A cost study released on October 12 by Tether's local AI platform, QVAC, shows that in some intensive model scenarios, purchasing a new laptop (costing $2,399, with monthly hardware expenses of approximately $50) could be more expensive over four years than using cloud tokens. The study notes that QVAC estimates an output of 55 million tokens processed per work month is insufficient to cover the cost of a new machine, with the break-even point being around 77 million tokens per month. This research further elaborates on Tether's user-controlled technology concept, following its announcement on October 20 of an investment in AI computing company Tenstorrent.