Pantera Capital, a leading cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm, has announced a significant investment in The Open Network (TON), the layer-1 blockchain originally designed by Telegram and now developed by an open-source community. This investment highlights a strong belief in TON’s potential to drive mainstream cryptocurrency adoption by leveraging Telegram’s vast user base and seamless user experience.
Why TON and Telegram Represent a Perfect Match
Telegram is a forward-looking, secure, and high-speed messaging platform with over 900 million monthly active users. It supports personal and group communication, large-scale community building, content sharing, and more. More importantly, it embodies the core principles of Web3: openness, decentralization, and accessibility.
Unlike other major messaging platforms, Telegram faces no regulatory barriers to integrating Web3 functionality. Past attempts by apps like Messenger (with Libra) and WeChat (with the digital yuan) were either halted due to regulatory pressure or limited to closed, permissioned systems. Telegram, by contrast, offers a unique environment where an open blockchain can thrive.
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A Scalable Platform Built for Hundreds of Millions
The Open Network (TON) was initially developed by Telegram to create a decentralized network capable of supporting a wide range of applications. Its architecture includes TON Blockchain, TON Storage, TON DNS, and various other services—all designed to work together seamlessly.
At its core, the TON Blockchain utilizes a dynamic sharding mechanism that enables high transaction throughput and scalability. This structure allows the network to process millions of transactions per second and scale efficiently as user numbers grow. For developers looking to build for mass adoption without compromising on speed or security, TON offers a robust foundation.
User-Friendly Onboarding and Wallet Experience
One of the biggest hurdles to cryptocurrency adoption is poor user experience. Traditional wallets require users to safely store and recall complex seed phrases—a process that is neither intuitive nor secure for beginners.
Telegram simplifies this through its integrated wallet solution, which allows users to seamlessly connect to mini-apps. Users can easily buy, sell, and manage tokens and NFTs directly within the Telegram interface, using either custodial or self-custodial options. With TON’s self-hosted wallet, users can restore access using their Telegram account and email—eliminating the need to remember seed phrases.
This streamlined experience has already attracted over 15 million users to the Telegram Wallet, and the number continues to grow rapidly.
The Rise of Crypto Mini-Apps
A key innovation within the TON ecosystem is the concept of “mini-apps”—lightweight applications and bots that operate within Telegram. Over 300 million users interact with these mini-apps each month, ranging from chat-based tools to casual games.
With TON, developers can embed crypto functionalities directly into these apps, dramatically improving user experience and enabling new use cases. Over 300 projects are already building on TON, most of which have launched mini-apps accessible via the Telegram app center.
Examples include:
- BonkBot, a meme coin trading tool that has generated tens of millions in revenue
- StormTrade, a perpetual trading platform facilitating over $10 million in daily volume
- Catizen, a cat-themed game with over 4 million users
- Notcoin, a social clicker game that attracted 30 million users in one of the fastest crypto adoption cycles ever recorded
The TON Foundation has also launched an incentive program to reward developers who build successful applications—further accelerating growth and innovation.
New Ways to Earn and Monetize
TON introduces novel monetization mechanisms for creators, communities, and everyday users. Fragment, a decentralized marketplace on TON, allows users to trade virtual collectibles like custom usernames and virtual phone numbers. To date, it has facilitated over $350 million in sales.
In the near future, Telegram’s 730 billion sent stickers could be tokenized as NFTs, creating a new digital asset class tradable on TON. Additionally, Telegram has introduced ad-revenue sharing for channel owners—enabling creators to earn directly from their audience without intermediaries.
Native Stablecoin Payments
In April 2024, Tether announced the deployment of USDt (USDT) on the TON blockchain and within the Telegram Wallet. This was a landmark moment for the industry, enabling hundreds of millions of users to send and receive stablecoins as easily as using Venmo or Apple Cash.
Thanks to TON’s scalability, transaction fees are fixed at around $0.10—approximately 66% cheaper than other major crypto payment networks. Telegram also plans to integrate on-ramps and off-ramps via bank transfers and exchanges, making it easier than ever to move between fiat and crypto.
This is particularly impactful in developing regions, where many lack access to banking services and are forced to rely on complex crypto interfaces. With USDT on TON, Telegram is paving the way for a truly accessible, decentralized financial system.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TON?
TON (The Open Network) is a high-performance blockchain originally designed by the team behind Telegram. It is now developed as an open-source project and is tailored for mass adoption through seamless integration with Telegram.
Why did Pantera Capital invest in TON?
Pantera believes TON is uniquely positioned to drive crypto adoption at scale due to Telegram’s enormous user base, regulatory flexibility, and growing ecosystem of mini-apps and services.
How can I use TON?
You can access TON-based apps and services directly through Telegram. This includes trading tokens, playing games, earning through mini-apps, and sending low-cost payments via USDT.
Is TON secure?
Yes. TON uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism with dynamic sharding, making it highly scalable and secure against attacks.
What are Telegram mini-apps?
Mini-apps are lightweight applications that run within Telegram. They can include games, trading tools, social platforms, and more—all accessible without leaving the app.
Can I earn money on TON?
Absolutely. Users can earn through token rewards in games, revenue sharing as content creators, trading collectibles on Fragment, and more.
Conclusion
TON is still in its early stages, but it already demonstrates tremendous potential to redefine how users interact with blockchain technology. By combining Telegram’s vast reach with a scalable, open, and user-friendly blockchain, TON is well-positioned to become one of the largest crypto networks in the world.
At Pantera Capital, we are excited to support TON’s growth and the builders who are creating the next generation of decentralized applications.