Author: Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital; Translation: 0xjs@黄金财经

Foreword

Pantera Capital is pleased to announce its latest investment in TON. TON is a layer 1 blockchain network originally designed by Telegram and continues to be developed by the open source community. We believe TON has the ability to introduce cryptocurrency to the masses because it is widely used in the Telegram network. Telegram's future-oriented, fast and secure messaging platform has more than 900 million monthly active users, which is used for personal and team communication, large-scale community building, content sharing, and more.

By leveraging Telegram's large user base and seamless user experience and the vitality of TON's emerging ecosystem, we believe TON has the potential to become one of the largest crypto networks.

Combining the spirit of Web3 with mass distribution

Among the world's leading communication tools, Telegram stands out because its platform not only embodies much of the spirit of cryptocurrency, but also has significant distribution. Telegram regularly outpaces its closest alternative, Signal, by 10x in monthly downloads, with over 36.7 million downloads in January 2024.

Telegram & Signal: Monthly Downloads January 2024

What about other messengers? Telegram is the only major platform that is not facing regulatory barriers to incorporate Web3 into an open blockchain network. While Facebook’s Messenger has attempted to integrate crypto payments with Libra, they ultimately faced regulatory hurdles from the US, leading to a complete shutdown. WeChat has tried to integrate CBDC payments for the digital yuan, but the system was limited in scope and developers did not have the ability to create permissionless applications.  

We believe that Telegram is well-positioned to bring cryptocurrencies to the mainstream world due to its shared Web3 ethos and wide distribution with the crypto world.  

A Scalable Platform Built for Hundreds of Millions of People

TON is a blockchain initiative developed by Telegram that aims to leverage the messaging app’s broad user base to create a decentralized network capable of supporting a wide range of applications. TON features a multi-component ecosystem that includes the TON Blockchain, TON Storage, TON DNS, and TON Services, all integrated to operate seamlessly.

The system's backbone, the TON blockchain, is built for high performance and scalability, processing transactions quickly thanks to its dynamic sharding mechanism. This architecture ensures that the network can process millions of transactions per second and scale efficiently as the number of users grows, making it an ideal choice for developers aiming to launch applications for hundreds of millions of users without compromising speed or security. TON Dynamic sharding provides a scalable network for millions of users

Easy entry into the world of crypto

Getting users on board with crypto applications is often difficult. New users need to write down their 24-word secret key and store it in a safe place. But what if you forget your password? How do you send or receive money from other users? Copying and pasting your public key may not be the best experience.

Telegram has simplified many of these complexities with the Top.co Wallet in Telegram, which enables users to seamlessly connect to mini-programs. Users can easily buy, sell, or manage tokens and NFTs in one interface, accessible directly from Telegram settings and personal chats.

The wallet in Telegram features both escrow and self-custody management based on TON, giving all users an easy onboarding experience while giving experienced users the option to have full control over their keys. With TON’s self-custody wallet, users don’t need to remember mnemonics; instead, they can simply use Telegram and email as a backup.

Top.co

The Crypto Mini-App Era

TON’s thriving ecosystem leverages Telegram’s innovative design and large user base. More than 360 million users per month use what Telegram calls “mini-apps,” which include chatbots and mini-games. With TON, we expect that the integration of crypto into these “mini-apps” will significantly enhance the user experience for hundreds of millions of users. There are over 300 projects on TON, most of which have built mini-apps on Telegram, accessible through the Telegram App Center.

Earlier this year, we observed how memecoin trading tools like BonkBot were able to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue through Telegram’s user interface. TON-based applications such as StormTrade now allow users to trade perpetual contracts, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and shares using the same interface. StormTrade is trading over $10 million per day, and we believe similar TON-native Telegram bots will become the preferred user experience for many traders.

Telegram is home to viral social and gaming apps. Early experimental Telegram games like Pixels and Fanzee Battles attracted millions of users in a matter of days, demonstrating the platform’s huge potential for user engagement. Catizen, a cat-themed mini-game platform built on TON, currently has over 4 million users, with over 700,000 playing daily. Notcoin, a social app built on TON where users compete to mine digital currency, has quickly attracted over 30 million users, one of the fastest cryptocurrency adoption events ever.  

The TON Foundation recently announced their incentive program, which will reward the development of successful TON apps. We believe this will spur the creation of exciting new crypto-apps that have the potential to appeal to the masses.

Unlocking New Ways to Make Money 

TON is providing the Telegram community with multiple ways to monetize, share, and grow their 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 already facilitated over $350 million in sales of custom usernames and virtual phone numbers. And this is just the beginning. In the near future, the 730 billion Telegram stickers that have been sent may be converted into NFTs. These NFTs will then be available for purchase and sale through the TON blockchain.

Telegram has taken a significant step forward by integrating revenue sharing with content creators and channel owners through its Fragment platform built on the TON blockchain. The move marks a shift from the traditional social media model by directly allowing these creators to earn income from advertising revenue on their channels. This approach not only rewards content creators, but also promotes 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 for the crypto industry as it allows hundreds of millions of users to seamlessly send and receive stablecoins through the Telegram platform, making payments as easy as using Venmo or Apple Cash.

The scalability of the TON network allows for a flat fee of approximately $0.10 per transaction between two users, which is 66% cheaper than other crypto payment platforms. In addition, built-in deposit and withdrawal channels are available, including bank transfers and exchanges, to further facilitate access and use. TON  

We believe that stablecoin payments on the Telegram wallet will be 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 major leap towards the vision of programmable peer-to-peer money and a globally accessible decentralized financial system.

Conclusion

We believe that 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 base.  

At its core, Telegram embodies the spirit of cryptocurrency: an open, free network accessible to all. With TON, Telegram has achieved a symbiotic relationship where scalable smart contract functionality and a powerful payment network enable groundbreaking capabilities that are not possible in a Web2 environment.

Given its large user base, scalable infrastructure, thriving mini-app ecosystem, and native stablecoin transactions, TON fully taps into the potential of a network with 900 million active users.