During the first weekend of July 2025 the crypto community was rocked by a scandal that many on X quickly dubbed the “TON golden visa UAE” saga. The team behind one of the market’s most respected projects, TON, announced the launch of what it called the Toncoin residency program UAE, allegedly granting long-term residence permits in the Emirates at an 80% discount to the normal requirements. The announcement itself branded the scheme the TON Foundation visa program and pitched it as the flagship UAE crypto visa 2025 initiative.
The price of Toncoin shot up instantly, but soon collapsed back to previous levels when the story proved to be a blatant fake. Below, the Quickex editors reconstruct the timeline: where the fake started, who helped spread it, and how the community now wants to retaliate against TON.
The UAE Golden Visa “from TON”
A Golden Visa is the informal name for a residence permit that allows a foreign national to stay in a country for a set period (usually five or ten years). The UAE offers such a program, and thanks to its clear business rules the Emirates have become a popular destination for crypto ventures.
The snag is the price tag. Under standard rules an applicant must invest about US $540 000 in real estate or place an irrevocable fixed-term deposit.
So imagine the surprise on Saturday, 5 July 2025, when, on TON’s official website, an offer appeared to obtain a UAE Golden Visa at an 80 % discount. According to the site, an applicant needed to:
- Stake TON worth US $100 000 for three years (earning 3–4% APY along the way)—a proposal that many interpreted as a chance to invest in Toncoin for a UAE visa; and
- Pay a fee of US $35 000.
Screenshot of the offer to obtain a UAE Golden Visa by staking TON
Telegram founder Pavel Durov promptly reposted the news. Remember, TON was built on work originally done by the Telegram team, and both the project and its cryptocurrency Toncoin are now pillars of the messenger’s ecosystem.
Other prominent crypto figures followed suit, and before long hardly anyone doubted that TON had somehow secured ten-year UAE Golden Visas—at an 80% discount—for its investors. The price of Toncoin jumped more than 12%.
Toncoin chart. Source: TradingView
Unfortunately for TON investors, obstacles soon emerged.
You can always track the Toncoin price on Quickex.
What’s wrong with TON’s offer?
The first to draw attention to the oddities was Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Having once gone through the UAE Golden Visa process himself, he understands how it works—and he doubted that TON could have negotiated such terms with the authorities. Still, CZ added that if TON really had struck such a deal, he would strive to organize a similar offer for BNB investors.
He also questioned the mysterious US $35 000 fee, apparently payable to a local partner who would prepare the paperwork. In reality, CZ noted, that service costs roughly US $1 000.
Soon UAE regulators issued clarifications denying that staking US $100 000 in crypto and paying a US $35 000 commission could form grounds for a Golden Visa. The statement made clear that the authorities do not consider applicants’ crypto investments.
The disclosure shocked many Toncoin holders—many had already bought the coin believing the developers’ promises. After the regulators’ rebuttal, Toncoin surrendered nearly all of its gains.
TON accused of fraud
Angry community members demanded comments from the project team and from Pavel Durov personally. The coin’s behaviour looked exactly like a pump-and-dump: drive the price up on sensational news, then let it crash. Insiders can profit both on the rise (long positions) and on the plunge (short positions). Unsurprisingly, users predictably accused TON of running a scam.
Notably, at the time of writing neither the TON team nor Durov nor any other influential figures who had shared the news have removed their posts—or offered an explanation.
UAE officials also underscored that the company lacks a local licence and is therefore not supervised by regulators. Without such status TON cannot conduct negotiations with authorities, let alone offer Golden Visas. Against this backdrop calls began to appear to boycott the project, and many investors may abandon the coin in the wake of the fake.
Conclusions
CZ later noted that we live in an era where you never know whom to trust, and urged followers to verify information carefully before making investment decisions.
High-profile blunders like this can have severe consequences. In the wake of the scandal the Toncoin rate could sink significantly. The episode also serves as yet another reminder that there is no free lunch: anyone who truly wants a UAE Golden Visa still has to pay well over US $500 000.
And anyone wondering how to get a UAE Golden Visa with crypto should note that—as of today—no official pathway exists.
Earlier, the Quickex editors analyzed what prevents Ripple and the SEC from putting an end to the conflict and what the future holds for XRP.