Tea Project

What Tea Project does

Tea Project is a decentralized cloud computing platform founded in 2019 and based in San Jose, California. It targets three user segments — miners, developers, and curators/investors — within a Web3 ecosystem. The platform enables developers to build fully decentralized applications called TApps, using a three-tier architecture (front-end, back-end actor, state machine actor) that runs WebAssembly applications without traditional smart contracts or centralized hosts. Miners host these TApps on hardware equipped with TPM security chips and GPS modules, and are rewarded in TEA tokens; curators and investors fund TApps through bonding-curve tokens that also distribute dividends.

The core technical differentiator is Tea Project's "Three Roots of Trust" architecture: a Layer 1 blockchain (Ethereum), hardware TPM-based remote attestation, and GPS satellite timestamps, used together to achieve strong consistency while bypassing the scaling limits of BFT algorithms. The platform runs as a Layer 2 without rollups and uses a Proof of Time consensus mechanism, allowing dApps to execute at cloud-like speeds. Tea Project's business model is token-based and usage-based: TEA (100 million total supply, ERC-20 on Ethereum mainnet) serves as the utility/gas token; CML is an NFT mining license with a roughly two-year lifespan; and each TApp or mining node can issue its own bonding-curve tokens whose value flows to developers, miners, and investors via a theta-percentage revenue split.

Tea Project launched its mainnet beta on January 1, 2024, after several years of testnet epochs and a community-led GTM motion built around mining contests, developer documentation, and social channels (Medium, Twitter/X, Telegram, Discord, YouTube). The project lists ten financial backers — including Hashkey, Draper Dragon, Waterdrip Capital, Youbi Capital, Dragon Roark, JDI, Sub0, Rebase, OIG, and Bitris — but specific funding amounts, ownership stakes, revenue, and headcount are not disclosed. Pricing for TApp hosting and usage is not publicly disclosed, and the company remains private with no parent company or subsidiaries.

Name

Tea Project

Legal name

TeaProject.org

Website

https://teaproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tea Project is a decentralized cloud computing platform that lets developers build fully decentralized applications (TApps) running on hardware with TPM chips and GPS time sync, serving miners, developers, and curators within a Web3 ecosystem anchored by the TEA utility token and CML NFT mining licenses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Cloud Computing Platform

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI) (FSAPABAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Deployment, Automation & DevOps (build pipelines, contract deployment tools) (FSAPABAH)

Keywords

• Decentralized cloud computing
• Web3 infrastructure platform
• Blockchain hosting protocol
• Trusted execution environments
• Decentralized applications hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. TEA Token Gas Fees: TEA tokens serve as the primary utility token used as gas on the TEA network for signing transactions and paying for TApp usage. Total supply is 100 million tokens.
2. CML Mining Revenue: CML (Camellia) NFT miners earn gas fees from end-users who use their hosting infrastructure to run TApps. Revenue flows into CML miner tokens issued on bonding curves.
3. TApp Bonding Curve Tokens: TApps issue their own tokens on bonding curves. Token purchases and consume actions generate revenue for developers (theta percentage) and token holders (dividends from bonding curve growth).
4. CML Mining Stake Tokens: Hosting CML mining nodes issue bonding curve tokens. Users can stake to earn a share of mining revenue. Revenue split: 50% to miner, 50% to staking token holders.
5. Public Service Rewards: Miners earn public service rewards for remote attestation (jury duty), state machine maintenance, and DAO governance. Paid from TEA token inflation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Tea Project is a decentralized cloud computing layer for Web3 that hosts fully decentralized applications (TApps). It combines Layer 1 blockchain security, hardware TPM chips for remote attestation, and GPS satellite timestamps (the Three Roots of Trust) to deliver trusted execution at full speed without traditional rollups. Developers build TApps using a Rust/WebAssembly SDK, and miners host them on hardware equipped with trusted computing chips while earning TEA utility tokens.

