Pantera Capital Announces Investment In Telegram’s TON For Web3 Adoption

Key Points

• Pantera Capital announces a new investment in TON, a Layer 1 network initially designed by Telegram.
• The investment aims to introduce crypto to the masses, according to Pantera.

Pantera Capital's Investment in TON

Pantera Capital has recently announced its investment in TON, a Layer 1 network originally created by Telegram and continued by the open-source community. Pantera expresses confidence in TON's potential to bring crypto to the mainstream.

In its official announcement, Pantera explains that TON's ability to introduce crypto to the masses stems from its extensive use within the Telegram network. Telegram boasts over 900 million monthly active users on its fast, secure, and future-facing messaging platform.

Pantera Capital believes that TON, by leveraging Telegram's vast user base and seamless UX, can become one of the largest crypto networks.

Combining Web3 with Large-Scale Distribution

As noted in the official announcement, Telegram is a platform that embodies many of the principles of crypto and also has significant distribution.

The platform surpasses its alternative, Signal, by ten times in terms of monthly downloads. Telegram reportedly garnered over 36.7 million downloads in January 2024 alone.

Telegram vs Signal

Moreover, Telegram stands out as the only major platform free from regulatory hurdles, which allows it to seamlessly integrate Web3 for an open blockchain network.

According to Pantera Capital, Telegram's shared Web3 ethos and massive scale distribution make it the ideal choice to introduce crypto to the world.

The Open Network (TON)

The Open Network (TON) is a blockchain initiative developed by Telegram and repurposed to create a decentralized network capable of supporting various applications by leveraging the app's large user base.

TON features a multi-component ecosystem, including TON Blockchain, TON Storage, TON DNS, and TON Services.

According to Pantera's analysis, the TON Blockchain is designed for high performance and scalability. Its sharding mechanism enables it to process transactions quickly, handling millions of transactions per second and scaling efficiently without compromising speed or security.

In its analysis, Pantera also presents a comparison of TON, Ethereum, and Solana, highlighting features such as block time, time-to-finality, simple transaction performance, complex transaction performance, sharding support, and cross-shard communication. TON emerges as the superior choice based on their analysis.

TON vs Ethereum vs Solana

Onboarding and User Experience

Pantera Capital also emphasizes the ease of onboarding with Telegram, highlighting the Top.co Wallet, which allows users to connect to mini apps. Through this interface, users can buy, sell, and manage tokens and NFTs.

Over 360 million users engage monthly with Telegram's "mini apps," which include chatbots, mini-games, and more.

Pantera envisions the integration of crypto into these "mini apps" to significantly enhance the user base and experience.

TON's Monetization Opportunities

TON unlocks various ways for the Telegram community to monetize, share, and grow their businesses, according to Pantera. They also highlight Fragment, the decentralized marketplace on TON, which has facilitated over $350 million in sales of custom usernames and virtual phone numbers.

Telegram is further integrating revenue sharing with creators and channel owners through Fragment, rewarding creators and fostering a closer relationship between the platform and its users.

Recent Developments

Tether (USDT) recently announced the deployment of its stablecoin on the TON blockchain and in Telegram's wallet. This move represents a significant milestone for the crypto industry.

Additionally, TON recently shared its mass adoption story via X, showcasing its growing recognition, significant on-chain activity, monthly active users, and other key metrics that have reached new all-time highs.