TON Foundation Appoints Visa Executive as Vice President of Payments

The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation) has appointed Nikola Plecas, a former Visa executive, as its new vice president of payments. Plecas will be responsible for shaping and executing TON’s payment infrastructure strategy, a critical component of the foundation's roadmap. His role involves expanding the network’s capabilities, managing financial partnerships, and ensuring compliance across various jurisdictions as the foundation scales services for over 1 billion Telegram users.

Plecas brings a wealth of experience from his time at Visa, where he played a central role in crypto-related initiatives. His responsibilities included product development, global commercialization, and streamlining on-ramp performance across multiple markets. He also developed Visa’s digital currency engagement model for European clients and contributed to numerous fintech and crypto issuance projects. Plecas' expertise in these areas will be instrumental in building a payments architecture that is both globally interoperable and robust enough to handle increasing demand from developers, enterprises, and end-users.

TON Foundation CEO Max Crown highlighted the significance of Plecas' appointment, stating that payments are a core pillar of TON’s roadmap. Crown noted that Plecas' deep industry expertise and clear vision for scaling payment infrastructure make him an invaluable addition to the team. This appointment is part of TON’s ambitious plans to connect its ecosystem to at least 100 chains, including Ether (ETH), Tron (TRX), and Solana (SOL).

Plecas' role will also involve collaborating with partners such as Ethena, a decentralized stablecoin platform that recently partnered with TON to make its stablecoins available to Telegram’s user base. This partnership includes the deployment of Ethena’s USDe (USDE) and Ethena Staked USDe (sUSDe) within the TON blockchain, enabling Telegram users to access US dollar-denominated savings directly within the messaging platform. Additionally, the TON Foundation has been closely collaborating with Tether, connecting TON to Tether’s USDt ecosystem with LayerZero in February 2024.

Plecas' appointment is a strategic move by the TON Foundation to leverage his expertise and drive the development of scalable payment infrastructure. This move positions TON for further growth and adoption, aligning with the foundation's mission of delivering decentralized services to mainstream users. With Plecas at the helm of the payments strategy, TON is poised to accelerate its global growth and enhance its payment capabilities, making it a more attractive option for users and developers alike.