TON Foundation Hires Former Visa Exec to Lead Global Payments

The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation) appointed former Visa executive Nikola Plecas as its new vice president of payments.

Plecas will be responsible for shaping and executing TON’s payment infrastructure strategy, the company said in a May 28 blog post.

He is tasked with expanding the network’s capabilities, managing financial partnerships and ensuring compliance across jurisdictions as the foundation scales services for over 1 billion Telegram users.

“Joining TON Foundation represents an incredible opportunity to shape the future of payments on a truly global scale,” Plecas said.

Plecas to lead TON’s new payment strategy

Plecas will lead the push to build a payments architecture that is both globally interoperable and robust enough to handle increasing demand from developers, enterprises and end-users, per the announcement.

Plecas brings a track record from his time at Visa, where he played a central role in crypto-related initiatives, including product development and global commercialization.

He helped streamline on-ramp performance across multiple markets and developed Visa’s digital currency engagement model for European clients. He also contributed to numerous fintech and crypto issuance projects and frequently spoke on Visa’s behalf at major industry events.

TON Foundation CEO Max Crown noted that payments are a core pillar of TON’s roadmap. “With deep industry expertise and a clear vision for scaling payment infrastructure, Nikola brings the experience and leadership we need to accelerate TON’s global growth.”

Cointelegraph reached out to TON for comment but had not received a response by publication.

Ethena offers USDe to Telegram users

On May 1, decentralized stablecoin platform Ethena partnered with TON to make its stablecoins available to Telegram’s user base of over 1 billion people.

The partnership will see the deployment of Ethena’s USDe (USDE) and Ethena Staked USDe (sUSDe) within the TON blockchain. The sUSDe variant will be integrated under the name tsUSDe, enabling Telegram users to access US dollar-denominated savings directly within Telegram.

Notably, the TON Foundation has also been closely collaborating with Tether, connecting TON to Tether’s USDt ecosystem with LayerZero in February 2024.

As part of its ambitious scaling plans, TON expects to connect its ecosystem to at least 100 chains, including Ether (ETH), Tron (TRX) and Solana (SOL).

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