A TON of BS

Max Crown, CEO of TON, announced on July 6 that anyone staking $100K worth of TON tokens plus a $35K processing fee could obtain a UAE Golden Visa after a three-year lock-up. Within 48 hours, the UAE Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, the Securities and Commodities Authority and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority denied any such program, and VARA said TON was not licensed to operate in the UAE. The article notes that real Golden Visas require at least 2 million AED ($544k) in real estate or public investment, and Crown later apologized, saying the messaging was unclear and the initiative "leaked" before it was ready.