The IPO frenzy of crypto strategic reserve companies is sweeping the global capital markets. From Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy pioneering the way to Tom Lee's Bitmine soaring, capital is eagerly seeking the next explosion point of 'coin stock'.
TON Strategy (NASDAQ: VERB) was born under public scrutiny—completing $558 million in PIPE financing in just 30 days, attracting over 110 international institutions to bet on it.
Leading this fundraising frenzy is financial veteran Manuel Stotz from London. From Goldman Sachs investment partner to Kingsway Capital founder, and now to Executive Chairman of TON Strategy, he is referred to as 'the Michael Saylor of the TON world'—leading top Wall Street institutions into the game, aiming to make TON the core financial engine of Telegram's global digital new world.
This article is a summary of the institutional interview program (TON of Alpha), taking you deep into the career of Manuel Stotz, the vision of Bitcoin and 'Satorica', and the strategic layout and growth potential of TON Strategy.
TON of Alpha (@TONofAlpha) is an open interview program aimed at institutions and builders, dedicated to connecting the ecosystem of 1 billion users, produced jointly by TONX and KTON—both early TON miners and core builders since 2021.
Host: Mr. Z (@69420MrZ) · Guest: Manuel Stotz (@ManuelStotz)
The entrepreneurial spirit of Wall Street elites: from frontier markets to the crypto industry.
Manuel Stotz's career began as an investment partner at Goldman Sachs (GSIP) before and after the financial crisis, a portfolio manager and partner at THS Partners LLP, and he has accumulated extensive experience at top financial institutions such as Blackstone, Fortress, and Rothschild.
In the early 2010s, he founded Kingsway Capital, managing over $1.5 billion in assets, focusing on investments in frontier and emerging markets such as the Middle East, Africa, and Bangladesh.
'A turning point in my career was witnessing currency instability in emerging markets,' Stotz shared in the interview. 'I still remember that 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar bill in my pocket, worth almost nothing. This made me understand the significance of Bitcoin's birth and the potential of cryptocurrency to solve real problems—the future already exists, it just hasn't been evenly distributed yet.'
It is this entrepreneurial spirit of 'making the world a better place through technology' that has led Kingsway to focus on investing in emerging and frontier markets for many years, investing in over 50 blockchain companies including Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, and CoinDCX.
Now, he brings the same spirit to the TON and Telegram ecosystem—bringing the largest liquidity from the US capital market into TON and pushing the narrative of cryptocurrency mass adoption to unprecedented heights.
Discovering the 'Digital New World': Telegram is the Americas, and TON is the economic layer.
In contrast to the concept of Network States, Stotz views blockchain as a 'Network Continent' and proposed the concept of 'Satorica' (Satoshi + America) as early as 2020.
The emergence of Bitcoin is like mankind discovering the Americas over 500 years ago—finding a new land on the internet to establish new life, freedom, and property rights.
This is very much like the 'Mayflower' of the past, where these pioneers were not nobles but ordinary people who relied on faith and Proof of Work to rebuild a better system in the New World. Today, the crypto world is doing the same thing.
In the blockchain future world described by Stotz, 'TON's role to Telegram is like the dollar to the US. In Satorica's vision, Telegram is more like the 'Americas', TON is its blockchain, while Bitcoin serves as a standard of value like gold.'
Telegram is most likely to become a super app, and TON is the 'N-of-1 asset.'
Since the founding of the TON Foundation, Manuel Stotz has long served as a board member and will serve as chairman from January 2025 until the end of his term, during which he will play a key strategic role in advancing TON into the US and global capital markets.
'TON is a unique asset, one of a kind in the world,' Stotz pointed out. Although Ethereum and Solana have their respective advantages in stablecoins and infrastructure, TON's backing by Telegram's distribution capability is an advantage that no public chain can replicate.
Telegram currently has over 1 billion monthly active users, making it the second largest messaging platform in the West after WhatsApp. However, to date, the Western world has not seen a truly super app like WeChat.
'Among global social platforms, only WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, and TikTok are above Telegram, but these platforms currently cannot touch blockchain. Telegram is the only super app large enough to support cryptocurrency,' Stotz said.
30-day fundraising miracle: Why are 110 institutions scrambling for TON Strategy (VERB)?
On August 4, 2025, Verb Technology announced its name change to TON Strategy Co., completing an unprecedented $558 million PIPE financing, including heavyweight capital such as Kingsway Capital, Blockchain.com, and Vy Capital (Elon Musk's biggest supporter).
The main driving force behind this lightning fundraising is Manuel Stotz. He officially serves as the Executive Chairman of TON Strategy and is referred to in the industry as 'the Michael Saylor of the TON world.'
However, the success of this fundraising was not accidental. Stotz explained: 'Unlike other blockchains that always say, 'Our technology is stronger, even though we don't have users, please trust us first.' TON already has Telegram's 1 billion users as a native distribution foundation, which is a very unique narrative and a simple yet compelling investment logic.'
In the (TON of Alpha) interview, Stotz further pointed out that the core logic of 110 top institutions betting on TON Strategy is unhesitating:
Premium flywheel effect: VERB's current stock price is approximately 1.5 times its net asset value, meaning that for every $1 increase in the TON token, the VERB stock price will rise even more. As the net asset value per share increases, the asset scale and book value continue to grow, and this premium multiple will only get higher.
