Verb is making an audacious play, raising half a billion to become the biggest public holder of Toncoin. The oversubscribed deal, led by crypto heavyweights, suggests institutions see TON as the next big reserve asset.
Summary
- Verb Technology raises $558 million to become the largest public holder of Toncoin.
- VERB stock jumps 100% after the oversubscribed PIPE round backed by Kingsway Capital, Blockchain.com, and over 110 investors.
- The firm plans to rebrand as TON Strategy Co. and stake its TON holdings for yield.
On August 4, Nasdaq-listed Verb Technology Company Inc. announced it had secured roughly $558 million through an upsized and oversubscribed private placement to establish the first Nasdaq-listed treasury strategy for Toncoin (TON).
The PIPE offering, led by Kingsway Capital and backed by over 110 institutional investors including Blockchain.com and Ribbit Capital, will see Verb pivot from its social commerce roots to become one of the largest corporate holders of The Open Network’s native token. According to Yahoo Finance data, VERB shares surged 100% on the news as markets digested the scale of the bet.
Why Verb is going all-in on TON’s crypto ecosystem
Verb Technology’s shift toward Toncoin can be seen as a strategic reinvention. According to the company’s August 4 release, the $558 million raised in the PIPE transaction will be directed almost entirely toward acquiring TON, transforming Verb from a struggling livestream commerce firm into a dedicated, publicly listed treasury vehicle for one of the fastest-growing blockchain ecosystems in the world.
The timing isn’t accidental. Earlier this year, Telegram, now with over a billion monthly users, made TON its exclusive blockchain partner. The deal made TON the only supported chain for Telegram Ads in most countries, the only settlement layer for in-app digital assets like usernames and NFTs, and the only payment rail embedded in Telegram’s new mini-app ecosystem.
With TON Wallet now natively integrated into the messenger, including for U.S. users, the infrastructure has quietly gone live. That’s the network Verb is tying itself to.
By acquiring Toncoin as a treasury reserve asset, the soon-to-be-renamed TON Strategy Co. plans to operate as a kind of institutional wrapper for the crypto asset. Once the deal closes around August 7, the company expects to stake its TON to generate a return on assets while maintaining long exposure to the token.
“Telegram is the preferred messenger for the growing global crypto community and TON is the currency that powers the Telegram ecosystem,” Manuel Stotz, incoming Executive Chairman of the company, said. “In my judgment, permanent capital vehicles are particularly suitable for long-term holdings of TON, which not only has the potential to compound in value, but also offers staking yield, meaning TSC can benefit from staking rewards.”
According to the press release, Stotz, who also serves as President of the TON Foundation and is founder of Kingsway Capital, will lead an executive team built specifically for this pivot.
Incoming CEO Veronika Kapustina previously served as a senior advisor to the TON Foundation and brings investment banking experience from Morgan Stanley. Sarah Olsen, former Head of Corporate Development at Onyx by JP Morgan, will serve as CFO. Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith, another longtime TON backer, will join as special advisor.
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