Crypto exchange Gate.io’s $10 million strategic investment in The Open Network (TON), announced earlier this month, will be used to “enhance collaborations” with the TON Foundation and accelerate the growth of Telegram-based projects, Gate.io Founder and CEO Dr. Lin Han said in a statement.

“The TON ecosystem holds strong potential due to its large Telegram user base and fast, low-cost blockchain technology,” Gate.io Founder and CEO Dr. Lin Han said in a statement shared with Decrypt. He added that TON is an “ideal platform for attracting Web3 applications and developers, with promising prospects for large-scale user growth and network effects.”

Gate.io’s investment will see the exchange “deepen its involvement” in TON’s governance, and contribute to the development of the blockchain. The exchange will also bolster its support of TON with the launch of several new products, including a CeFi-driven Telegram mini-app, and a Gate Wallet within Telegram, building on the blockchain’s close alignment with the Telegram ecosystem.

Gate Group will also be involved in the TON Society’s Hackers League hackathon, which features a total prize pool worth up to $2 million. The event will feature key bounty tracks from leading TON projects and an offline boot camp held across 19 cities around the world.

What is The Open Network?

Originally developed using technology designed by the team behind Telegram, The Open Network is a layer 1 blockchain overseen by a decentralized community of developers.

While TON is independent from Telegram, the project is popular with the platform’s users, and remains closely aligned with the Telegram ecosystem. Telegram now uses The Open Network’s native token Toncoin (TON) to share ad revenue with channel owners, while the messaging platform’s off-chain currency Stars can be withdrawn in TON.

The Open Network has seen explosive growth over the past year following Telegram’s integrations and the rise of TON games such as Hamster Kombat and X Empire, which run on The Open Network and can be played on Telegram via mini-apps.

Earlier this month, the number of unique wallets holding Toncoin surged past 100 million, while in September the TON Foundation launched a $24 million incentive program to fuel the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) on the network.

Citing the “unified environment for innovation” across TON and Telegram, Dr. Lin Han said that the exchange hopes to “further support and expand the TON ecosystem” through its multimillion-dollar investment.