TON Rallies 18% As Telegram Teams Up with Elon Musk’s xAI
Toncoin (TON), the token that fuels The Open Network, has spiked by more than 18% during the last day, has two major bullish developments have taken place. One of them is connected with Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, and the other one with the Tesla CEO and xAI founder, Elon Musk.
The price surged following those announcements as investors went abuzz, and market optimism went up consequently. The community’s faith in the potential of TON rallied along with the coin’s price. TON soared in three consecutive green candles from $2.9 to $3.5. But that immense price surge was immediately followed by a 5.21% decline as the price corrected, balancing the sharp increase.
Elon Musk, Telegram, and Grok integration
The biggest driver of TON’s price surge was the headlines about Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, reportedly investing $300 million to get its AI chatbot, Grok, into Pavel Durov’s messaging platform, Telegram. This was massive news for crypto markets and particularly for the TON ecosystem.
Grok is the product produced by Musk-founded xAI in response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and it has quickly gained popularity among X users and the crypto community on Musk’s social media giant. Now, as CNBC reported, it will become part of the user experience on Telegram. This integration potentially gives access to Grok to Telegram’s 1 billion users around the world – this number was reached this year. Now, this platform will bring together crypto, messaging, social media, and AI in one place.
In a post mentioned by CNBC, Durov spread the word about this exciting news, saying that Musk and he have struck a year-long partnership, which will strengthen Telegram’s financial stance. Besides, this collaboration opens vast opportunities for Telegram users. Aside from the $300 million payment, as part of the deal, Telegram will earn 50% of the revenue from xAI subscriptions that Telegram users will buy, Durov said. The Russian tech billionaire said in his post that this summer, Telegram users will be able to access “the best AI technology on the market.”
TON’s price reacted very quickly, once the news about the Grok integration hit the media space. Besides, on his X page, Pavel Durov made an announcement that caught the Telegram community’s attention. He said that upon his arrival in Dubai in the first week of June, he will make an important announcement. “I’ll be in Dubai the first week of June — good news ahead,” he tweeted.
Telegram to raise $1.5 billion through debt
The second big development that may have contributed to TON’s price rise was the announcement about Pavel Durov’s plans to raise $1.5 billion for Telegram by issuing five-year bonds for institutions, offering 9% annual interest. The news was first covered by the Wall Street Journal.
It also said that the goal of this initiative is to raise enough funds to repay Telegram’s 2021 debt – the company plans to repurchase the remaining portion of the bonds issued in that year. Previously, Telegram had already bought out around $400 million worth of those bonds using cash.
Investors that are planning to take part include such giants of the financial world as BlackRock, Mubadala, and a new company called Citadel. Buyers will be later to easily convert these bonds to equity at a discount should Telegram launch an IPO (go public). BlackRock is the world’s largest wealth management company, sitting on trillions of dollars worth of assets under management. Their desire to invest in Telegram clearly shows their long-term interest and belief in the future potential of this platform and its business model. Therefore, their participation in this venture is crucial and will most certainly have a massive effect on TON. As Telegram’s valuation continues to grow, the demand for TON, the token that powers all the utility on it, may see a significant boost.
Many have called Durov’s move to initiate to fundraise brave, since he still faces an investigation in France. Having a citizenship there, the tech billionaire was arrested in Paris upon arrival last year on allegations of participating in drug trafficking, fraud, and child pornography on Telegram. Durov faced a 10-year prison sentence at first. However, eventually he was allowed to bail himself out of prison for 5 million EUR. He was obliged to report to the police station twice a week and was banned from leaving the country without permission from the local authorities.
TON’s potential utility spike thanks to Grok
Telegram now seems ready to make the next big step – combine AI, blockchain, and messaging. The platform’s reach and scale have been growing tremendously over the years, and now Elon Musk has stepped in to offer a collaboration that will benefit both xAI and Telegram users.
Besides, thanks to Durov’s new fundraising round, Telegram has caught the attention of BlackRock and other investment giants. This circumstance also opens a wide gate into a better future for Telegram and gives Toncoin holders hope that, thanks to the definite utility surge of TON in the near future, the price may be driven to new highs.
