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Manny Stotz, President of the TON Foundation, laid out a bold vision for the future of blockchain — and the role TON hopes to play in it.

Roundtable host Rob Nelson opened the conversation by comparing Bitcoin’s differing uses across the world.

“ Bitcoin may be a store of value. If you're a US investor, you may want to hold it like digital gold,” he said. “If you are in a country with massive inflation, it's a currency. It's a tool to actually do things.”

He continued, “What you're saying is that concept plays out over the larger space of the blockchain. There is utility that's very different for some people that we don't need here.”

As the conversation moved toward investment trends and future technologies, Nelson pointed to the efforts of major tech players to adapt. “Mark Zuckerberg switched to Meta trying to do that for a reason,” Nelson said. “I don't think he can turn Facebook around. It's turning the Titanic around. It's almost too big. But he sees where it's going. He knows what this future looks like.”

Manny Stotz agreed.

“No, I fully agree. And again, I don't want to speak ill of anyone including Facebook, but they've definitely seen the writing on the wall that this is basically a big part of the future,” he said. “When you're sitting on Mark Zuckerberg's throne — last time I checked, it was a $1.8 trillion market cap — it's hard to move your needle. He thought this could.”

Stotz then drew a powerful comparison to China’s Tencent.

“How did Tencent become Asia's most valuable corporation, a trillion dollar peak market cap? You had WeChat in the middle, the messenger, and then all the FinTech applications around it,” he explained. “Your bank account, you have yield, and then the gaming as well.”

With Telegram now reaching one billion monthly users, Stotz said the goal is simple: integrate TON and capture a third of that audience.

“The first billion is the hardest in my experience. So 2 billion, 3 billion — that’s the goal,” he said.

“If we can succeed in that mission, we'll be the most widely used blockchain, maybe even ahead of Bitcoin… I don't think Ton might become more valuable than Bitcoin… but I think after Bitcoin, I think the number two spot is for grabs, and we're coming for it.”