TON Foundation Offers UAE Golden Visa for $100,000 Toncoin Stake

The TON Foundation has launched a new initiative that allows Toncoin holders to secure a 10-year UAE Golden Visa by staking $100,000 worth of toncoin for three years and paying a one-time processing fee of $35,000. This program, announced by Max Crown, CEO of the TON Foundation, offers a capital-efficient alternative to traditional UAE residency routes, which typically require a minimum investment of approximately $540,000 in real estate or fixed deposits. The TON Golden Visa initiative is touted as a faster, more affordable, and digitally native pathway to UAE residency, aligning with the country’s ambition to become a global crypto and Web3 hub.

The program claims to offer several key benefits, including fast approval within seven weeks from document submission, a simple process without the need to purchase real estate or meet income thresholds, and inclusion of family members — spouse, children, and parents — at no extra cost beyond standard government fees. The staking is conducted through decentralized smart contracts on the TON blockchain, ensuring transparency and security. However, the announcement has generated controversy within the crypto community, with some praising the partnership as an “amazing story” that could attract whales and provide strong buy support for Toncoin, while others have expressed skepticism over the legitimacy and government support for the initiative.

Bobby Ong, co-founder and COO of CoinGecko, praised the partnership as an “amazing story” that could attract whales and provide strong buy support for Toncoin, although he expressed hope that the initiative is not a temporary scheme. Conversely, Joe HedgedHog, an investment partner at Sigil Fund, pointed out that this is not an official UAE government partnership but rather a third-party legal firm using TON as a proxy to assist clients applying for the Golden Visa under the entrepreneur category. He noted that the firm could have used any cryptocurrency and that the staking requirement serves more as a token utility sink than a government mandate.

Further skepticism came from the Head of Strategy & Business Development at Gearbox Protocol, who described the announcement as misleading. According to this perspective, the legal firm receives the non-refundable $35,000 fee and attempts to submit applications to the UAE government, which ultimately decides on approval. The staked TON balance is only one of several requirements and may no longer be relevant under updated rules. The absence of blanket approval for TON stakers means that acceptance is uncertain, and the program may primarily serve as a marketing tool coupled with token utility.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), co-founder and former CEO of Binance, expressed cautious support for TON founder Pavel Durov but emphasized the need to “trust but verify.” He noted that such a program would typically require an official government partnership and announcement, which has not yet been confirmed. The UAE entrepreneur visa category, which this program appears to target, is designed for individuals owning economic projects of a technical or innovative nature. Applicants must provide approval letters from an accredited UAE auditor confirming the project’s value (at least 500,000 AED), local authorities verifying the project’s innovative character, and an accredited UAE business incubator to establish the proposed activity in the country.

The Open Network is a decentralized, scalable layer-1 blockchain originally developed by Telegram co-founder Nikolai Durov and now maintained by the TON Foundation and its community. It features a multi-blockchain architecture with a masterchain and multiple shardchains, using proof-of-stake consensus and advanced routing protocols to enable fast, low-cost transactions and support a wide range of decentralized applications. Toncoin is the blockchain's native cryptocurrency; it is used for transaction fees, staking, governance, and powering decentralized services. Integrated with Telegram, toncoin facilitates payments and rewards within the app’s ecosystem, with a capped supply of 5 billion tokens.