Money & Identity: Nikola Plecas - VP of Payments at TON Foundation

Money, Identity, and a Billion Users: How TON and Telegram are Building the Future of Payments

In a recent episode of the "Money & Identity" podcast, Nikola Plecas, VP of Payments at the TON Foundation, shared an ambitious vision for how blockchain technology can be integrated into the daily lives of over a billion Telegram users. Having moved from the traditional finance giant Visa, Plecas finds himself at the forefront of innovation, where the task is not to optimize existing systems but to create an entirely new financial ecosystem. His story is a deep dive into a strategy that could forever change our understanding of money, digital identity, and our interaction with technology.

From Transactions to People: A Paradigm Shift

The first question posed to Nikola concerned his transition from one of the world's largest payment networks to one of the largest messaging apps. According to him, this move symbolizes a broader industry shift: from a focus on trillions of transactions to a focus on a billion people. At Visa, where he worked on the corporate strategy team and later in the fintech division, his journey into the crypto industry began around 2019 with a project to integrate Coinbase. The work involved improving existing processes, such as money transfers and settlements, using new technologies.

However, the desire to work in a more dynamic environment where decisions are made faster, and the opportunity to create products for a potential billion-user audience, became decisive factors. "It was a fantastic opportunity," Plecas notes, adding that three months later, he is certain it was the best decision he ever made. This transition reflects a global trend: the fight for user "screen time" is becoming increasingly fierce, and the winner will be the one who can create a successful "super app" that satisfies a person's financial, payment, and even travel needs.

Stablecoins as the Next Wave of Payment Innovation

Plecas views blockchain and stablecoins not as something revolutionary, but as the next logical stage in the evolution of payments. He draws parallels with history: Visa and Mastercard were innovations in the 60s and 70s, PayPal in the late 90s, and Stripe 10-15 years ago. Today, digital assets play this role.

At the same time, he assesses the current situation realistically. According to a BCG report, about 90% of stablecoin use today is for trading and DeFi, while real payments (P2P, B2C) account for only a few percent each. "We have not yet identified the 'killer use case' for stablecoins," he admits. However, he sees two key areas where their potential is immense:

Payment Orchestration: For small and medium-sized businesses that need to transfer tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, for example, from Europe to Brazil, stablecoins offer a cheaper and faster alternative to traditional banking systems. This is a continuation of the work that fintech companies have been doing for decades, but with a new, more efficient technology.
Financial Inclusion and Remittances: In countries with high inflation and low GDP, most people have smartphones. For them, a stablecoin is essentially a proxy for the US dollar, providing a reliable way to save. Importantly, they control their own keys, which protects them from the risks of centralized systems. This use case is already finding a clear product-market fit and will only continue to grow.

TON's Strategy: Creating a "Flywheel" in Telegram

TON's unique advantage lies in its deep integration with Telegram. The platform provides a ready-made audience and infrastructure in the form of mini-apps, which allows for the creation of a powerful "flywheel" effect. The idea is that by offering native financial tools, users are encouraged to spend more time in the app and engage with an increasing number of features.

To achieve this goal, the TON team is working on solving key tasks in the right sequence:

Scaling and Security: The user must be confident in the security of their data and funds.
User Experience (UX): It is necessary to eliminate all complexities—reduce the number of clicks, shorten waiting times, and make the interface intuitive.
Trust: Trust is built over time through the successful deployment of products and solving problems for both users and merchants.

The TON Foundation acts as a neutral Layer 1 protocol, collaborating with numerous stablecoin issuers and startups that are creating solutions for various segments—from crypto-acquiring for merchants to B2B payments. "We are at a stage where we support many different projects and experiment with them," says Plecas.

The Future of Money, Identity, and Artificial Intelligence

Looking 3-5 years ahead, Plecas sees the future of money as being closely linked to the development of AI agent-based e-commerce. Imagine giving a command to your AI agent to find and hire a team to remodel your garden, specifying a budget and a rating for the contractors. In such an economy, micropayments will become the norm, and traditional payment systems will not be able to service them effectively. This is precisely where blockchain and stablecoins can truly shine.

Another key aspect of the future is digital identity. Today, regulation in this area is loosely defined, but TON is closely monitoring its development. Plecas raises a deeper question: how to give users not only control over their data but also the ability to monetize it in a safe and legal way. Considering that, according to some data, fraud and identity theft constitute the third-largest "economy" in the world after the US and China, solving this problem is of colossal importance. The companies that build the infrastructure for sovereign identity will become the "new Metas" of this world.

The Main Barriers to Mass Adoption

For the technology to become truly mainstream and offer a "10x better experience," two fundamental barriers must be overcome:

Seamless Interoperability: The user should not have to think about which network (TON, Solana, Ethereum, or even a private Deutsche Bank blockchain) their funds or the recipient's funds are on. A transfer should be as simple as using a payment card today: tap and go. The infrastructure must automatically and invisibly to the user ensure the movement of funds between different systems.
Abstraction of Complexity: All technical complexity must be completely hidden from the user. Concepts like "gas fees" should disappear from the average person's vocabulary. "Try explaining that to my wife," Plecas jokes. The experience must be as simple as a one-click purchase.

"When we stop talking about the technology and start talking about it as just another payment 'rail,' that's when we will achieve real mass adoption," he concludes. Given the pace of development in the industry, he believes this future may not be far off.