TON fell 6% in price after the UAE made a public announcement, denying claims that the country was offering crypto gold visas. TON is a Telegram native crypto that stands for The Open Network. TON has asynchronous capabilities which are similar to the programming structures used by the Telegram messaging app. TON shot up 10% after news broke about the possible UAE crypto gold card. However, the UAE denied the claims, sending the coin down 6% from its 24 hour high. The UAE gold card was purportedly said to offer applicants a gold card if they staked $100,000 of TON for three years. Changpeng Zhao, Binance co-founder, was sceptical about the claims due to his strong ties with the UAE.
The federal body for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security (ICP) stated that gold visas are reserved for real estate investors, top students, exceptional talents, and entrepreneurs. The original claim was that a participant could gain a gold visa by staking 100,000 TON and pay a $35,000 processing fee. However, UAE authorities said that TON is not registered in the country to perform these actions. The UAE clarified that digital assets are regulated by a different department to that of the golden visas program.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance co-founder, questioned the legitimacy of the TON annoucement because there was no official announcement given by UAE officials. TON was the one that annouced the news, stating a $100k TON staking requirement and $35k processing fee. The participants would purportedly get a ten year gold visa from the UAE and gain approval within seven weeks. Zhao was impressed by the news but doubted that it was real. He stated that it would be awesome if it were true. But the tech founder had his doubts. Zhao said that he received conflicting information when he investigated the incident and could not find an official announcement on the UAE’s website.
The UAE has become a hub for crypto activities due to its regulatory bodies promoting the use of Web3 and DeFi technologies. The UAE has been aiming to attract blockchain companies to its country to enrich their business sector with new innovations. A Machine Economy Free Zone was established in the UAE to create a sandbox for blockchain businesses. The economy was partnered with a layer one token named peaq to offer token holders a share in the profits. The sandbox aimed to investigate the intersection between robotics, AI, and blockchain. Changpeng Zhao attended the recent Token2049 conference in Dubai where he met many key figures in the crypto industry. The UAE has taken a keen interest in the Machine Economy, a term that refers to a multitude of technologies, evolving side-by-side. A key interest of crypto leaders such as Changpeng Zhao is to investigate ways to create real world applications of blockchain tech.
A BNB staking token, according to Changpeng Zhao, could be used to create a gold visa program. Zhao made these comments, assuming that the news release was true. And yet he had his doubts. However, Zhao was interested in the gold visa program and may take it up again with another country that is willing to try it out. Zhao moved to the UAE back in 2021. He is familiar with the country and is interested in the local market there. BNB has been on the rise in recent months, with the Chinese company Nano Labs creating a BNB corporate treasury. The TON coin, meanwhile, pumped at the news and then fell back when the UAE rejected the gold visa rumours.
