Written by: Shenchao TechFlow
You project parties are quite bad, trying to trick me into staking?
But this time seems a bit different.
On July 6th, TON officially announced its cooperation with the UAE, starting to offer 10-year golden visas for TON token stakers. Currently, the TON official website has launched the application portal, where users can apply by filling in their email, full name, and TON wallet address.
Once, staking was an important way for crypto players to participate in projects and gain returns and rights.
However, in recent years, the rights of staking have gradually become illusory. After market education, participants have become more cautious in choosing to stake, fearing the opportunity cost caused by lock-up, and fearing becoming the exit liquidity for others.
Compared to the illusory voting rights and the potential loss of native currency yield APR, exchanging tokens for a state-backed residency right opens a passport for living, working, and investing in the UAE; this right seems much more tangible.
To some extent, this also implies that the 'residency right' in the real world can also be tokenized.
As the tokenization wave sweeps through asset classes such as real estate, government bonds, and stocks, residency rights clearly have no precedent; when 'investment immigration' appears in another on-chain form, how operable is it?
$100,000 token, 10-year visa validity
Let's first take a look at the details of the golden visa described on the official TON website.
First, investors need to stake TON tokens worth $100,000 (calculated at the market price at the time of staking) and lock them for 3 years (36 months) through the smart contracts of the Toncoin network, during which withdrawals are not permitted.
In addition, applicants are required to pay a one-time fee of $35,000, covering the administrative approval and identity verification costs of the visa.
This means that the investor's cost includes $135,000, along with a 3-year lock-up period.
The returns can generally be divided into three parts:
Token yield: During the staking period, an approximate annual yield of 3-4% can be earned, with returns distributed in TON tokens.
Residency rights: Investors can obtain a 10-year golden visa for the UAE.
Family benefits: The golden visa not only benefits the main applicant, but also extends residency rights to their immediate family. Spouses, children, and parents can also be included in the family visa scope, similarly receiving a 10-year golden visa.
In comparison, obtaining a golden visa through traditional routes requires investors to have at least $540,000 (2 million dirhams) in real estate or equivalent fixed deposits, and they cannot sell the property or withdraw the deposits during the visa application and after obtaining the visa, which is very strictly regulated.
This requirement is designed to ensure that applicants have sufficient economic capacity to remain in the UAE and contribute long-term investments to the local economy.
But for investors, this means their funds are 'locked up,' losing liquidity and investment flexibility. In contrast, the $100,000 staking in Toncoin can be unlocked after three years, preserving higher asset liquidity, which is a key point of its attractiveness.
Moreover, traditional visa applications typically take at least 3-6 months; TON has reduced this process to under 7 weeks, significantly lowering the capital and time thresholds for the Toncoin staking program.
What benefits does the golden visa offer?
Since its launch in 2019, the UAE golden visa has attracted high-net-worth individuals globally with its flexibility and high added value. The benefits of this visa lie not only in long-term residency rights but also in the convenience it brings to life, business, and wealth management.
First, the golden visa offers a 10-year validity, renewable, allowing holders to live, work, and study freely in the UAE. Starting in 2024, the requirement to reside for 6 months each year will be eliminated, making it suitable for globally mobile digital nomads.
Secondly, the UAE has no personal income tax, capital gains tax, or value-added tax, and allows free movement of foreign exchange, providing an ideal wealth management environment for both traditional and crypto investors.
From a geographical perspective, the UAE is located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi being global business and financial centers, making local visa acquisition advantageous for business development.
It is also worth mentioning that Dubai's free trade zones (such as DMCC) offer zero tariffs and 100% foreign ownership, making them suitable for crypto enterprises and blockchain startups to establish operations.
For crypto players and investors, the golden visa is not just a residency right, but also an asset allocation tool.
As mentioned earlier, compared to the traditional $540,000 non-liquid investment, the $100,000 staking in the Toncoin plan can be unlocked after three years, preserving the liquidity of digital assets. This allows investors to enjoy tax benefits and a business ecosystem in the UAE while flexibly adjusting their investment portfolios when the market warms up.
Perhaps the appeal of the golden visa lies not only in its material returns but also in the window it opens for the crypto community to the global market.
However, it should be noted that the current description on the TON official website states, 'During the visa processing, our issuance partner in the UAE will review application details and provide guidance,' which means that the visa rights offered by TON may not directly come from cooperation with the UAE government, but rather through intermediaries for execution.
From void staking to residency tokenization
Staking in the crypto industry is often tied to voting rights or minimal returns, yet often lacks substantive value.
Many project stakers not only lack governance influence, but have also missed liquidity due to lock-up, becoming 'exit liquidity' when VC tokens are debunked and markets decline. This kind of 'illusory' staking has led most players to question its significance.
The locked funds often yield only hollow promises.
The Toncoin and UAE golden visa program converts a $100,000 TON stake into a passport for a 10-year residency right.
TON relies on Telegram's large user base and has previously focused on social scenarios, but during this cycle, the token's performance seems less than satisfactory. This new play emerging clearly has more topicality.
If the practical process is simple and compliant with regulations, it can be expected that a portion of the high-net-worth individuals and on-chain whales in the crypto circle will be interested in this play, correspondingly increasing the demand for Toncoin.
Setting aside the $100,000 threshold and various legal systems, the last two rights clearly elevate the benefits of staking to another dimension compared to other crypto projects.
Of course, whether staking is worthwhile is subjective. However, even if TON completely goes to zero in three years, this would equate to spending $100,000 to obtain a 10-year residency in the UAE; while other projects’ tokens going to zero might yield nothing.
Additionally, from a broader perspective, the UAE also has crypto ambitions.
Dubai's 'Blockchain Strategy 2020' has attracted over 200 companies to settle, and in 2024 Abu Dhabi will launch a crypto regulatory sandbox, further consolidating its position in the digital economy.
The golden visa program may be an extension of this ambition; by attracting crypto capital, the UAE can enhance its economic competitiveness and strive for a place in global digital asset governance.
A certain region grants residency rights to investors through staking tokens, which might have seemed science fiction a few years ago, but has now become reality.
Since the beginning of this year, more companies and governments have started implementing crypto reserve programs, reflecting the trend of cryptocurrencies gradually being accepted in more regions of the world, making 'geographic arbitrage' easier for individuals holding cryptocurrencies.
Imagine, could there be a 'digital nomad identity market' in the future? Investors might bid for residency rights on-chain, and even some aggressive countries could tokenize citizenship.
This is not only a feasibility exploration of crypto externalization but also a new opportunity to reshape the flow of global capital and talent.