Capital perpetual motion: MicroStrategy's stock has outperformed NVIDIA in the AI boom, proving that such companies can operate in a 'Permanent Capital' manner. Unlike ETFs, it will not passively sell coins with redemptions but can continue to expand its asset pool through issuance, buybacks, or staking.
Market access exclusivity: The vast majority of institutional investors, pension funds, and university endowments are legally restricted to only buy stocks and cannot directly hold cryptocurrencies. VERB is their only compliant channel to gain exposure to TON. In fact, major players including Sequoia, Benchmark, Ribbit, and some Ivy League university endowments have already participated through Kingsway.
Exclusive indirect investment in Telegram: Telegram is currently a private company 100% owned by Pavel Durov, and VERB acts like a 'proxy stock' for Telegram, packaging its blockchain TON for listing, allowing global equity investors to indirectly participate in the growth dividends of Telegram and the TON ecosystem of 1 billion users.
Pledged stable cash flow: Unlike MicroStrategy, which can only hoard Bitcoin, VERB can earn a 4-5% annual yield through TON staking, with current holdings sufficient to generate $30 million in cash flow annually. This means VERB has two major growth engines: 'asset appreciation + stable cash flow.'
Short-term window: TON has not yet landed on mainstream US platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood. Once it opens up, there will be a massive inflow of funds. What VERB offers is not a marginal investment opportunity but a growth story that has not yet been fully priced by the capital market.
'From day one, we held a higher proportion of the total supply than MicroStrategy,' Stotz said. 'Saylor took five years to achieve 3.5% of Bitcoin supply, while VERB's start on TON is faster and more aggressive.'
The untapped potential of the TON ecosystem: the US market and the stablecoin revolution.
The TON token also has significant room for value reassessment. 'Today, ETH's market cap is already 50 times larger than TON's, and SOL is also 10-12 times larger, but I believe TON has the opportunity to surpass them because we have Telegram as a distribution engine,' Stotz firmly stated.
He pointed out that TON is the only large L1 that has not truly entered the US market, 'It hasn't even launched on Coinbase, Robinhood, or South Korea's Upbit. This represents a huge potential for future capital inflows.'
In addition, Stotz particularly emphasizes the strategic advantage of stablecoins in the TON ecosystem. 'The issuance speed of USDT on TON is among the fastest, breaking through $1 billion in just 6-7 months. We have also launched Ethena and FDUSD, and with our entry into the US market, everyone can guess that the next step is USDC. It's just a matter of time.'
He predicts that as mainstream stablecoins land on TON, and even the launch of Telegram's own stablecoin, 'Assuming 1 billion users each deposit an average of $1,000, that would be a $1 trillion asset pool, generating $30 billion in cash flow annually at a 3% net profit margin.'
Telegram places great importance on TON: becoming the 'national currency' of 1 billion users.
There has been long-term skepticism about whether Pavel Durov and Telegram truly value TON, but Stotz provided a clear answer in an exclusive interview: 'Telegram's Plan A is TON, Plan B is TON, and Plan C is also TON.'
Unlike most tech giants, Pavel Durov's motivation for creating Telegram is not purely for profit. 'Just as Elon Musk is not going to Mars to make money,' what drives Pavel is the ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of transaction, privacy, and inclusive finance.
This mission-driven approach is reflected in Telegram's choice of business model. Unlike other tech giants that monetize through user data, Pavel's monetization route includes: Telegram Premium subscriptions, non-intrusive ad platforms, bond financing, and most critically—the revenue from the TON ecosystem.
This strategy makes TON the value medium of the Telegram ecosystem. Users can purchase and permanently own their usernames or numbers on Telegram, which cannot be taken away by the platform, as these are decentralized property rights based on blockchain. 'This is like the US buying Alaska, Louisiana, or Manhattan— even if it's just a small piece, it's still an excellent long-term investment.'
TON Strategy aims for a $10 billion scale, reshaping the global financial order.
In the long run, I believe VERB is at least a $10 billion company. The first stage goes from $1 billion to $10 billion, the second stage from $10 billion to $100 billion.” Stotz predicts that with more regional DAT joining, a strong capital flywheel effect will form.
'This is a short-term window,' Stotz summarized. 'In the future, there will be more TON strategic reserve companies, more stablecoins, and more regional capital inflows, gradually, then suddenly, reshaping the global financial order.'
In this era of accelerated integration between cryptocurrency and traditional finance, the new king of the TON world, Manuel Stotz, is writing the 'American Dream' of the blockchain era—building the largest 'digital new world' in human history on the foundation of Telegram's 1 billion users.
As Stotz said: 'This is just the beginning.' And you, are you ready to witness and participate in this historic transformation?
About TON Strategy (NASDAQ: VERB)
TON Strategy is the world's first listed digital asset treasury company focused on TON (The Open Network), providing traditional investors with direct access to participate in the growth of the TON ecosystem through innovative capital allocation strategies. The company is led by Kingsway Capital founder Manuel Stotz, who is committed to building a bridge connecting traditional finance with the decentralized economy.
About TON of Alpha
TON of Alpha is an open interview program aimed at institutions and builders, dedicated to connecting the ecosystem of 1 billion users, produced jointly by TONX and KTON—both early TON miners and core builders since 2021.
