphaTON helps scale the decentralized AI community by securing a $46 million deal for NVIDIA GPUs to compete with centralized gamers like OpenAI and xAI, amongst others.
“In the way in which that I see it, after I have a look at the largest tremendous apps on the earth, most of them have their very own AI,” AlphaTON CEO Brittany Kaiser advised BeInCrypto.
The large distinction between many centralized AI gamers and crypto-backed decentralized ones is the self-sustaining financial system they create.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Organizations like AlphaTON are offering computing providers for builders who need to construct Cocoon AI-based apps inside Telegram.
However in a novel twist, to entry Cocoon AI, builders must pay for providers in TON. This isn’t not like the Bittensor-style economics the place miners are offering the decentralized AI computing energy whereas customers should pay for the providers within the Bittensor native TAO token.
The Decentralized AI Economic system
Constructing financial worth for cryptocurrencies like TON by growing demand may increase their costs. It’s one thing AlphaTON and strategic advisor and Skybridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci advised BeInCrypto he finds interesting.
Having been White Home Communications director for the primary Trump Administration for ten days or, “like seconds, truly – it’s 954,000 seconds,” as Scaramucci likes to say, he’s big-time into numerous completely different cryptocurrency efforts and isn’t dismayed by market doldrums.
Bitcoin value efficiency over the previous yr. Supply: CoinGecko
“We frankly did get hit with a darkish winter October tenth for all the crypto, that would come with Bitcoin,” Scaramucci advised BeInCrypto.
His agency, Skybridge, has been a significant backer of TON – even earlier than crypto’s current turmoil.
Sponsored
Sponsored
“I’m a believer in a multi-chain society and multi-chain roles.” Mooch believes he will help AlphaTON’s effort strategically. “I signed on as a strategic advisor. We’re providing some advertising and marketing assist. We’re providing some networking.”
Kaiser, the AlphaTON CEO, paints a vivid future for the TON-Telegram-AI synergies, mentioning the custodial Telegram Pockets as an enormous driver of a next-generation financial system that may exist – all inside the app itself.
“There’s over a billion month-to-month lively customers on Telegram, and there’s over 200 million customers of the pockets,” Kaiser famous.
AI within the Superapp
When fascinated about the precise utility of shopper synthetic intelligence merchandise, most of them, except for OpenAI’s ChatGPT, stay inside present providers.
Google’s Gemini is already within its Search product, XAI powers X’s Grok, and Meta AI works inside Fb, WhatsApp plus Instagram.
“In the way in which that I see it, after I have a look at the largest tremendous apps on the earth, most of them have their very own AI,” famous Kaiser.
Though Telegram’s Cocoon AI launched with minimal buzz, it has an opportunity to develop over time contained in the Telegram “superapp” platform – a time period that’s now standard to make use of for multifunction apps. Like Telegram.
That’s the AlphaTON play, in keeping with Kaisier.
“We raised our first PIPE as a way to purchase a TON treasury, which is staking and validating and incomes TON returns,” she famous.
Sponsored
Sponsored
AI as an business is predicted to develop to over $900 billion in 2026, in keeping with knowledge aggregator AI Statistics.
“Now, with the ability to earn TON by offering GPUs to do AI is one other means of us incomes TON. After which we’re additionally staking these revenues to earn TON on returns.” So AlphaTON is basically TON-on-TON-on-TON.
Preserving It All AI Rosy
Crypto, alongside the emergence of AI, is clearly searching for corporations that may generate income. DATs, as public entities, must become profitable to outlive, which is why lots of them are diversifying holdings into different enterprise traces – like AlphaTON’s transfer with AI.
The growth in AI, and “brokers” that may do duties for folks whereas taking a cryptocurrency like TON is attractive to some buyers who look previous forex market doldrums and in the direction of a rosier future.
“I feel that’s an enormous alternative, and I undoubtedly see that there are a variety of third-party app builders on Telegram which might be constructing new DeFi merchandise, the place AI brokers are both making or executing monetary transactions for you inside the app,” Kaiser added.
And Scaramucci additionally thinks he will help with this diversification.
“Hopefully, there’s a number of investments right here that may most likely find yourself within the AlphaTON automobile that we’ll be answerable for,” he advised BeInCrypto.
It’s all cyclical to many buyers who’ve a longer-term view than most. Scaramucci sees AlphaTON as a various investor within the Telegram and TON ecosystem that may finally get again to TON’s 2024 glory days.
“My feeling is that we’ll begin with a plan after which over the following 24 to 36 months, we’ll have a reasonably sturdy firm with an excellent internet working revenue and plenty of progress,” Scaramucci added.