Pantera Capital Backs TON with Multi-Million Dollar Investment, Eyes Mainstream Crypto Adoption
- Leading crypto venture capital firm, Pantera Capital, has announced it will invest in The Open Network (TON).
- Pantera cites TON’s close association with messaging app, Telegram, and the network’s extensive use within the app, as key factors in its decisions.
Crypto-focussed venture capital firm, Pantera Capital, has announced via its blog that it has invested in The Open Network (TON) blockchain.
Pantera says its decision to invest in the TON blockchain was largely due to its belief that TON could onboard millions of new web3 users and bring crypto to the mainstream through its deep integration with Telegram. TON was initially created by the messaging app Telegram but is now an open-source project.
The exact size of the Pantera’s investment was not disclosed, but it’s thought to be in the millions of dollars.
Related: Telegram Introduces Toncoin Payments for Channel Ads, Promises 50% Revenue Share with Channel Owners
TON To Become A Leading Blockchain, Says Pantera Capital
Ryan Barney, a partner at Pantera Capital, said TON’s close association with Telegram gives it the potential to become one of the largest blockchain networks:
Telegram has over 900 million monthly active users on its future-facing, fast, and secure messaging platform that is used for personal and group communications, large-scale community building, content sharing, and more…By leveraging Telegram’s vast user base and seamless UX with the vibrancy of TON’s emerging ecosystem, we believe TON has the potential to become one of the largest crypto networks.
Barney also said Telegram embodies much of the “Web3 ethos” and is “the only major (messaging) platform that is free of regulatory hurdles to incorporate Web3 for an open blockchain network” — both factors which Pantera says make the network a good investment.
TON Is The Best Crypto Ever, Claims Pantera Capital
Pantera’s announcement focusses heavily on espousing the virtues of the TON blockchain over its rivals, such as Ethereum and Solana, pointing to TON’s advantages such as lower fees and better scalability.
The announcement also emphasises the importance of Telegram’s efforts to ease users’ introduction into Web3, highlighting things like the app’s easier, passphrase-free wallet creation, which allows users to buy and sell crypto from within the familiar interface of the messaging app without needing to remember their passphrase. Plus Telegram’s new revenue sharing model, which leverages the TON blockchain.
The recent launch of USDt on the network may allow it to compete with the likes of Venmo and Apple as a payments platform, according to Pantera:
The TON network’s scalability allows for a fixed fee of ~$0.10 for transactions between two users – that is 66% cheaper than other crypto payment platforms. Additionally, built-in on-ramps and off-ramps, including bank transfers and exchanges, are being made available to further facilitate access and use.
Pantera Capital is one of the world’s leading investors in crypto projects, having over US$5 billion in assets under management — some of its other crypto investments include 1inch, Ripple, Polkadot and Brave.
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