Author: Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital recently announced its latest investment in TON. TON is a layer 1 blockchain network initially designed by Telegram and continued to be developed by the open-source community. We believe TON has the potential to introduce cryptocurrency to the masses, as it has been widely used within the Telegram network. Telegram, a forward-looking, fast, and secure messaging platform, has over 900 million monthly active users, used for personal and team communication, large-scale community building, content sharing, and more.
By leveraging Telegram's large user base, seamless user experience, and the vitality of the emerging TON ecosystem, we believe TON has the potential to become one of the largest cryptocurrency networks.
Combining the Spirit of Web3 with Mass Distribution
Among the world's leading communication tools, Telegram stands out as a platform that not only embodies much of the spirit of cryptocurrency but also has significant distribution. Telegram's monthly downloads often exceed those of its closest alternative, Signal, by 10 times, with over 36.7 million downloads in January 2024.
What about other messaging apps? Telegram is the only major platform unencumbered by regulation that can integrate Web3 into an open blockchain network. While Facebook's Messenger attempted to integrate encrypted payments with Libra, they ultimately faced regulatory hurdles in the United States, leading to complete shutdown. WeChat attempted to integrate CBDC payments for digital yuan, but the system's scope was limited, and developers lacked the ability to create permissionless applications.
We believe that due to Telegram's shared Web3 spirit and widespread distribution in the crypto world, Telegram is well-positioned to bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream world.
A Scalable Platform for Hundreds of Millions
TON is a blockchain initiative developed by Telegram, aiming to leverage the extensive user base of messaging applications to create a decentralized network capable of supporting various applications. TON has a multi-component ecosystem, including TON Blockchain, TON Storage, TON DNS, and TON Services, all integrated to operate seamlessly.
The backbone of this system, TON Blockchain, is built for high performance and scalability, capable of rapidly processing transactions with its dynamic sharding mechanism. This architecture ensures the network can handle millions of transactions per second and scales effectively with the growth of users, making it an ideal choice for developers looking to launch applications for hundreds of millions of users without compromising speed or security.
TON's dynamic sharding provides a scalable network for millions of users.
Easy Entry into the Crypto World
Getting users to use crypto applications is often challenging. New users need to write down a 24-word key and store it in a secure place. But what if they forget the password? How do they send or receive payments to other users? Copying and pasting public keys may not be the best experience.
Telegram has simplified many complexities through the Top.co wallet within Telegram, allowing users to seamlessly connect to mini-programs. Users can easily buy, sell, or manage tokens and NFTs in one interface and can access them directly through Telegram settings and personal chats.
The wallet in Telegram features both TON-hosted and self-hosted management, allowing all users to enjoy an easy onboarding experience while experienced users can choose to fully control their keys. With TON's self-hosted wallet, users don't need to remember mnemonic phrases; instead, they can simply use Telegram and email as backups.
The Top.co Telegram wallet has 15 million users and continues to grow.
The Era of Crypto Mini-Programs
The thriving ecosystem of TON leverages Telegram's innovative design and massive user base. Over 360 million users use what Telegram calls "mini-programs" each month, including chatbots and mini-games. Through TON, we expect integrating crypto technology into these "mini-programs" to significantly enhance the user experience for hundreds of millions of users. There are over 300 projects on TON, with most building mini-programs on Telegram accessible through the Telegram application center.
Earlier this year, we observed how meme coin trading tools like BonkBot generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue through the Telegram user interface. Applications based on TON (such as StormTrade) now allow users to trade perpetual contracts, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and shares using the same interface. StormTrade's daily trading volume exceeds $10 million, and we believe similar TON-native Telegram bots will become the preferred user experience for many traders.
Telegram is the foundation for viral social and gaming applications. Early experimental Telegram games like Pixels and Fanzee Battles attracted millions of users within days, demonstrating the platform's enormous potential for user engagement. Catizen is a cat-themed mini-game platform built on TON, currently with over 4 million users, with over 700,000 users playing daily. Notcoin is a social app built on TON where users compete to mine digital currency, rapidly attracting over 30 million users, making it one of the fastest cryptocurrency adoption events ever.
The TON Foundation recently announced their incentive program, which will reward successful TON application development. We believe this will foster the creation of exciting new crypto mini-programs that have the potential to attract the masses.
Unlocking New Ways to Earn
TON is providing the Telegram community with various ways to monetize, share, and grow businesses. As a decentralized marketplace on the TON network, Fragment provides a platform where users can trade collectibles such as virtual phone numbers and custom Telegram usernames. Fragment has facilitated over $350 million in sales of custom usernames and virtual phone numbers. This is just the beginning. In the near future, the 730 billion Telegram stickers sent could potentially be transformed into NFTs. These NFTs could then be bought and sold using the TON blockchain.
Telegram took an important step forward by integrating revenue sharing with content creators and channel owners through its Fragment platform based on the TON blockchain. This marks a shift in the traditional social media model, directly allowing these creators to earn income from advertising revenue on their channels. This approach not only rewards content creators but also fosters a closer relationship between the platform and its users, promoting a more equitable distribution of economic benefits within the digital ecosystem.
Native Stablecoin Payments
On April 19, 2024, Tether announced the deployment of its stablecoin, USDt, on the TON blockchain and Telegram wallet. This development represents a significant advancement in the crypto industry, as it allows hundreds of millions of users to seamlessly send and receive stablecoins through the Telegram platform, making payments as simple as using Venmo or Apple Cash.
The scalability of the TON network allows transactions between two users to incur a fixed fee of approximately $0.10, which is 66% cheaper than other crypto payment platforms. Additionally, it provides built-in deposit and withdrawal channels, including bank transfers and exchanges, to further facilitate access and use.
Stablecoin payments on TON
We believe that stablecoin payments on the Telegram wallet are particularly important for individuals in developing countries who often lack access to banking services and are forced to use complex crypto user interfaces to store and transfer funds. With stablecoins deployed on the TON network, cryptocurrency is taking a significant leap towards realizing the vision of programmable peer-to-peer currency and a globally accessible decentralized financial system.
Conclusion
We believe the TON network is still in its early stages, and we are excited to witness the adoption of its ecosystem and new features by the Telegram user community.
At its core, Telegram embodies the spirit of cryptocurrency: an open, free network accessible to everyone. With TON, Telegram has achieved a symbiotic relationship where scalable smart contract capabilities and a robust payment network enable breakthrough functionalities that were not achievable in the Web2 environment.
With its massive user base, scalable infrastructure, thriving mini-program ecosystem, and native stablecoin transactions, TON fully harnesses the potential of a network with 900 million active users.
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