LBank Interview with the Head of Ecosystem Growth for TON in the Asia-Pacific Region: "All things compete for freedom under the frost, TON is not just a financial effect of assets."

From the crazy Notcoin to the popular Tap to earn game model in the crypto circle, the TON ecosystem has rapidly grown from obscurity to a super strong public chain valued at over a billion. Without incurring additional user migration costs, TON has leveraged Telegram's existing social network to reconstruct the Web2 business model in a Web3 manner.

In this exclusive interview, LBank Labs invited Kenny, the head of ecosystem growth for TON in the Asia-Pacific region, to discuss TON's development expectations, support plans, and token controversies, interpret the current state of the TON ecosystem, and answer market questions to help users better understand the current state of the TON market.

The following is the transcript of the interview, organized by LBank:

LBank: First of all, welcome Kenny, the head of ecosystem growth for TON in the Asia-Pacific region, to LBank for our exclusive interview. Notcoin is currently very hot, having increased by 329.6% since its launch, with a market cap of 2466M, ranking 54th, igniting unprecedented expectations for the TON ecosystem. In this regard, does the development of Notcoin meet your expectations?

Kenny: It basically meets expectations. Although there were some minor technical hiccups along the way, the overall goal has been achieved, marking a successful breakthrough for the ecosystem project. Of course, Notcoin's journey is far from over, and subsequent developments are also worth looking forward to. In recent public shares, Notcoin's founder Sasha has also disclosed some information about the roadmap.

LBank: What is the current state of ecosystem development on TON, and what are the main applications? Please share with us.

Kenny: "All things compete for freedom under the frost sky." Currently, the overall ecosystem situation, including on-chain data such as TVL, has seen significant multiplicative growth, and many public articles have conducted research on this, so I won't repeat those findings.

It is worth mentioning the vision and goals of the TON Foundation—"By 2028, let 30% of TG users hold and trade virtual assets." Holding and trading, in my personal understanding, are two independent yet progressive actions.

For TG users who are not web3 native, how to facilitate their conversion along this path? The answer lies in wallets and applications (mini-programs). Wallets serve as the carriers of conversion power, and this conversion power is backed by various self-growing applications within the TG ecosystem. These applications often have strong web2 attributes, are user-friendly, have a certain level of fun, and possess practical value, such as mini-games, tools, and entertainment, allowing this segment of users to start holding virtual assets (the simplest being tap to earn). Behind this, there are not only opportunities for 2C applications but also for 2B applications.

Next, to enable this segment of users holding virtual assets (including both those converted from web2 and web3 natives) to start trading virtual assets, we need to rely on the foundational ecosystem of our TON chain, including the construction and development of various fields such as DeFi, cross-chain bridges, CEX, NFT trading, and memes, to jointly promote asset distribution and liquidity.

LBank: Backed by 1 billion Telegram users, what tools or innovative applications have a high acceptance rate for seamlessly transitioning web2 users into the web3 world? Could you elaborate on the efforts and support plans that the TON Foundation is currently undertaking in this area?

Kenny: Regarding which tools or innovative applications have a higher acceptance rate, everyone in this circle is quite adept at information collection, and some third-party platforms and public articles can also be referenced (details can be found in LBank Research Institute: TON "Fission" Moment | Capturing Future Traffic Entry from Trends). The efforts and support from the foundation have been substantial in terms of both quantity and intensity, including advertising incentives, grants, investments, and more.

I want to emphasize that the foundation's most important ecological support plan this year is The Open League, which will airdrop a total of 150 million dollars worth of TON tokens to participating projects as rewards. This can be understood as setting the stage for various projects to compete. We will set up several tracks, such as DeFi and mini-programs, and derive the comprehensive scores of the projects based on a series of data indicators. The higher the ranking, the more airdrops they can receive. Interestingly, we initially planned for a season to last three months, but the speed of ecological development has allowed us to compress the cycle to one month per season, and recently even to half a month per season.

LBank: Currently, a large number of ecosystems are being built on TON, especially mini-games centered around Notcoin. However, we also notice that basic financial products like DEX and lending, which can absorb large amounts of capital, are still quite scarce, and even the leading ones lack sufficient appeal. Additionally, the number of developers is significantly lower compared to other public chains. What do you think are the reasons for TON's TVL being in a relatively awkward position? Does the TON Foundation have practical ecological plans to address this current dilemma?

Kenny: First of all, we cannot evaluate TON using traditional public chain valuation standards. TON is a very unique public chain, not just a financial effect of assets. The core value of TON lies in its close integration with Telegram, which provides TON with a unique user entry point and application scenarios. Therefore, we prefer to measure the success of the ecosystem based on user base, transaction volume, and DApps' protocol revenue.

Secondly, TON is still in a relatively early stage of development compared to other mature public chains (previously delayed for a long time due to litigation with the SEC), and the maturity of the developer community and financial products is still being gradually established. Recently, we have also engaged with many projects planning to deploy in this direction.

Moreover, through the various actions I mentioned earlier at the foundation level, we have also achieved good performance in TVL, with a monthly growth rate of 85%. I believe we are on a positive trajectory.

LBank: At this year's Dubai TOKEN2049 conference, TON announced that Tether would issue USDT on TON. What does this mean for the entire ecosystem?

Kenny: First of all, the integration of native USDT will simplify the transaction process for users on the TON chain, enhancing the liquidity and usability of funds. Compared to the previous cross-chain USDT or TRC-20 assets through the ETH network, native USDT avoids complex cross-chain steps and potential security risks, enhancing transaction efficiency and security.

Additionally, the integration of native USDT is expected to attract more traders and developers to join the TON ecosystem. As a widely accepted stablecoin, its direct support on TON can lower the entry barriers for users and developers. At the same time, the TON Foundation collaborates with exchanges to launch zero-cost interaction models, further promoting the circulation and acceptance of USDT on TON.

This deep integration not only enhances the functionality of the TON blockchain but may also become a key factor in driving its widespread adoption, providing stable monetary support for various applications and services on the TON chain, enhancing the vitality and attractiveness of the entire ecosystem. The data achievements since its launch have exceeded the expectations of both parties, which is evident to all.

LBank: In the economic model of the TON token, there is an annual growth rate of about 0.6% (approximately 3 million tokens), and most of the early TON tokens are held by miners, raising many questions about its decentralization. What measures has the TON team and foundation taken to manage this situation?

Kenny: It should be noted that the TON Foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting and supporting the TON community's initiatives for the practicality and ecosystem of the TON blockchain, and is not the original issuer of the tokens. We also rely on publicly available on-chain data for analysis.

In response to this issue, first, based on decentralized community voting, about 21% of inactive miners' wallets have been locked until 2027. Additionally, the community has initiated the TON Believers Fund, in which approximately 26% of the total supply of tokens is currently staked.

Finally, the Open League project aims to promote the decentralization of supply by distributing Toncoin to community members and projects. From a web2 perspective, another initiative is that Telegram's advertising platform rewards channel owners with advertising revenue in the form of Toncoin. Through these measures, nearly 47% of the total supply has been locked, contributing positively to enhancing the decentralization of TON and promoting the healthy development of the ecosystem.