TON Developer Conference Review: Exploring the Innovative Journey from Web2 to Web3

Author: 0x1331, Researcher at TON Foundation

Dear TON community members, we have just successfully concluded an extraordinary 2024 TON Developer Conference in Shenzhen. This grand event was meticulously crafted by the TON Foundation and received strong support from several well-known institutions and communities, including TownSquare Labs, TON xFans, OpenBuild, Techub News, MetaEra, Kenetic Capital, Shenzhen University Chain Association, and Shenzhen Blockchain Technology Application Association. During this exciting conference, participants delved into the innovative technologies and product forms of the Telegram & TON ecosystem, collectively painting an inspiring blueprint for the future.

We were fortunate to invite several industry leaders from the TON ecosystem to deliver remarkable speeches.

TON Foundation --- Vivi

First, Vivi opened the speech. Vivi stated that the TON ecosystem is experiencing vigorous growth, attracting numerous projects in gaming, e-commerce, and life services, covering different stages of experience from Web2 to Web2.5 to Web3. Recently, several gaming applications with user bases in the hundreds of millions and tens of millions have emerged, capturing users' lasting attention and demonstrating extremely high user engagement.

These applications not only build sustainable business models centered on user needs and payments but are also actively exploring advertising-supported profit models. Notably, the user groups attracted by these applications are primarily ordinary users from non-Web3 domains, highlighting that the user-centric "fat application + thin protocol" model is gradually becoming the market focus.

By providing gaming experiences and seamless user interfaces that align with public habits, Telegram and TON are striving to lower the barriers for traditional users transitioning to blockchain projects, thereby promoting the mass adoption of crypto. This strategy not only accelerates the acceptance of blockchain technology by traditional web2 players but also injects new vitality into the TON ecosystem, signaling the deep integration and widespread application of blockchain technology in the internet industry.

TON is also steadily expanding its influence in the crypto space, especially in the stablecoin market. Recent data shows that the authorized issuance of USDT on the TON chain has increased to approximately $580 million, marking a significant milestone that elevates TON to the sixth-largest blockchain platform globally in terms of USDT issuance. Among all networks supporting USDT, TON is currently the fastest-growing, reflecting both market trust and demand for the TON platform, as well as the maturity of its underlying infrastructure and the expansion of its user base.

TownSquare Labs: "Universal Account: Achieving Chain Abstraction in the TON Ecosystem"

Next, Maxwell from the TownSquare Labs team presented a solution for achieving chain abstraction in the TON ecosystem. TownSquare Labs is an official partner of the TON Foundation, dedicated to promoting the technological ecosystem of TON in the Asia-Pacific region.

The essence of chain abstraction is to address the fragmentation and degraded user experience caused by the parallelism and modularity of multiple chains in the current web3 industry.

Looking back at IT history, several large-scale technology adoptions have been driven by innovations in user interfaces. In 1973, Xerox PARC introduced the graphical user interface (GUI), achieving a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interactive experience that brought personal computers into households; in 1993, the first web browser, Mosaic, was released, enabling ordinary computer users to access the World Wide Web and promoting the internet's popularity; in 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, which opened the mobile internet era with its simple and intuitive touchscreen interface. The success of each product relies on shielding users from underlying technical details and abstracting friendly user interfaces that resonate with consumers, leading to the large-scale application of new technologies.

Maxwell believes that the current web3 ecosystem is undergoing a narrative shift from fat protocols to fat accounts. The traditional fat protocol narrative emphasizes that underlying protocols capture most of the value, incentivizing VCs and project parties to invest substantial resources in redundant infrastructure, resulting in liquidity fragmentation and degraded user experience. In contrast, the fat account narrative is user-centric, providing solutions such as customizable fees, social recovery, permission management, liquidity aggregation, fast confirmations, and better privacy protection.

The integration of Telegram and TON represents the iPhone moment in the web3 space. With Telegram's user base of 900 million, TON has been positioned for large-scale application scenarios since its inception. Telegram has built-in features such as the custodial wallet @Wallet and the self-custodial wallet TON Space, allowing users to seamlessly experience DeFi, GameFi, and SocialFi, while ecosystem participants can enjoy revenue sharing from advertising, creation, and physical goods transactions through incentive programs. Due to its privacy-focused product DNA and open platform ecosystem, Telegram serves as a user entry point for many public chain applications besides TON, naturally bridging the user experience gap between web2 and web3.

Currently, the account abstraction natively supported by TON can already achieve fee-free transactions and customizable fee tokens, greatly enhancing user experience. However, it is still insufficient to address the current fragmentation and user experience issues. TownSquare Labs has launched a chain abstraction solution based on the TON ecosystem, the Universal Account, which will bring significant feature upgrades to the TON ecosystem, including full-chain accounts, full-chain gas abstraction, and full-chain liquidity aggregation.

