Author: Web3 Scent Observation

In 2024, TON has become one of the best-performing Layer 1 public chain projects. Since the beginning of this year, the TON chain has developed rapidly, with the total value locked (TVL) soaring from last year's $9.56 million to the current $750 million, continuously setting new highs. Currently, TON ranks tenth among global public chains.

Its native token, Toncoin (TON), has a total market capitalization exceeding $18.1 billion, placing TON among the top eight cryptocurrencies. Although Binance currently only offers TON contract trading (spot trading has not yet been launched). Additionally, the TON chain ecosystem is rapidly expanding, with the number of decentralized applications (Dapps) increasing to over 900.

While most crypto projects are struggling to survive the winter, the TON ecosystem has seen such rapid development that it has attracted the attention of numerous investors. This year, TON has shown impressive returns in portfolios, demonstrating strong resilience even as the overall market declines and other altcoins halve in value. This breakthrough performance is mainly attributed to the vigorous growth within the TON ecosystem.

As of July 15, the price of the TON token has surpassed $7.5, knowing that the price was only $2 at the beginning of the year, resulting in an annual return of over 270%.

With the backing of Telegram's massive user base (over 900 million active users) and strong social network effects, its community and ecosystem are thriving. With the resolution of restrictions in the DeFi space and the development of cross-chain bridges, the future of the TON chain looks promising, especially with its unique advantages in Telegram's native projects.

Current Status of the TON Ecosystem

According to Defillama data, as of July 15, the TVL of the TON chain has exceeded $750 million, ranking 10th among all public chains.

According to data from the official TON website, as of July 15, the TON ecosystem currently has 960 decentralized applications (Dapps), covering various categories such as trading markets, wallets, games, NFTs, social, and Launchpad. Currently, the TON chain is still in its early development stage, with the number of ecosystem projects being significantly lower compared to Ethereum, Solana, and Binance Smart Chain.

Wallets are the first step to participating in the TON ecosystem, and there are currently 49 wallets that support the TON chain. Additionally, there are many decentralized exchanges (DEX) that support TON, such as Uniswap, 1Inch, Pancake, and STON.fi. Furthermore, mainstream centralized exchanges (CEX) also generally support TON, such as OKX and Huobi.

In the first quarter of 2024, both the TON DeFi sector and the entire cryptocurrency market centered around Memecoin speculation. This phenomenon has, to some extent, driven a surge in on-chain activity and DeFi metrics, resulting in a sevenfold increase in total locked value (TVL). This is mainly due to increased activity in decentralized exchanges and the market dominance of the liquidity staking protocol Tonstakers.

Following the breakout of Notcoin, the TON ecosystem has recently seen another Meme project, DOGS, which surpassed two million users within two days of its launch. Through Telegram airdrops and user invitation mechanisms, this project has utilized a "viral spread" model, bringing strong community engagement.

New vitality continues to emerge in the TON ecosystem, and with more users and funds pouring in, the TON DeFi ecosystem is expected to maintain rapid growth in the future.

Popular Projects in the TON Ecosystem

Wallets

The first step to participating in the TON ecosystem is to choose the right wallet. Here are three popular TON wallets recommended:

Wallet: This is a centralized custodial wallet native to Telegram, similar to WeChat Wallet, built into Telegram settings. Users can directly use Wallet for token exchanges and deposit funds via P2P or bank cards.

TON Space: This is a self-custodial wallet based on Telegram launched by the TON Foundation, embedded within Telegram. Users can access TON Space through Wallet and directly connect it in TON-based dApps. In addition to recovery via mnemonic phrases and private keys, users can also recover their wallets through email and Telegram accounts.

Tonkeeper: A TON wallet independent of Telegram, also a non-custodial wallet. It was launched earlier than TON Space and offers better stability and user experience, making it more recommended for application interactions.

DeFi Projects

Leading DEX: Ston.fi

Leading Lending Protocol: EVAAProtocol

Leading Stablecoin: Aqua

Leading Staking: TonStakers

Leading Cross-Chain Bridge: Orbit

Leading Launchpad: Tonstarter

Games

Games are a hot trend in this round of TON, where simple and easy games combined with one-click forwarding on Telegram can spread games in the most effective way.

Catizen: A cat synthesis mini-game

Hamster Kombat: Hamster battle

Blum: A gamified trading platform

Yescoin: The twin brother of Notcoin

NFT Platforms

TON Diamonds: One of the main NFT trading markets on the TON chain. Regular users need to pay a 5% transaction fee to trade NFTs on TON Diamonds. Users can reduce transaction fees by purchasing diamond NFTs of different tiers.

Fragment: A non-custodial decentralized NFT trading platform for TON, also an advertising platform for Telegram. Unlike other NFT trading markets, Fragment is closely integrated with Telegram and serves as a dedicated platform for trading usernames and virtual numbers, with transactions settled in TON.

Social Applications

Moons.so: A SocialFi platform built on the TON blockchain, designed specifically for Telegram users. It provides a social platform where users can join different organizations and communities, freely discuss topics and news, and play games.

TonGifts: A social red envelope application within the TON ecosystem. It allows users to send NFTs generated by the TON blockchain as gifts within Telegram.

Background of TON Development

TON, short for "The Open Network," is a decentralized L1 layer network aimed at building an open internet environment for everyone. It was originally conceived by Telegram's founders Nikolai and Pavel Durov, and the development of TON has now shifted to a community-driven model. This transition emphasizes its fundamental principles of decentralization and the broader community's commitment to its growth and innovation. The TON chain integrates various blockchain-based services (such as cryptocurrency payments and storage solutions) directly into the Telegram ecosystem.

Telegram is an instant messaging software with over 900 million active users, giving TON a significant user growth advantage backed by this massive user base. Additionally, the TON Dapp Bots on Telegram (similar to WeChat mini-programs) have great potential.

TON consists of four main components: the TON blockchain, TON proxy, TON payments, and TON storage. Each of these components has a clear roadmap.

The TON chain is built for high performance and scalability, utilizing dynamic sharding technology, capable of processing millions of transactions per second. Its goal is to achieve adoption by hundreds of millions of users, with such high transaction processing speeds setting world records, nearly doubling the speed of Solana's 60,000 transactions per second.

Native Public Chain Token TON (Toncoin)

The initial supply of the TON token is 5 billion, with no upper limit, growing at approximately 0.6% per year (about 30 million tokens), indicating that its token economy is inflationary. The supply is primarily controlled by the staking mechanism, as $TON is allocated to reward validators. If a validator is found to be acting improperly, part or all of their stake will be slashed as a penalty. TON initially used PoW mining, later transitioning to PoS, where TON rewards are obtained through staking.

As the native token of Ton, its main functions include on-chain gas, maintaining the consensus mechanism, voting governance, and TON payment services for some applications within the ecosystem. As of July 15, the total market capitalization of TON exceeded $18.7 billion, ranking eighth in the global cryptocurrency market. From trading data, the price of TON has increased by over 270% within 2024, and over 400% in six months.