According to Cointelegraph, former directors of the TON Foundation have officially launched the TON Society, a company dedicated to advancing decentralization within The Open Network (TON). The new entity, operating as a spin-off from the TON Foundation, will manage all TON events and official community channels.
TON Society is led by Jack Booth, former director of marketing, and Ekin Tuna, former director of growth at the TON Foundation. In a written Q&A with Booth, co-founder of TON Society, he stated that the company had to “separate from the TON Foundation” to “become a mouthpiece” for the TON community. Booth emphasized that while many decentralized communities claim to represent the voice of the community, they often fail to organize it properly and find true consensus.
TON Society originated as a grassroots initiative across nine global event hubs in Asia and Europe and now aims to encourage active community participation. To achieve this, the company will reward members participating in events, activities, and challenges with onchain achievement badges. These badges help establish an onchain reputation for its members and the development of member TON Society ID.
The onchain ID system will enable members to open the doors to a reputation-based governance on TON and support TON projects to engage users and promote deeper community involvement. Booth stated that the ID system will be integrated into all aspects of TON Society for various purposes, including membership, event attendance opportunities, and hackathon access. It will also allow users to participate in some online activities and quests run with partners, gain community channel publishing rights, and qualify for airdrops with partner projects.
In a similar development, former senior members of the TON Foundation launched a $40 million fund through TON Ventures, a new venture capital firm. The fund aims to support early-stage crypto projects building within the TON ecosystem and to help connect investors with builders to boost innovation and growth on TON. In addition to the financial support provided by TON Ventures, selected projects will also be able to leverage the team’s global resources and extensive experience.