Product overview

TEA Project is a decentralized cloud computing platform organized as a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform enables fully decentralized applications (TApps) that run without traditional hosts, combining blockchain security with cloud computing performance. The ecosystem includes: the TEA Token (100M supply utility token for gas), CML (Camellia) NFTs functioning as mining licenses with ~2 year lifespans, and Bonding Curve Tokens for investment. System TApps include the TEA AppStore (marketplace), Seeds Auction, Harberger Auction, TEA Fluencer, Miner's Portal, Developer's Portal, and Leaderboard. A demo TApp called TEA Party showcases video conferencing with payment channels. Developers build using the TEA-SDK (Rust/WebAssembly) and Dev Runner local simulator.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TApp: Decentralized applications built on the TEA Project platform.
• Camellia (CML)
• TEA Party
• Togar3
• TeaFluencer

Products and services

• TEA Project Platform A decentralized cloud computing platform that hosts fully decentralized applications (TApps), combining blockchain and cloud computing with trusted execution environments using hardware TPM chips and GPS timestamps.
• TApps (TEA Applications) Decentralized applications that run as full compute-capable dApps without traditional hosts. Built using a three-tier architecture similar to web2 cloud applications but without requiring smart contract knowledge.
• TEA-SDK Software development kit for building TApps. Supports Rust-compiled WebAssembly actors for backend and state machine logic, with TypeId derive macros for request/response type definitions.
• TEA AppStore Marketplace TApp for browsing and accessing all TApps on the TEA network. Serves as the entry point to all other TApps.
• TEA Token Primary utility token used for gas on the TEA network, necessary for signing transactions, and exchanged by consumers to use TApps. Total supply is 100 million tokens.
• CML (Camellia) Token NFT-based mining license and software license for running hosting nodes. Each CML has a lifecycle of approximately 2 years before dying, and miners plant CML into hardware equipped with trusted computing chips and GPS modules.
• Seeds Auction Auction TApp for purchasing CML Seeds to become a TEA hosting node miner.
• Harberger Auction Auction mechanism for purchasing SEAT shares that provide revenue from state machines.
• TEA Fluencer TApp that enables users to earn TEA credits by completing tasks for Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) through social media activities.
• TEA Party Demo Web3 application showcasing TEA Project capabilities - a peer-to-peer video conferencing app that supports payment channels.
• Togar3 Game Airdrop game designed to distribute tokens to participants through gameplay.
• Dev Runner Local development environment that simulates the TEA Project runtime using Docker. Similar to Hardhat for Ethereum, it allows quick testing of front-end and backend logic integration without requiring hardware security.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• EthereumcoreTechnology or IntegrationLayer 1 blockchain providing one of the three Roots of Trust. TEA token operates as an ERC20 token on Ethereum mainnet. Beta mainnet uses ETH mainnet while Alpha testnet uses Sepolia.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Optimism: Leading optimistic rollup L2 with the OP Stack superchain ecosystem. Optimism competes indirectly with TEA by offering a scalable dApp deployment environment, though without the hardware attestation layer.
• Polygon: Major Ethereum scaling platform with a broad L2 ecosystem (Polygon PoS, zkEVM, CDK). Polygon is a broad incumbent whose CDK and Polygon 2.0 vision overlap with TEA Project's decentralized compute ambitions across a much larger developer base.
• Dfinity / Internet Computer: Decentralized cloud platform that hosts full-stack dApps (frontend and backend) on-chain. ICP is a broad incumbent with a similar 'decentralized cloud' positioning to TEA Project, though using a different consensus model.

Direct peers

• Akash Network: Decentralized cloud computing marketplace where providers lease compute resources to tenants. Akash is the closest functional peer to Tea Project's decentralized compute platform, differing mainly by using standard hardware rather than TPM-attested nodes.
• Phala Network: TEE-based off-chain compute network using Intel SGX enclaves to deliver confidential smart-contract execution. Phala shares Tea Project's hardware-attested trust model and targets similar privacy-preserving compute workloads.
• Render Network: Decentralized GPU rendering and compute marketplace that connects node operators with rendering/AI workloads. Render is a direct peer in decentralized compute marketplaces, differing in GPU focus versus TEA's general-purpose WASM runtime.
• iExec RLC: Decentralized marketplace for cloud computing resources leveraging Trusted Execution Environments and Intel SGX. iExec overlaps with TEA Project on TEE-secured compute and developer-facing SDK for off-chain processing.
• Flux: Decentralized cloud infrastructure project operating a network of nodes hosting applications, APIs, and websites. Flux is comparable to TEA as a permissionless alternative to centralized cloud hosting with token-incentivized node operators.

Emerging players

• Aleph.im: Decentralized cloud platform offering off-chain compute, storage, and identity for Web3 dApps. Aleph.im is comparable to TEA as an emerging decentralized backend-as-a-service targeting dApp developers.
• Lit Protocol: Decentralized key management and compute network using TEEs (Intel SGX) for signing and programmable cryptography. Lit Protocol is an emerging player with comparable TEE-based infrastructure roots and a developer SDK targeting Web3 builders.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/teaprojectorg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UChYmd52JIe0zTdIdXHLK7WQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tea-project/about

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tea Project