The detention of Telegram founder Pavel Durov is reverberating through the crypto venture capital sector, where some of the biggest players have invested in a digital token closely linked to the messaging app.
Pantera Capital Management, Animoca Brands and Mirana Ventures are among more than a dozen firms that invested in Toncoin, whose blockchain is being used on Telegram to handle things like instant payments. Pantera, one of the largest crypto VC funds, put more than $100 million into Toncoin earlier this year, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The funds were drawn by a notion that’s bewitched crypto: that Telegram would morph into a digital-asset "super app” akin to China’s WeChat, with its 900 million users relying on Toncoin for everything from payments to playing blockchain-based games. The token surged fourfold from February to early July and assets locked on its blockchain, TON, briefly surpassed $1 billion.
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