The community business technology company Verb Technology Company (stock code: VERB), listed on NASDAQ, announced plans to raise $558 million through private financing, becoming the first publicly traded company to hold Toncoin (TON) as its primary financial reserve asset.
According to an official statement, Verb is expected to officially rename itself to ‘TON Strategy Co.’ after the transaction is completed (around August 7).
The company stated that most of the raised funds will be invested in purchasing TON and staking, creating stable returns through the proof of stake (PoS) mechanism of The Open Network blockchain.
This financing by Verb is conducted through a ‘Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE)’ method, issuing approximately 58.7 million shares of common stock at $9.51 per share (based on the closing price on August 1), attracting over 110 institutional participants. Led by Kingsway Capital, investors include Blockchain.com, Vy Capital, Ribbit Capital, Graticule, and others such as Pantera, ParaFi, Animoca, Arrington Capital, Kraken, BitGo, FalconX, The Open Platform (TOP), Hivemind Capital, and CMCC Global.
Verb stated that 77% of the total raised funds will be held in cash reserves, with the ultimate goal of holding 5% of the circulating market capitalization of TON tokens, and about 36% of the company's equity will be locked for 6 to 12 months.
TON is the native token of The Open Network blockchain, which provides technical support for Telegram's Web3 infrastructure. Earlier this year, Telegram announced TON as its officially designated blockchain, used to support mini-programs, digital assets (such as tokenized usernames), and to pay for Telegram advertising fees in most countries. Telegram has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, allowing users to directly participate in the TON ecosystem through the TON Wallet within the app.
Manuel Stotz, CEO of Kingsway Capital and chairman of the TON Foundation, will take over as the new executive chairman after Verb's reorganization. He stated that Telegram is the preferred messaging software for cryptocurrency users, and TON not only has appreciation potential but can also generate stable returns through staking.
Additionally, Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain.com, will also serve as a special advisor to the company.
The new management team will be led by Veronika Kapustina, former advisor to the TON Foundation and Morgan Stanley investment banker, as CEO, while the CFO will be Sarah Olsen, a former member of JPMorgan's Onyx division, both of whom have strong backgrounds in traditional finance and the blockchain industry.
In the future, the company's stock will continue to trade under the ticker ‘VERB’ on NASDAQ.
According to CoinGecko's market data, the current trading price of TON is $3.36, down 4.9% in the past 24 hours, with a market capitalization of approximately $8.1 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) reaching $17.2 billion, ranking 27th in the cryptocurrency market.
This article is republished with permission from: (Block客)
Original title: (US-listed company Verb undergoes major transformation! Raises over $500 million to create a ‘TON treasury’, renaming to ‘TON Strategy’)
Original author: Block妹 MEL
‘TON version of MicroStrategy! Verb will raise $500 million to build a TON treasury, renamed TON Strategy’ This article was originally published in ‘Crypto City’
