Coinbase VC officially bets on the TON ecosystem! Toncoin receives backing from top VC holdings, can Telegram's one billion users break the on-chain treasury vision?

The TON Foundation announced on August 11 that Coinbase Ventures has invested in its ecological Token Toncoin (TON), marking the formal entry of top exchange capital into the Telegram Open Network. This investment continues the model from March where institutions like Sequoia Capital and Ribbit injected $400 million through direct purchases of TON tokens (non-traditional equity financing). The foundation is also advancing its on-chain treasury plan, aiming to hold at least $400 million in TON. Despite relying on Telegram's over 1 billion monthly active users, its DeFi TVL has shrunk from a historical peak of $800 million to $152 million, facing challenges in user conversion and ecosystem retention.

Top Capital Increases Investment: VC Holdings Token Becomes New Paradigm for TON Financing

• Coinbase Ventures Joins the Game: The TON Foundation confirms that Coinbase Ventures has become the latest strategic investor in the TON ecosystem, a move officially described as a "significant vote of confidence" in the open network.
• Luxury VC Camp Assembled: Coinbase joins the existing lineup of investment institutions, including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Benchmark, all of which hold Toncoin directly.
• Disrupting Traditional Financing: Unlike the traditional model where VCs purchase equity in companies, the TON ecosystem adopts the institutional direct purchase of tokens approach. In March 2025, institutions like Sequoia injected $400 million into TON through this method.
• On-chain Vault Plan: According to a report by Bloomberg in July, the TON Foundation is preparing to establish a cryptocurrency vault company, aiming to hold at least 400 million USD worth of Toncoin as reserve assets.

Billion User Ecosystem: Telegram Becomes the Core Engine for TON Growth

• Traffic Dominance Support: Statista shows that Telegram has over 1 billion monthly active users (MAU), and TON aims to convert this large user base into crypto-native users.
• Mini-App Integration Hub: TON, as a practical Token for the built-in mini-apps within Telegram, provides integration of blockchain functionalities. This model has previously spawned popular click applications such as Notcoin, attracting over 650,000 users at its peak.
• TVL Roller Coaster Alert: The viral application craze once drove the total locked value (TVL) of DeFi on the TON blockchain to nearly $800 million historic high in January 2024. However, as user interest in click-type applications wanes, the TVL has significantly dropped to $15.2 million, highlighting sustainability challenges in the ecosystem.

Conclusion: The User Conversion Battle Backed by Top Capital Coinbase Ventures' entry adds significant credibility to the TON ecosystem, and its innovative "VC direct purchase Token" financing model continues to attract capital injections in the range of $400 million. Relying on Telegram's billion-user traffic pool, TON occupies a unique position in the Web3 large-scale adoption track. However, the reality of TVL plummeting from a peak of $800 million to $152 million exposes the ecological dilemma after the decline in the popularity of viral applications. Whether it can effectively convert Telegram's massive user base into on-chain value participants and leverage institutional capital to build a robust on-chain treasury system will be the key battle for TON to break the "traffic ≠ retention" curse.