TON Foundation Sets Up $90M Ecosystem Fund

The stewards of the TON Foundation have set up a new $90 million ecosystem fund, continuing its recent attempts to get the Telegram-founded blockchain project back into gear.

The new TON Alpha-Vista Fund (TAV) has VistaLabs, Alphanonce, Miner’s Fund and Kilo Fund among its backers, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk.

The fund's aim is to establish new projects on TON and promote its user as a layer 1, or base, blockchain through advisory services and financial backing.

TON is a proof-of-stake blockchain originally created by Telegram in 2017, but which was shut down by the messaging app in August 2020 following legal action from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that it had run an unregistered securities sale.

The reincarnated project, also referred to as Toncoin – named after the blockchain's native token – is the work of members of the original community who wished to see it survive. It claims to be entirely separate from Telegram, though it does have CEO Pavel Durov's endorsement.

Those stewards of the project – known as the TON Foundation – have been busy in recent months attempting to renew interest and engagement with it.

In April, the foundation raised $250 million for its first ecosystem fund with the venture arms of crypto exchanges Huobi and Kucoin among the investors.

Later that month, around $1 billion was raised via 176 different donations from users who wished to see the ecosystem advanced.

Shortly after, toncoin was integrated into the @wallet bot on Telegram allowing users to send and receive TON within the app.

Read more: Arrington Capital Launches $100M Growth Fund for Moonbeam Ecosystem

UPDATE (15:20 UTC July 7 2022): Adds reference to $1 billion raised from TON users in April

UPDATE (16:20 UTC July 7 2022): Amends headline and first paragraph removing references to TON Foundation raising the $90 million