The Open Platform simply joined the billion-dollar membership with its newest increase.
The Open Platform, a startup constructing crypto instruments for Telegram, stated in a press launch shared with The Defiant that it has raised $28.5 million in new funding at a $1 billion valuation. The corporate, also referred to as TOP, claims to be the primary unicorn within the ecosystem constructed on The Open Community (TON), which Telegram tapped as its unique blockchain companion in January.
The Collection A spherical was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Pantera Capital. TOP’s CEO, Andrew Rogozov — who beforehand led Russian social media large VK as CEO after it got here underneath nearer management by the Russian authorities — stated that the increase accounts for about 5% of the corporate’s fairness and didn’t contain any crypto. Together with earlier rounds, TOP has now raised greater than $70 million.
TOP develops Pockets, a TON-based crypto pockets built-in into Telegram’s interface, in addition to Telegram-based apps for gaming, funds, and NFTs. In a March interview, TOP instructed reporters that over 100 million customers have signed up for an account with Pockets on Telegram. TOP can be a backer of crypto pockets Tonkeeper, DEX STONfi, NFT market Getgems, and different apps and protocols within the TON ecosystem.
The Telegram-focused developer stated that the funds can be used to broaden TOP’s merchandise into the USA, the EU, and different areas. The corporate’s CEO additionally added {that a} huge a part of the funds will go towards compliance, licensing, and operational infrastructure.
Push into Gaming
When requested if there are any plans for pushing Pockets past the TON ecosystem, Alexander Kruglov, chief industrial officer at Pockets in Telegram, instructed The Defiant that the agency is concentrated on “creating TON’s ecosystem as a result of it’s the one know-how with the scalability essential to help an ecosystem for Telegram’s 1 billion customers.”
“We are going to proceed to focus our self-custodial product solely on TON — nonetheless we presently additionally present quite a lot of belongings in our custodial product for individuals who need to purchase, maintain and promote particular cryptos that aren’t native to TON,” Kruglov defined.
Moreover, in a commentary for The Defiant, Andrey Klebanov, managing companion at TOP Labs, stated that the TOP workforce needs to double down on blockchain gaming because it’s targeted “on rising the gaming vertical inside Telegram.”
“We consider it’s doable to construct sustainable video games on Telegram that have interaction customers with out counting on direct incentives. Gaming is without doubt one of the quickest and most intuitive methods to drive thousands and thousands of customers to start interacting with crypto — particularly with the rising asset financial system in Telegram,” Klebanov stated.
He additionally added that the workforce is “exploring the advantages that AI can convey.” TOP Lab’s managing companion instructed the Defiant:
“As well as, we see sturdy potential in AI brokers and DePIN: a easy, intuitive interface mixed with superior AI options can provide customers a complete new perspective on find out how to use — and profit from — Telegram. It’ll additionally add extra flexibility and instruments for working with the TON blockchain.”
TON Ecosystem
The TON community surged by means of a lot of 2024, till a sudden crash in August worn out over half of its complete worth locked (TVL), plunging from greater than $760 million to $310 million TVL in underneath a month. Since then, the slide has continued, with TVL now sitting at simply $141.6 million, in response to information from DeFiLlama.
TOP was included in Abu Dhabi in 2023, the identical yr Telegram and TON initially established their partnership. In March 2025, the TON Basis stated that a number of main VCs — together with Sequoia, Ribbit, and Benchmark — had acquired $400 million value of Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON ecosystem. The worth of Toncoin, which is a top-30 crypto asset by market cap, is down over 3% right now and 13% on the month.
The TON blockchain was initially launched by Telegram itself again in 2018 and was known as Telegram Open Community (TON). After going through scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee for its token sale, Telegram shut the undertaking down in 2020. A yr later, the blockchain was revived as The Open Community, with improvement underneath the unbiased stewardship of the TON Basis.
Trying forward, the TON Basis stated that it goals to convey 30% of Telegram’s energetic customers onto the TON blockchain by 2028. The inspiration’s technique focuses on utilizing Telegram’s stickers, items, and collectibles to draw customers, in addition to launching multiplayer mini-games on Telegram.