Imagine a scenario where users only need to hold the private key of their locally self-custodial Telegram wallet to control accounts on other blockchains to initiate transactions, with transaction fees based on stablecoins or customized tokens, which can also be paid by third parties, while enjoying liquidity from the entire chain.

The future scenario of mass adoption in web3 will be when users are oblivious to the complexities of the underlying infrastructure, just as web2 users do not need to care about which cloud service provider hosts the servers behind the internet applications they access or what technology stack is used. To achieve a better user experience, it is necessary to build and integrate a series of infrastructures, including application layers, permission layers, matching layers, and settlement layers. This future is precisely the direction that TownSquare Labs and many web3 practitioners are striving for.

Kenetic Capital: "Thoughts on the TON Cross-Chain Bridge Architecture"

Then, Liang, co-founder of TON xFans and chief researcher at Kenetic Capital, summarized three solutions for achieving cross-chain bridges: atomic swaps, lock-mint/unlock-burn, and liquidity swapping. Among them, lock-mint is a common implementation solution for current Layer 2 projects.

Liang also elaborated on the core ideas and related contract codes for implementing cross-chain bridges between TON and EVM chains. Its core modules include bridge contracts on both the EVM side and the TVM side, as well as bridge services that connect the contracts on both sides.

Liang introduced the TON Layer 2 expansion solution invested by Kenetic Capital --- Atlas Protocol, which has opened its testnet and cross-chain bridge services, with expectations to officially launch its mainnet in the second half of the year, supporting developers to seamlessly migrate Ethereum applications to the TON ecosystem.

Junlv: "Thoughts on Delegated Investment in the TON Ecosystem"

Next, Jun, as a speaker, proposed and discussed the theme of "Thoughts on Delegated Investment in the TON Ecosystem." In the speech, Jun deeply compared the differences between traditional funds and crypto delegated funds, analyzed the user characteristics of different ecosystems, and proposed an innovative idea of establishing mini-funds similar to ETFs in the TON ecosystem.

Jun first elaborated on the significant differences between traditional funds and crypto delegated funds in terms of management methods, transparency, liquidity, and risk control. He pointed out that traditional funds usually have high management fees and low transparency, while crypto delegated funds achieve higher transparency and lower management costs through blockchain technology, along with higher liquidity.

Jun analyzed the different user characteristics of the Telegram ecosystem compared to the Solana and Ethereum ecosystems. Telegram ecosystem users tend to focus on social interaction and instant messaging, emphasizing privacy and security; Solana users are more concerned with high performance and low transaction fees; Ethereum users primarily focus on decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts. These differences provide important references for the design of investment products in the TON ecosystem.

On this basis, Jun introduced and explained BlackRock's two ideas regarding the BTC spot ETF. First, BlackRock ensures the safety and legality of the fund through strict regulations and compliance measures; second, they achieve stable returns and low risks through flexible investment strategies and risk management. These successful experiences provide valuable references for fund design in the TON ecosystem.

Jun finally proposed the product concept of establishing a multi-currency spot ETF mini-fund in the TON ecosystem. This fund will provide investors with more convenient and secure investment options through a diversified investment portfolio that matches the low-risk and medium-return characteristics of the TON ecosystem, along with a flexible entry and exit model. This innovative idea has garnered significant attention, and Jun looks forward to collaborating with various parties to jointly promote the realization of this innovative model, injecting new vitality into the TON ecosystem.

TONARK: "Exploration of the Technical Path and Use Cases for ZK Oracles on TON"

Finally, Chris, co-founder of TONark, discussed their technical path for implementing ZK Oracles on TON. Chris stated that ZK Oracles can not only replace traditional oracles to provide price feeds but also ensure the accuracy of these feeds due to their zk characteristics, avoiding liquidation risks caused by malicious attacks.

ZK Oracles can also effectively prevent KYC information leakage. Through zk computation, core information can be concealed while achieving decentralization, with data not existing on-chain. There is no need to upload any servers, and verification can be completed locally. This significantly reduces the risk of KYC leaks, making more users willing to accept KYC.

At the same time, the Tonark team has also designed relevant solutions for the recently booming TON gaming sector. Due to the immutable nature of zk, it is impossible to gain profits through cheating. ZK Oracles can verify the authenticity of gaming events and social interactions without leaking specific data, helping project parties analyze user data. Additionally, in some computationally intensive environments, calculations can be performed off-chain to ensure speed while reducing costs.

Chris also mentioned that ZK Oracles will first be used in the decentralized lending protocol developed by Tonark on TON, which will be officially launched soon.

This summit attracted numerous developers, entrepreneurs, and investors from the Web3 field, and the enthusiasm exceeded our expectations. TON has carved out a niche for itself and has become a shining new star in the Web3 world, with the packed venue showcasing the vibrant energy that TON brings to the blockchain industry. The vision of TON is no longer an unattainable dream but a rapidly growing ecosystem with expanding technological boundaries.

We sincerely thank every participant for their active involvement. Let us join hands, fueled by this passion and ideal, to jointly write a brilliant future for Telegram & TON!