Toncoin Soars Amid Claimed Telegram Musk xAI Deal, $1.5 Billion Bond Sale Report

By Liz Napolitano

The Open Network's Toncoin was up nearly 12% on Wednesday amid a report that its affiliated messaging platform Telegram is reportedly eyeing a $1.5 billion raise, and an announcement that the firm had struck a $300 million deal with Elon Musk's xAI—though that deal appears to not yet be finalized.

The native token of the Telegram-affiliated The Open Network, the 18th largest crypto by market value, was trading at $3.37, CoinGecko data shows. TON soared to almost $3.70 and was up about 23% at one point earlier in the morning. 

The messaging platform will issue five-year bonds offering a 9% yield—a raise that has invited interest from Emirati-owned investment firm Mubadala, BlackRock, and hedge-fund manager Citadel, according to The Journal. 

Telegram has shared with investors that it clocked $540 million in profits on $1.4 billion in revenue in 2024, people familiar with the matter told the publication—a major rebound from its lackluster performance the year prior. The app boasted one billion active users as of March 2025, according to Telegram's executives, and enrollment in its subscription services has roughly doubled over the past year or so. 

Separately, Telegram will deploy AI-powered chatbot Grok to its growing platform under the terms of a one-year agreement with Elon Musk's xAI, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Wednesday in a social media post. Telegram will receive half of xAI's subscription sales made through the messaging platform, Durov tweeted.

Later in the day, however, Musk pushed back on the announcement, replying on X hat "No deal has been signed." Durov replied, "True. Agreed in principle, but formalities are pending." The price of TON dipped following the exchange.

Durov is still facing criminal charges in France related to alleged illegal activities hosted on Telegram, leaving the application's future somewhat uncertain. 

French authorities arrested Durov in August, alleging Telegram facilitated terrorism and drug trafficking enterprises, among other nefarious activities, on its platform. And earlier this month, authorities declined the founder's appeal to travel to the U.S. for "negotiations with investment funds,” POLITICO reported. 

Telegram created TON in 2018, but distanced itself from the network just two years later as it faced regulatory scrutiny over its role in the project. However, the messaging application began flirting with TON nearly two years later, hosting the TON Wallet App and tap-to-earn games in its application.  

The latter initiative helped TON garner widespread recognition last year, as viral tap-to-earn games such as Catizen and Hamster Kombat‌ amassed hundreds of millions of players on Telegram. 

Edited by James Rubin

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to include the X exchange between Elon Musk and Pavel Durov, and impact on TON's price.

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