The growth of TON price coincided with the public expansion of the messenger. Our experts assessed the prospects for a cryptocurrency ecosystem with its support
The cryptocurrency Toncoin (TON) has secured its place in the top ten largest crypto assets by capitalization. And at the same time taking the ninth line of the CoinMarketCap rating between Dogecoin and Cardano. The price of the coin has grown two and a half times in the past month. The growth of its rate was greatly accelerated after the release of an interview of the founder and owner of Telegram Pavel Durov to the Financial Times. And in which he said that the messenger received a preliminary valuation of $ 30 billion before a possible IPO.
In the sensational interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov mentioned that he had "several hundred million in dollars and bitcoins" 10 years ago. And he "didn't do anything with them" because Telegram was "never about money" for him. Earlier, Durov said that of all cryptocurrencies he only holds Bitcoin and Toncoin.
Cryptocurrencies in Telegram
Formally, Telegram has nothing to do with projects in the TON ecosystem. And for which Toncoin serves as the main currency. But the messenger team is obviously supporting the developers. The messenger interface includes a cryptocurrency wallet that supports only bitcoin, USDT stablecoin and Toncoin itself. In it, you can also activate an additional Ton Space wallet. And which serves to interact with online projects operating on the TON blockchain. And tokens and NFTs issued on this blockchain.
On April 19, Durov is scheduled to make an announcement at the Token2049 cryptocurrency conference in Dubai together with Paolo Ardoino, the head of Tether, a USDT steiblcoin issuing company. Officially, the topic of the speech was not advertised. But in thematic Telegram channels and chats, the probable launch of USDT in the TON network is widely discussed.
Possible difficulties for the growth of the Ton ecosystem
The main difficulty that awaits TON is related to the market's transition into the inevitable phase of correction. The bulk of the audience today are "newcomers looking for an easy profit". And the cryptozyme crisis will hit such people the hardest, our experts believe. Indirectly, there are also risks from the U.S. Department of Justice, which may provoke new proceedings against Telegram. Especially since the precedent already exists in the legal field of the country and transferring it to a new token will be easier from the point of view of the law.
Possible difficulties may be related to excessive attention of regulators, primarily the US and the EU. Formally, Toncoin may fit the definition of an investment contract. And be considered as a security by the US SEC. In Europe, MiCA legislation comes into full force this year, and how European regulators will classify Toncoin is still unclear.
Another potential problem is abuse by criminal elements. This point will be especially relevant if the TON blockchain is used to issue stablecoins. For example, the Tron network (the most popular of those on which USDT operates) has already been accused of aiding and abetting terrorists. According to the U.S. authorities, Tron is used by them even more than bitcoin - it is the stablecoins that are used first and foremost.
