UAE Denies Issuing ‘Golden Visas’ for Toncoin Investments

The UAE authorities have denied reports of issuing ‘golden visas’ to cryptocurrency investors. A joint statement was released by the ICP, the SCA, and the VARA.

The denial was in response to an announcement by The Open Network Foundation. The foundation had introduced a program for obtaining a 10-year UAE ‘golden visa’. Investors were invited to stake $100,000 in Toncoin (TON) and pay a $35,000 fee to participate.

Regulators noted that ‘golden visas’ are granted based on clearly defined criteria. They are available to real estate investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, talented students, and other categories not related to digital assets.

VARA specifically pointed out that TON is neither licensed nor regulated by the authority.

Peravel, a partner in the program, insists on its legitimacy. According to the company’s CEO, Ehsan Sattari, the method fully complies with government requirements, and official announcements are expected through TON channels.

The TON Foundation’s program proposed locking tokens for three years with an annual yield of about 3-4%. Organizers promised visa approval within seven weeks.

The announcement was reposted by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao also reacted to the news. He stated that if the program is an official partnership, the exchange would attempt to launch a similar one for BNB.

If it is real, we will definitely try to get it on BNB too.

— CZ ? BNB (@cz_binance) July 6, 2025

Back in May, Durov announced that Telegram and Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI had entered a year-long partnership to distribute the Grok chatbot among messenger users and integrate it “into all applications.” However, the billionaire stated that no agreement had been reached.