Written by Elizabeth Howcroft

(Reuters) – The worth of a coin referred to as TON has soared in current months, with buyers betting that an integration with messenger service Telegram might convey the cryptocurrency to the app's estimated 900 million customers. I'm betting.

Telegram endorsed TON final September, saying the blockchain and associated tokens would turn into its “official Web3 infrastructure.” TON introduced earlier this month that it’s going to additionally be capable to problem tokens on its blockchain, permitting Telegram customers to ship stablecoins to one another inside the app.

The TON token soared, reaching $7.63 on April 11, in comparison with round $2.21 a 12 months in the past, in accordance with CoinGecko knowledge.

With a complete circulation of $18.3 billion, it’s the tenth largest cryptocurrency after meme cash.

The prospect of a “tremendous app” or “app for every thing” that may combine funds and procuring with social media and messaging providers has lengthy been the holy grail for buyers trying to China's WeChat for inspiration. On the earth of cryptocurrencies, it’s typically referred to as “SocialFi”, an abbreviation for social finance.

This concept was the driving pressure behind Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter (now XX) in 2022. Binance, which offered funding for the acquisition, mentioned it could discover how cryptocurrencies may very well be used on its platform. His Revolut within the UK, on ​​the opposite hand, approached it from a unique route, beginning with a monetary app and including social options on high.

Thomas Paesch, CEO of digital asset hedge fund Indigo, mentioned TON's enchantment is a part of broader curiosity in tremendous apps, however can also be being helped by a resurgence in altcoins total.

“Curiosity in alternate options has returned, and due to Telegram's assist, many individuals are shopping for into the challenge, and TON has outperformed a lot of its friends,” he mentioned, including that Indigo has traded TON tokens. added.

TON (quick for “The Open Community”) affords a cryptocurrency pockets product inside Telegram, which has over 6 million month-to-month customers.

Libra failure

Efforts to convey cryptocurrency funds to social media have up to now not been broadly profitable. Fb (NASDAQ:) has introduced that its Libra cryptocurrency challenge might be launched after fierce opposition from regulators around the globe who feared it might undermine monetary stability and undermine management over financial coverage. completed.

“The current foray into cryptocurrency funds by Telegram has introduced new use instances to the app, however its acceptance and adoption remains to be in its early phases,” mentioned Robert Le, senior analyst at Pitchbook. , mentioned enterprise capital curiosity is growing. Social Phi.

“The principle problem is to vary the notion of customers in non-Asian markets, the place messaging apps are seen primarily as purely for communication slightly than as multi-functional platforms.”

Ram Gopal, a professor at Warwick Enterprise College, mentioned such an integration would pose “regulatory, technical and safety challenges”.

“Regulators could also be involved about how these platforms adjust to present monetary laws,” he mentioned.

He added: “Making certain that customers are shielded from potential losses from fraud, fraud and cryptocurrency fluctuations might be a key concern for regulators.”

historical past of ton

Telegram Messenger raised $1.7 billion in 2018 by making a TON blockchain and promoting associated cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, the challenge was hit by costs from the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee that the token sale violated federal securities legal guidelines.

As a part of its 2020 settlement with the SEC, Telegram agreed to halt growth of TON. It didn’t admit or deny the SEC's allegations.

In keeping with the historical past on TON's web site, a gaggle of unrelated builders then continued work on the challenge, choosing up the place Telegram left off.

TON states that it’s decentralized primarily based on an open supply codebase and has no single administrative authority. Behind it’s a non-profit basis registered in Zug, Switzerland.

A TON spokesperson mentioned Telegram and TON are clearly separate entities.

The president of the TON Basis is Steve Yun, in accordance with the group's web site. Andrew Rogozov, former CEO of Russian social media website VK, is a founding member of the muse, in accordance with his LinkedIn profile. He spoke at a convention in Dubai the place a partnership to problem stablecoins on the TON blockchain was introduced, together with Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.

(This text has been amended to appropriate the spelling of Andrew Rogozov's identify in paragraph 21)