Pantera Capital, a venture capital firm focused on cryptocurrencies, has made an undisclosed investment in The Open Network (TON). This marks Pantera’s latest investment in TON and is driven by the firm’s connection to the popular messaging service, Telegram.
Pantera believes that TON has the potential to become one of the largest crypto networks due to Telegram’s decision to incorporate it in April. With 900 million monthly users and 36.7 million monthly downloads, Telegram is well-positioned to bring cryptocurrencies to the masses, thanks to its shared Web3 ethos.
Pantera praises TON’s architecture, stating that its blockchain offers impressive performance and scalability when compared to other leading blockchains. Additionally, TON’s wallet provides high utility with a user-friendly interface.
One of the standout features of TON, according to Pantera, is the mini-apps it enables on Telegram. This opens up new opportunities for monetization, including ad revenue sharing and tradable customized usernames, virtual phone numbers, and emojis.
Pantera acknowledges that the Telegram-TON partnership is a significant achievement. TON was initially designed to integrate with Telegram but faced regulatory hurdles from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. However, after being relaunched by independent developers, Telegram was able to reunite with TON, making it the only major messaging platform to incorporate Web3.
Pantera also compares Telegram’s efforts to other messaging platforms. Messenger failed to incorporate Meta’s Libra coin due to regulatory challenges, while WeChat’s use of the digital yuan is limited in scope, according to Pantera.
With $5.2 billion of assets under management in four funds, Pantera recently announced the formation of a new $1 billion fund in April.
Cointelegraph attempted to reach out to Pantera for more information but did not receive a response at the time of publication.