By
Svetlana Soroka
April 29th, 2024
Animoca will leverage TON Play, a TON-based gaming infrastructure that allows projects to launch directly onto Telegram.
Hong Kong-based gaming venture capitalist Animoca Brands has announced its strategic investment in the TON ecosystem. Following the investment, Animoca became the largest validator of The Open Network (TON) blockchain.
According to emerging reports, the venture capital firm has previously researched the TON ecosystem extensively. Thereafter, it published two study reports detailing the potential of the TON blockchain. The reports highlighted the scalability of TON and its user-friendly apps as critical elements for the community’s growth.
Again, Animoca Brands developed an analytics dashboard to help visualize relevant metrics suggesting TON’s growth. These have all helped in the growth and scaling of third-party gaming and GameFi projects within TON’s ecosystem.
Following the recent investment, TON will enjoy funding, research, and an analytics platform for third-party TON ecosystem applications.
TON Ecosystem Can Help Onboard Web2 Users
The latest investment into the TON ecosystem will also help Telegram users transit seamlessly from web2 to web3, according to co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, Yat Siu. With about 800 million active users on Telegram, the growth potential is enormous. Clearly, the strategic partnership will help more individuals transition from web2 to web3.
“This strategic investment in TON is a key part of our broader commitment to help onboard the next million Web3 users,” Siu explained.
While the value of Animoca’s investment is not public, part of the investment was made directly into Toncoin. It was also staked as part of the validator agreement.
Taking Blockchain Gaming Mainstream
According to the Director of Growth at TON Foundation, Justin Hyun, Animoca Brands’ investment will help power the next generation of blockchain games. Thus, the investment will also boost GameFi adoption.
“Together, we will infuse Web3 seamlessly into the daily experiences of Telegram users, particularly in gaming, for a global audience to enjoy,” Hyun noted.
Animoca will leverage TON Play, a TON-based gaming infrastructure that allows projects to launch directly onto Telegram. TON Play will allow Animoca to port some of its 400 Web3 projects directly into Telegram via a web app.
Again, game developers will be able to deliver new and exciting projects via the Telegram Web App and @playdeckbot.
“We’re looking forward to working with the other innovative teams building exciting TON-based games,” Siu said.