Why Anthony Scaramucci Thinks TON Still Has a Future Inside Telegram
One would possibly suppose that with a billion customers, Telegram and its TON cryptocurrency can be world-beating. But similar to many different cryptocurrencies, TON hasn’t carried out properly over the previous 12 months as crypto winter winds appear to be blowing exhausting.
The blockchain misplaced practically $700 million in TVL since its 2024 peak. So, is TON lifeless or the best comeback but to come back?
The Toncoin Tragedy
According to knowledge aggregator CoinGecko, the value of TON is down 67% over the previous 12 months. That’s fairly a cooling off for TON.
Previously, Telegram-based meme cash reminiscent of Notcoin and Hamster Kombat had led to Toncoin hitting an all-time high of over $8 in June 2024.
While the price of TON hasn’t performed in addition to these 2024 salad days, there may be nonetheless ahead movement when it comes to growth throughout the Telegram ecosystem.
A positive US setting led to Telegram Wallet turning into accessible to Americans in July 2025.
In November 2025, Coinbase lastly listed TON on its alternate, a seemingly nod to the messaging app’s roughly 100 million customers within the United States.
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 Strategy (NASDAQ: TONX).
But there’s additionally AlphaTON (NASDAQ: ATON). rebranded from Portage Biotech in September 2025 and serving to to hopefully spearhead a TON-AI evolution.
At the center 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, once I have a look at the most important tremendous apps on the earth, most of them have their very own AI,” AlphaTON CEO Brittany Kaiser informed BeInCrypto.
The large distinction between many centralized AI gamers and crypto-backed decentralized ones is the self-sustaining economic system they create.
Organizations like AlphaTON are offering computing providers for builders who wish to construct Cocoon AI-based apps inside Telegram.
But in a novel twist, to entry Cocoon AI, builders must pay for providers in TON. This isn’t in contrast to 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 Economy
Building financial worth for cryptocurrencies like TON by rising demand might enhance their costs. It’s one thing AlphaTON and strategic advisor and Skybridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci informed BeInCrypto he finds interesting.
Having been White House 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 12 months. Source: CoinGecko
“We frankly did get hit with a darkish winter October tenth for all the crypto, that would come with Bitcoin,” Scaramucci informed BeInCrypto.
His agency, Skybridge, has been a main backer of TON – even earlier than crypto’s current turmoil.
“I’m a believer in a multi-chain society and multi-chain roles.” Mooch believes he may 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 shiny future for the TON-Telegram-AI synergies, mentioning the custodial Telegram Wallet as a big driver of a next-generation economic system that may exist – all throughout 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 by the precise utility of client synthetic intelligence merchandise, most of them, apart from 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 Facebook, WhatsApp plus Instagram.
“In the way in which that I see it, once I have a look at the most important tremendous apps on the earth, most of them have their very own AI,” famous Kaiser.
Although Telegram’s Cocoon AI launched with minimal buzz, it has a probability 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, based on 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.
AI as an business is predicted to develop to over $900 billion in 2026, based on knowledge aggregator AI Statistics.
“Now, having the ability to earn TON by offering GPUs to do AI is one other manner of us incomes TON. And then we’re additionally staking these revenues to earn TON on returns.” So AlphaTON is basically TON-on-TON-on-TON.
Keeping It All AI Rosy
Crypto, alongside the emergence of AI, is clearly on the lookout for corporations that may generate income. DATs, as public entities, must generate profits 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 traders who look previous forex market doldrums and in direction of a rosier future.
“I feel that’s a big alternative, and I positively see that there are a lot of third-party app builders on Telegram which are constructing new DeFi merchandise, the place AI brokers are both making or executing monetary transactions for you throughout the app,” Kaiser added.
And Scaramucci additionally thinks he may help with this diversification.
“Hopefully, there’s a few investments right here that can most likely find yourself within the AlphaTON automobile that we’ll be accountable for,” he informed BeInCrypto.
It’s all cyclical to many traders who’ve a longer-term view than most. Scaramucci sees AlphaTON as a numerous investor within the Telegram and TON ecosystem that may ultimately get again to TON’s 2024 glory days.
“My feeling is that we’ll begin with a plan after which over the subsequent 24 to 36 months, we’ll have a pretty sturdy firm with a nice internet working earnings and plenty of progress,” Scaramucci added.
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