The Open Platform simply joined the billion-dollar membership with its newest elevate.
The Open Platform, a startup constructing crypto instruments for Telegram, mentioned 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, often known as TOP, claims to be the primary unicorn within the ecosystem constructed on The Open Community (TON), which Telegram tapped as its unique blockchain associate in January.
The Sequence A spherical was led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Pantera Capital. TOP’s CEO, Andrew Rogozov — who beforehand led Russian social media big VK as CEO after it got here underneath nearer management by the Russian authorities — mentioned that the elevate 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 advised 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 mentioned that the funds can be used to develop TOP’s merchandise into america, the EU, and different areas. The corporate’s CEO additionally added {that a} large 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 business officer at Pockets in Telegram, advised The Defiant that the agency is targeted on “developing TON’s ecosystem because it’s the only technology with the scalability necessary to support an ecosystem for Telegram’s 1 billion users.”
“We will continue to focus our self-custodial product exclusively on TON — however we currently also provide a variety of assets in our custodial product for people who want to buy, hold and sell specific cryptos that aren’t native to TON,” Kruglov defined.
Moreover, in a commentary for The Defiant, Andrey Klebanov, managing associate at TOP Labs, mentioned that the TOP crew desires to double down on blockchain gaming because it’s targeted “on growing the gaming vertical within Telegram.”
“We believe it’s possible to build sustainable games on Telegram that engage users without relying on direct incentives. Gaming is one of the fastest and most intuitive ways to drive millions of users to begin interacting with crypto — especially with the growing asset economy in Telegram,” Klebanov mentioned.
He additionally added that the crew is “exploring the benefits that AI can bring.” TOP Lab’s managing associate advised the Defiant:
“As well as, we see robust potential in AI brokers and DePIN: a easy, intuitive interface mixed with superior AI options can provide customers an entire new perspective on use — and profit from — Telegram. It’s going to additionally add extra flexibility and instruments for working with the TON blockchain.”
TON Ecosystem
The TON network surged through much of 2024, until a sudden crash in August wiped out over half of its total value locked (TVL), plunging from more than $760 million to $310 million TVL in under a month. Since then, the slide has continued, with TVL now sitting at just $141.6 million, according to information from DeFiLlama.
TOP was integrated in Abu Dhabi in 2023, the identical 12 months Telegram and TON initially established their partnership. In March 2025, the TON Basis mentioned that a number of main VCs — together with Sequoia, Ribbit, and Benchmark — had acquired $400 million price of Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON ecosystem. The price of Toncoin, which is a top-30 crypto asset by market cap, is down over 3% today and 13% on the month.
The TON blockchain was originally 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 Change Fee for its token sale, Telegram shut the undertaking down in 2020. A 12 months later, the blockchain was revived as The Open Community, with improvement underneath the unbiased stewardship of the TON Basis.
Trying forward, the TON Basis mentioned that it goals to deliver 30% of Telegram’s lively customers onto the TON blockchain by 2028. The inspiration’s technique focuses on utilizing Telegram’s stickers, presents, and collectibles to draw customers, in addition to launching multiplayer mini-games on Telegram.
