Pantera’s High Hopes: Investing in TON for Telegram’s Future

Crypto venture capital firm Pantera Capital has made an undisclosed investment in The Open Network (TON) due to its connection to popular messaging service Telegram. Pantera believes that TON has the potential to become one of the largest crypto networks, especially after Telegram’s decision to adopt it. With 900 million monthly users and 36.7 million monthly downloads, Telegram is in a strong position to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. Pantera also praised TON’s architecture, stating that it offers impressive performance and scalability compared to other leading blockchains. TON’s wallet provides a user-friendly interface with high utility. Pantera also highlighted the mini-apps enabled on Telegram through TON, such as StormTrade, which allows users to trade a variety of assets seamlessly. Telegram’s integration with TON also opens up new monetization opportunities, including ad revenue sharing and tradable customized usernames, virtual phone numbers, and emojis. TON initially faced regulatory obstacles due to its previous link to Telegram, but after being relaunched by independent developers, it became the only major messaging platform to incorporate Web3 technology. In contrast, messaging platforms like Messenger struggled to incorporate digital assets like Libra due to regulatory challenges. Similarly, WeChat’s use of the digital yuan is limited in scope according to Pantera. Pantera Capital manages around $5.2 billion in assets across its four funds and recently announced the formation of a $1 billion fund. contacted Pantera for further information but did not receive a response.