The Open Platform (TOP), a blockchain startup building infrastructure for Telegram-native crypto experiences, has raised $28.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Pantera Capital, positioning the company as a major player in the race to make messaging apps the new home for crypto adoption.

Founded by Andrew Rogozov, TOP is building tools to enable developers and businesses to build, launch, and scale crypto-based products natively inside Telegram. With over 900 million monthly active users, Telegram has quietly become one of the most active ecosystems for crypto communities, trading bots, token launches, and digital payments. TOP is betting that the next wave of Web3 growth will happen not in wallets - but in chat.

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What The Open Platform Does

TOP is a developer-first infrastructure stack designed to bring on-chain functionality into the flow of everyday messaging. Instead of asking users to leave apps, download wallets, or interact with complex dApps, TOP enables seamless in-chat crypto experiences powered by Telegram’s open platform.

Its suite includes:

• Embedded wallet infrastructure natively integrated with Telegram UI
  
• Token issuance, staking, and NFT modules that work inside chats
  
• Bot frameworks and SDKs for building crypto trading bots, DAOs, and more
  
• TON-based scalability, leveraging Telegram Open Network for lightning-fast transactions
  
• Compliance-ready APIs for fiat onramps, KYC, and transaction monitoring
  

In essence, TOP is turning Telegram into a crypto-native operating system - where onboarding, interaction, and transaction all happen in the same place users already spend their time.

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Why It Matters

Crypto’s biggest challenge has never been technology. It’s been adoption friction. Wallets are complicated. Apps feel disconnected. Onboarding is clunky. TOP’s approach is radical in its simplicity: don’t build new behaviors - embed into existing ones.

Telegram already has:

• The largest concentration of crypto users globally
  
• An open bot ecosystem with real-time interactivity
  
• A history of crypto-native tooling, from tipping bots to token launches
  
• A thriving ecosystem of memecoins, game tokens, NFT bots, and on-chain groups
  

TOP is taking that raw energy and giving it enterprise-grade infrastructure, so that developers can go from idea to in-chat product launch in days - not months.

This shift is crucial. Because while DeFi protocols and L2s are chasing throughput, the real battle is distribution and habit. TOP is betting that the next billion users won’t come through wallets - they’ll come through chats.

And here’s a key strategic insight for founders: Distribution beats protocol. The best technology doesn’t always win - but the best distribution does. Telegram has over 2.5 million new users joining daily. Embedding crypto flows directly into that firehose is a growth channel that no standalone dApp or wallet can match.

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Market Outlook: Messaging Is the Trojan Horse for Web3

Crypto has long suffered from fragmented UX and limited adoption beyond niche circles. But messaging apps - with their built-in trust networks, virality, and daily use - are uniquely positioned to drive real-world crypto integration.

Industry Trends & Research

• Telegram hit 900 million monthly active users in Q1 2024 and is growing rapidly in Web3-friendly regions (Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America)
  
• The global crypto wallet market is projected to grow from $8 billion in 2023 to over $45 billion by 2030, driven largely by embedded and messaging-native wallets (Fortune Business Insights)
  
• Telegram-based trading bots like Banana Gun and Maestro have already generated over $1 billion in cumulative trading volume in the past 12 months
  
• Over 50% of all memecoin launches and early community building now happen on Telegram, per Dune Analytics
  
• A16z and Pantera Capital have both invested heavily in messaging-integrated Web3 infrastructure, signaling deep belief in the format
  

TOP’s approach is more than UX - it’s contextual crypto. Users discover tokens in group chats, interact with projects via bots, send assets in DMs, and vote in DAOs - all without leaving the conversation.

This isn’t just convenient. It’s transformational. Behavioral proximity - where crypto meets users where they already are - is the unlock Web3 has been waiting for.

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Why The Open Platform Will Lead This Wave

Unlike general-purpose blockchain platforms, TOP is purpose-built for the Telegram environment - with design, speed, and compliance optimized for real-world usage inside messaging flows.

Key differentiators:

• Native support for TON, Telegram’s own blockchain, which handles 100,000+ TPS
  
• Bot-native developer stack, meaning products can be deployed with no frontend dev required
  
• Custom wallet SDKs with white-label options for projects, influencers, and communities
  
• Prebuilt UX modules like token swaps, NFT galleries, tipping systems, and DAO voting
  
• KYC and fiat rails for countries with strict compliance environments
  

This makes TOP ideal not just for crypto-native teams, but for fintechs, game studios, creators, and traditional brands looking to enter Web3 through low-friction, high-activation channels.

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What’s Next for TOP?

Armed with $28.5M in fresh capital, The Open Platform is now poised to:

• Expand its developer ecosystem, launching a global Telegram Web3 builder program
  
• Roll out wallet integrations for creators and communities
  
• Launch token-based tooling, including prebuilt token issuance and vesting tools
  
• Deepen partnerships with Telegram-based games, DAOs, and ecosystem wallets
  
• Scale onboarding in emerging markets, where Telegram is often the primary internet platform
  

TOP’s long-term vision is bold: make Telegram the default portal to the crypto economy. Where users don’t download apps - they discover projects in chat, interact instantly, and transact securely.

In this vision, Web3 isn’t a separate space. It’s part of the conversation.