Pantera Capital invests in TON blockchain, looking to capitalize on Telegram users

Pantera Capital invests in TON blockchain, looking to capitalize on Telegram users

Pantera Capital has invested in The Open Network (TON) blockchain.
“TON has the capacity to introduce crypto to the masses,” according to the venture firm.

Pantera Capital, a crypto venture capital firm with over $5 billion worth of assets under management, has invested in The Open Network (
TON +11.69%
) blockchain.

"We believe TON has the capacity to introduce crypto to the masses because it is used extensively within the Telegram network," Pantera Capital said Thursday. TON is a Layer 1 blockchain network initially designed by the messaging platform Telegram and continued by the open-source community.

Pantera's investment in TON comes as the Layer 1 blockchain has recently garnered attention. In February, Telegram revealed a plan to share ad revenue with channel owners and pay rewards using the Toncoin (TON) token. Telegram recently implemented that plan and allowed users to purchase in-platform ads with TON.

Given Telegram's massive reach of over 900 million monthly active users and over 1 trillion views in channels every month, TON can potentially bring mass adoption of crypto, according to Pantera Capital.

"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 base," the firm said.

Telegram recently also enabled Tether (USDT) stablecoin payments via the TON blockchain. This means Telegram users can now start making USDT payments to each other through the TON network.