07.07.2025 21:23

The TON Foundation issued a statement clarifying that a recently publicized offer of UAE Golden Visas in exchange for staking TON cryptocurrency was not officially sanctioned by the UAE government. This clarification followed significant backlash and widespread criticism regarding the initiative.

The Foundation's blog post detailed the project as a private venture, an independent collaboration with an unnamed third-party partner specializing in tokenized assets and blockchain technologies. Crucially, it emphasized the complete absence of official government backing, characterizing the project instead as an exploratory endeavor.

The organization admitted the initial announcement of the visa program was premature and subsequently removed the original post. This action came after the weekend's online buzz on platforms like X, formerly Twitter, where the initial offer of a ten-year Golden Visa in exchange for a three-year stake of $100,000 worth of TON tokens had generated considerable attention and skepticism. Prominent figures within the cryptocurrency space, such as Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, publicly questioned the legitimacy of the offer due to a lack of transparent official communication.

Adding further weight to the Foundation's retraction, three major UAE regulatory bodies – the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security (ICP), the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) – released a joint statement explicitly denying any involvement or endorsement of the scheme. Their statement firmly stated that digital asset investment is not a criterion for obtaining a UAE Golden Visa. Following these denials and the Foundation's clarification, the price of TON cryptocurrency experienced a significant decline.