TON Foundation reveals Coinbase Ventures invested in Toncoin

The TON Foundation revealed that the venture arm of Coinbase has invested in its network.

The TON ecosystem is expanding after securing another major partnership. On Monday, August 11, the TON Foundation announced that Coinbase Ventures invested in Toncoin Toncoin (TON).

According to the foundation, the move was a “major vote of confidence” for The Open Network’s ecosystem. It noted that Coinbase joins other prominent VC firms, including Sequoia, Ribbit, and Benchmark, which also hold Toncoin.

Back in March, TON Foundation secured a $400 million investment from major VC firms. Investors included Sequoia Capital, Ribbit, Paradigm, Benchmark, and Kingsway, who invested through Toncoin.

The foundation emphasized that this was not a traditional funding round in which VCs purchase company shares. Instead, the venture firms bought Toncoin directly, betting on its utility within the TON ecosystem.

In July, Bloomberg reported that the TON Foundation is seeking to create a crypto treasury company for Toncoin. The foundation stated that it aims for the company to hold at least $400 million in Toncoin.

TON leverages Telegram for growth

TON’s close ties to the Telegram messenger remain its main growth driver. According to Statista, Telegram has over 1 billion monthly active users, which TON hopes to convert into crypto natives.

Specifically, TON serves as the utility token for Telegram’s mini-apps, which enable blockchain integration. This has brought several viral clicker apps, including Notcoin, which at one point boasted over 650,000 users.

Hype over viral mini-apps propelled its DeFi TVL to its all-time high in January 2024 of nearly $800 million. However, since then, this figure has fallen to $152.48 million, as users lost interest in clicker apps.