TON Users Donate $1 Billion Towards Advancing Ecosystem

The Ton Foundation, which has been handling the cryptocurrency project since messaging app Telegram abandoned it, has revealed that users have donated over $1 billion to the foundation to advance the TON ecosystem.  

The foundation is attempting to rebuild the project and its ecosystem and attempting to attract developers. 

A Significant Contribution 

TON users made their donations in Toncoin (TON), the ecosystem’s native token. The donations were made over a ten-day window which had started on the 7th of April. In all, 527 million TON were donated, which equals just over $1 billion. The donations were primarily made by TON whales, coming from 176 separate donations. Out of the donations, 18 were over 10 million TON, and a further 37 were over 4 million TON, according to a spokesperson for the TON Foundation. 

Rebuilding The Ecosystem 

The TON Foundation is at the heart of rebuilding the TON ecosystem and attracting builders and Web 3.0 developers. A spokesperson for the foundation revealed that there is no direct incentive planned for donors, adding that the donors were motivated to better and benefit the existing ecosystem and help make it successful. 

“We think donors realize that TON’s success is helped by having a well-capitalized foundation to support the ecosystem.”

An Initiative To Keep TON Afloat 

Members of the larger blockchain community founded the TON Foundation. Since its inception, the foundation has had one goal – to ensure that the project continues after Telegram pulled the plug on it in 2020 after a lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Foundation’s attempts at reviving the project have met with considerable success and received an investment of $250 million for its first ecosystem fund. The backers of the reincarnated project included the venture arms of Huobi and Kucoin. The current version of Toncoin is independent of Telegram but has received an endorsement from Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram. 

Integration With Telegram?

In early 2021, founding member of the TON Foundation, Andrew Rogozov, stated that Toncoin was well on its way to becoming fully integrated with Telegram, a move that would make TON available to all of Telegram’s users. However, a spokesperson revealed that no such plans had been shared. 

TON’s ICO Setback 

Back when TON was still with Telegram, the project had missed its launch date of the 30th of April, 2020. Following this setback, Telegram offered investors an immediate 72% refund or a 110% refund a year later. The delay occurred after Telegram accepted a ruling that the company could not distribute the token or launch the project until issues were ironed out. However, after missing the 30th of April deadline, Telegram sent another communication to American investors, stating that they would be eligible only for the immediate 72% refund and not the 110% refund option. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.