The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation) has appointed former Visa executive Nikola Plecas as its new Vice President of Payments. This was announced in a blog post on May 28, 2025.
Plecas will be responsible for shaping and executing TON’s payment infrastructure strategy. His tasks include expanding the network’s capabilities, managing financial partnerships, and ensuring compliance across jurisdictions as the foundation scales services for over 1 billion Telegram users. He will also lead the effort to build a payments architecture that is globally interoperable and robust enough to handle the increasing demand from developers, enterprises, and end – users.
Plecas has a wealth of experience from his time at Visa. He played a central role in crypto – related initiatives, such as product development and global commercialization. He helped streamline on – ramp performance across multiple markets, developed Visa’s digital currency engagement model for European clients, and contributed to numerous fintech and crypto issuance projects. He also frequently represented Visa at major industry events.
TON Foundation CEO Max Crown noted that payments are a core pillar of TON’s roadmap. He believes that Plecas, with his deep industry expertise and clear vision for scaling payment infrastructure, brings the experience and leadership needed to accelerate TON’s global growth.
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