TON treasury files $420.69 million meme shelf registration to invest in tokens and Telegram AI ecosystem

Nasdaq-listed TON token treasury firm AlphaTON Capital Corp (ticker ATON) has filed for $420.69 million shelf registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an announcement on Thursday.

The funding — an amount reminiscent of FTX’s infamous “meme round” — will help finance AlphaTON’s “ambitious expansion” of AI and high-performance computing infrastructure to power Telegram’s Cocoon AI network and the firm’s M&A strategy targeting “revenue-producing companies within the Telegram ecosystem.”

According to the announcement, AlphaTON was previously constrained by the SEC’s “baby shelf rules,” designed to limit how much smaller public companies can sell “off the shelf” using a Form S-3 shelf registration statement, a popular means of funding used by digital asset treasuries (DAT).

“Exiting the SEC’s ‘baby-shelf’ limitations on raising capital marks an important milestone in AlphaTON Capital’s transformation into a leading infrastructure provider for the next generation of decentralized AI,” CEO Brittany Kaiser said. “Once effective, this shelf registration statement gives us the financing flexibility to move quickly and decisively on transformational opportunities.”

AlphaTON noted it has already identified several “high-potential acquisition targets,” including startups focused on payments, content distribution, and blockchain-enabled services within The Open Network ecosystem. The capital will also go towards building AlphaTON’s treasury of TON tokens and “other associated digital assets.”

Other DATs are also looking to expand their operations via infrastructure services and acquisitions as the appetite for public crypto holders appears to be cooling down. In November, as the treasury firm’s mNAV compressed, AlphaTON said it shifted most of its balance sheet into Toncoin and staking positions while exploring additional expansion opportunities.

For instance, the company amended its deal to acquire 60% of mobile gaming platform GAMEE for $15 million, with plans to acquire up to $4 million GMEE and Watcoin tokens on the open market. It also plans to launch a co-branded TON Mastercard in December through a partnership with PagoPay and ALT5 Sigma.

Cocoon, or Telegram’s Confidential Compute Open Network, is a decentralized AI compute platform developed by Telegram and built on the TON blockchain. The network, which officially launched just days ago, pays users in Toncoin for renting out their GPUs to process user queries. AlphaTON announced on Monday that it has deployed a fleet of Nvidia B200 GPUs to Cocoon, “adding a new revenue stream to its business.”

Community support

The Open Network is one of several community-led projects to spring up after Telegram officially abandoned development of its bespoke Layer 1 amid SEC legal pressure over Telegram’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering. The high-performance blockchain is designed for easy integration with the popular Telegram Messenger app. 

TON has emerged as one of the most popular blockchains for actual users and venture capital investors. The chain has become particularly popular for its “mini app” games, like “Notcoin” and “Hamster Kombat,” which allegedly found an audience of millions of users. 

Earlier this year, The Open Network Foundation, or TON Foundation, said a group of VCs, including Benchmark, CoinFund, Draper Associates, Sequoia Capital, and Skybridge, among other notable names, invested over $400 million in the Toncoin cryptocurrency. Coinbase Ventures is also reportedly a stakeholder in TON. 

Many of these investors participated in an extended Series A led by Ribbit Capital for The Open Platform, developer of the chain, bringing its total funding to $70 million. 

AlphaTON kicked off its TON treasury program in September after closing a $36.2 million private placement and securing a $35 million loan facility from BitGo Prime. The firm said it aimed to purchase approximately $100 million worth of TON tokens and invest in the mini app ecosystem. 

BitGo, Animoca Brands, Kraken, and SkyBridge are all advisors to AlphaTON.

At the height of TON’s popularity, the token cracked into the top 10 token market cap rankings at an all-time high price of $8.25. However, the token has since fallen nearly 80%, and is currently trading at $1.80, placing it at the 40th-largest token by market cap, according to The Block’s Toncoin price page.

ATON closed Thursday up over 7.5% and is currently trading hands at $1.71. 

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