Pantera Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in The Open Network (TON). It is the crypto-focused venture capital firm’s “latest” investment in TON and motivated by its connection to the Telegram messaging service, the company said.
Telegram’s decision in April to incorporate TON gives TON “potential to become one of the largest crypto networks,” Pantera said in a long and enthusiastic blog post on its website. Telegram, with its 900 million monthly users and 36.7 million monthly downloads, “is well positioned to bring crypto to the world because of its shared Web3 ethos.”
In a laundry list of TON’s virtues, Pantera said the architecture of the TON blockchain provides performance and scalability that compares favorably with leading blockchains, and its wallet offers high utility with a simple interface.
Pantera also praised the mini-apps TON enables on Telegram:
“Earlier this year, we observed how memecoin trading tools like BonkBot generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue through Telegram’s user interface. TON-based applications, such as StormTrade, now enable users to trade perpetuals, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and equities using the same interface.”
Furthermore, Telegram is offering new opportunities for monetization, such as ad revenue sharing and tradable customized usernames, virtual phone numbers and emojis.
Related: Tether issued on TON blockchain at a ‘great start,’ says CEO — Now at $60M
The Telegram-TON linkup was a notable achievement, Pantera noted. TON was originally designed to integrate with Telegram, but its initial attempt was foiled by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Telegram was able to reunite TON after the network was relaunched by independent developers, making it the only major messaging platform to incorporate Web3.
Messenger was unable to overcome regulatory hurdles to incorporate the Libra coin and gave up the effort. WeChat’s use of the digital yuan has “limited scope,” Pantera said.
Pantera has $5.2 billion of assets under management in four funds. It announced the formation of a new $1 billion fund in April.
Cointelegraph reached out to Pantera for more information but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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