TON Foundation Names MoonPay Co-founder as CEO Amid Growth Slowdown

In a pivotal move, the TON Foundation — the entity overseeing development of The Open Network blockchain — has tapped Maximilian Crown, co-founder of MoonPay, as its new CEO.

The announcement, made Thursday, comes at a critical moment for TON, which has seen a slowdown in daily transaction volume and fees according to data from TonStat.

This marks the second major leadership change in 2025, following the appointment of Manuel Stotz as president earlier this year.

Why Crown? A Proven Fintech Builder

Crown co-founded MoonPay, now one of the world’s leading crypto payments firms. As CFO and COO, he was instrumental in:

• Scaling MoonPay’s operations globally
• Building critical partnerships with banks and regulators
• Establishing MoonPay’s reputation as a compliant crypto on-ramp

“Max brings exactly the kind of operational rigor and regulatory finesse TON needs right now,” said a TON Foundation spokesperson.

His experience is expected to bring stability, strategic partnerships, and stronger financial planning to TON’s ambitious plans for growth.

TON’s Growth Problem: The Boom That Stalled

TON exploded in popularity in 2023 and 2024 thanks to its integration with Telegram mini apps, launching viral Web3 games like:

• Notcoin
• Hamster Kombat

But as the hype cooled, so did activity on the blockchain:

• Transaction volumes flattened
• Daily fees stagnated
• Developer enthusiasm tapered

The ecosystem is now looking to revive engagement, and Crown’s appointment signals a new phase of consolidation, funding, and focused scaling.

Snapshot: TON’s Current Ecosystem Numbers

Despite these strong fundamentals, user stickiness and on-chain utility have been flagged as weak spots.

Massive Backing and Big Promises

While growth has slowed, TON still holds one of the largest funding war chests in Web3:

• $400M investment from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Ribbit Capital, and Kingsway
• $100M TVM Ventures fund launched by former president Steve Yun in February
• Plans to capture a major slice of the stablecoin market, per Yun’s February statement

The financial runway is there — but execution and user traction are now the top priorities.

Chart: TON Foundation Milestones vs. Market Activity

What Can We Expect Under Crown’s Leadership?

Given Crown’s MoonPay background, expect the TON Foundation to prioritize:

• Enhanced onboarding tools for Telegram users
• Compliance-friendly frameworks for cross-border crypto use
• A refined growth playbook based on fintech KPIs, not just crypto hype

The TON blockchain, with its Telegram-native integration, still holds the unique advantage of being the only major Layer-1 embedded in a social super app.

“This is a moment to turn attention from virality to utility,” said a Web3 analyst watching the transition.

Community Reactions: Hopeful, But Cautious

Initial responses across social media have been cautiously optimistic. Community concerns remain:

• Will TON deliver sustainable developer incentives?
• Can it finally establish DeFi or stablecoin dominance?
• Will new leadership help ship products faster?

Still, the user base of over 40 million and 121 million unique Toncoin wallets provide a foundation most chains would envy.

Final Thoughts: Can Crown Reignite the TON Engine?

Maximilian Crown inherits a TON ecosystem that is rich in funding and users, but thin on sticky applications and transactional depth.

His success will likely depend on his ability to:

• Drive stablecoin and payments integrations
• Launch more high-retention apps beyond viral hits
• Reignite on-chain volume and fee generation

With strong investor backing and deep Telegram integration, the TON blockchain isn’t going anywhere — but whether it climbs into the top layer-1 ranks may now rest on Crown’s leadership.