Pavel Durov Unveils Cocoon: A Decentralized Confidential Computing Network on the TON Blockchain

On November 30, 2025, Pavel Durov, the visionary founder of Telegram, officially announced the launch of Cocoon, which stands for the Confidential Compute Open Network. This new infrastructure is built directly upon The Open Network (TON) blockchain. The initiative is strategically positioned as a direct countermeasure to the overwhelming dominance exerted by centralized providers, such as Amazon and Microsoft, particularly in the realm of data processing for artificial intelligence applications. Cocoon aims to simultaneously eradicate the significant financial overheads and the persistent privacy concerns inherent in conventional cloud computing models. The network immediately began processing its inaugural user requests, offering a firm guarantee of one-hundred-percent data confidentiality.

The technological bedrock supporting Cocoon is the implementation of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), specifically leveraging Intel TDX technology. This architectural choice is crucial as it ensures that machine learning models can be executed in a manner that is both private and fully verifiable. This setup effectively guarantees that the operators of the nodes supplying the computational power have zero visibility into the data being processed or the proprietary models utilized by the developers. GPU owners who contribute their processing capabilities to the network are compensated with Toncoin (TON) tokens for successfully completing AI inference tasks, thereby fostering a robust, decentralized marketplace for computing power.

Telegram has been designated as the inaugural major client and the primary promoter of this novel infrastructure. This commitment secures immediate demand and crucial validation for Cocoon right from its inception. Durov confirmed that Telegram plans to integrate several new AI-driven features into its messaging application within the coming weeks, all underpinned by this new, privacy-guaranteed infrastructure. The deep integration with Telegram's expansive ecosystem, notably including Mini Apps, which generated over one billion dollars in revenue for third-party developers last year, establishes a powerful catalyst for driving sustained demand for Cocoon’s services.

The foundational concept for Cocoon was first introduced by Pavel Durov during the 15th annual Blockchain Life 2025 industry event, held in Dubai, UAE, which drew an attendance exceeding 15,000 participants. Durov’s presentation strongly emphasized his conviction that decentralization is an indispensable safeguard against the total control over artificial intelligence development and deployment by established technology behemoths. The network is currently undergoing an aggressive expansion phase, actively onboarding GPU providers and application developers eager to tap into this decentralized pool of computational resources at competitive market-driven rates.

Functionally, Cocoon operates as a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN). Remuneration in Toncoin is distributed via smart contracts residing on the TON blockchain once tasks are successfully finalized, establishing a transparent settlement mechanism entirely free from any central intermediary. This tight coupling with TON, which serves as the economic and coordination backbone, firmly establishes the blockchain as the essential infrastructure layer for handling confidential AI workloads within the Telegram environment. This effectively closes the economic loop, connecting user services, GPU rewards, and the final features delivered to end-users.