Toncoin (TON) is making waves again, rallying nearly 10% in a single day as trading volume blew past $1.2 billion, demonstrating a 640% surge in 24 hours.
Toncoin TON $1.76 24h volatility: 1.6% Market cap: $4.27 B Vol. 24h: $70.35 M , the native token of The Open Network, surged nearly 10% in the past 24 hours, propelled by a flurry of high-stakes developments involving its affiliated messaging giant Telegram and a massive uptick in trading activity.
At press time, TON is trading at $3.27, having touched a daily high of $3.69, while its 24-hour trading volume spiked 641% to over $1.23 billion, CoinMarketCap data shows.
Telegram’s Billion-Dollar Bond Move Sparks Market Excitement
Fueling the bullish momentum is a $1.5 billion bond raise reportedly underway at Telegram, with interest from major global investors including BlackRock, Citadel, and the UAE’s Mubadala.
The five-year bonds offer a 9% yield, signaling strong institutional interest in the company’s rebound. In 2024, Telegram generated $540 million in profit on $1.4 billion in revenue, a sharp turnaround from previous years, according to The Wall Street Journal.
With 1 billion monthly active users as of March 2025, Telegram’s growing subscription revenues and in-app services, including the integration of TON Wallet and viral tap-to-earn games, have rekindled optimism around the TON ecosystem.
Musk, AI, and Mixed Signals
Adding to the excitement was a high-profile, though not yet finalized, partnership announcement between Telegram and Elon Musk’s xAI. Telegram founder Pavel Durov claimed the two had struck a $300 million, one-year deal to deploy xAI’s chatbot Grok on the platform.
🔥 This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market. @elonmusk and I have agreed to a 1-year partnership to bring xAI’s @grok to our billion+ users and integrate it across all Telegram apps 🤝
💪 This also strengthens Telegram’s financial… pic.twitter.com/ZPK550AyRV
— Pavel Durov (@durov) May 28, 2025
Under the proposed agreement, Telegram would receive half of xAI’s subscription revenue generated within the app. However, the market briefly pulled back after Musk clarified that “no deal has been signed”. “Agreed in principle, but formalities are pending,” Durov responded.
TON’s Strategic Expansion with a Visa Veteran
In a major strategic move, the TON Foundation appointed former Visa executive Nikola Plecas as its Vice President of Payments. Plecas, known for his instrumental work in Visa’s crypto initiatives across Europe, will lead TON’s payment infrastructure expansion.
Plecas said joining TON is a chance to “shape the future of payments on a truly global scale.” His mandate includes developing a scalable, compliant, and interoperable payment architecture for Telegram’s billion-user base.
TON Foundation CEO Max Crown called payments a “core pillar” of the network’s roadmap, and emphasized that Plecas’s appointment is key to accelerating global adoption.
next