Telegram’s TON Network Makes Big RWA Play With $500M Tokenized Bond Fund From Libre

Telegram’s blockchain ecosystem is taking a bold step into the real world of finance. Libre, a digital asset tokenization firm, has announced plans to tokenize $500 million worth of Telegram-issued bonds into a new on-chain fund called the Telegram Bond Fund (TBF). The fund will launch on TON (The Open Network) — the blockchain originally developed by Telegram and now running independently.

This move is part of a larger trend in crypto: bringing real-world assets (RWAs) like bonds, money markets, and traditional financial products onto blockchain rails.

What Is the Telegram Bond Fund?

Libre’s TBF will give accredited investors exposure to a slice of Telegram’s outstanding $2.35 billion in corporate bonds — debt that Telegram has issued to raise money. But instead of buying these bonds in the traditional way, investors will be able to purchase tokenized units of the fund directly on the TON blockchain.

Once tokenized, these bond fund units will not only deliver yield (returns from the underlying bonds), but also be usable within the blockchain ecosystem — for example, as collateral for on-chain borrowing, product development, or other DeFi services within TON.

In other words, Telegram’s debt is being turned into programmable, tradable crypto assets.

Why It Matters

According to Libre CEO Avtar Sehra, the goal isn’t just to recreate traditional finance on a blockchain — it’s to unlock new utility from old financial tools.

“What we’ve created is like a fixed-income fund that acquires the bonds and then we tokenize the fund,” Sehra said. “When you purchase units in the fund, these are on the TON chain, giving you access to the returns of the underlying bonds themselves. This opens up opportunities to use the bonds for collateral, ease of transfers, and ultimately create utility with these financial instruments.”

That means users won’t just earn passive income — they’ll also be able to move, trade, and leverage these assets in a more flexible, blockchain-native way.

The Rise of Real World Assets (RWAs) on Blockchain

Libre’s Telegram bond fund is part of a broader and fast-growing movement in the crypto world: tokenizing real-world financial assets.

Over the last two years, companies and protocols have been racing to bring assets like U.S. Treasury bills, real estate, corporate bonds, and money market funds onto blockchains. These tokenized RWAs promise several benefits:

• Faster settlement times compared to traditional finance.
• Fractional ownership, letting smaller investors participate.
• Improved liquidity, thanks to 24/7 trading on blockchain rails.
• Global access, especially in underserved regions.

Libre is already well ahead of the curve. It has previously tokenized more than $200 million in assets across investment funds managed by major institutions like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane, and Laser Digital (Nomura’s crypto division).

The Telegram Bond Fund marks a natural next step, tying RWAs to a rapidly growing Web3 ecosystem — one that could soon include nearly a billion users.

Why Telegram? Why TON?

Telegram has over 950 million users worldwide. While TON started as an internal Telegram project, it now operates as an independent network, albeit with deep integration and support from Telegram.

TON’s recent focus has been on onboarding Telegram’s massive user base into Web3, using mini-apps, wallets, and embedded blockchain features directly within the Telegram app.

Libre sees TON as a unique opportunity to bring tokenized traditional finance to a platform that already has wide adoption and strong brand recognition. It’s also an ecosystem with active developers and growing DeFi infrastructure — making it a good fit for launching new use cases like the TBF.

Who Can Invest?

At least for now, the Telegram Bond Fund will be open only to accredited investors. That’s fairly standard for tokenized funds that involve traditional financial securities like corporate bonds.

These investors can gain exposure to a portion of Telegram’s debt, receive interest payments, and — uniquely — use their tokenized fund units in on-chain applications. For example, those tokens could be used as collateral in DeFi loans, or swapped and traded in secondary markets within the TON ecosystem.

In the long run, if regulations evolve, we could see retail-friendly versions of similar funds — which would further blur the lines between traditional finance and DeFi.

Not Just Tokenization for Tokenization’s Sake

While many crypto projects jump on trends for hype, Libre is taking a more measured approach.

“Our objective isn’t just to tokenize things for the sake of tokenizing them,” Sehra said. “I think the real value in tokenizing traditional financial instruments is unlocking the utility of those assets.”

In other words, tokenization is just the first step. The real innovation happens when these assets are used — as collateral, as part of programmable smart contracts, or integrated into new financial products and services.

Libre sees TON as a fertile ground for these next-gen financial experiments.

The Bigger Picture

With Libre’s Telegram Bond Fund, we’re seeing a convergence of three powerful trends:

1. Crypto + Traditional Finance: Bringing bonds, money markets, and other financial products into the DeFi world.
2. Messaging + Blockchain: Using Telegram’s huge global user base to make blockchain tools more accessible and intuitive.
3. Tokenization with Purpose: Going beyond simply wrapping assets and focusing on real-world utility.

If successful, this fund could be the first of many such products that bring institutional-grade finance into user-friendly Web3 environments.

What’s Next?

The Telegram Bond Fund is set to launch on TON later this year. Libre hasn’t shared specific dates yet, but it’s clear the wheels are already in motion.

Meanwhile, TON continues to gain traction. Its integration into Telegram wallets and mini-apps is helping onboard new users, while DeFi products and services are quietly being built in the background.

Libre’s approach — combining regulated traditional assets with the flexibility of crypto — could serve as a blueprint for other platforms looking to do the same.

As RWAs become a central theme in the next phase of blockchain adoption, projects like Libre’s TBF might prove to be not just innovative, but necessary.