Overview of the TON Ecosystem: Can it make a strong comeback after the incident involving the arrest of the TG founder?

Since the beginning of 2024, the TON (The Open Network) ecosystem has attracted significant market attention, developing in a "rapid progress" manner, with several dark horse projects emerging one after another. Backed by Telegram's vast user base, along with Binance's continuous support and the issuance of the USDT stablecoin, the TON ecosystem projects and infrastructure are rapidly expanding.

As of September 14, according to statistics from the TON official website, the entire ecosystem currently includes over 1,200 projects. The current TON ecosystem applications cover 19 categories, including Staking, wallets, cross-chain bridges, social, chat, games, tools, decentralized exchanges (DEX), lending, and more, gradually forming a complete ecosystem.

It is worth noting that at the beginning of March this year, there were only about 500 TON ecosystem projects. In just five months, the number has doubled, with the number of tokens increasing several times, especially in the gaming and DeFi projects. So, what is driving the explosion of the TON ecosystem? This article will analyze the current status and future trends of the TON ecosystem from several recent key points.

The TON Ecosystem Continues to Thrive, Thanks to Binance's Support

Binance has been continuously making efforts in the TON ecosystem, reigniting market interest. Recently, Binance Launchpool has consecutively launched several popular TON ecosystem projects, including Notcoin, TON, DOGS, Catizen, and Hamster Kombat. In addition, Binance has also invested in the Telegram trading mini-program Blum and the launch platform Pluto Studio for Catizen. The launch of these projects not only further expands the application scope of the TON ecosystem but also attracts more users to participate.

Catizen (CATI) and Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) are the latest two Launchpool projects from Binance, set to go live on Binance soon. According to Binance's announcement, users can participate in the activity by contributing BNB and FDUSD to the CATI reward pool starting from September 16, 2024, at 08:00 (UTC+8), for a duration of 4 days. Subsequently, users can also contribute BNB and FDUSD to the HMSTR reward pool starting from September 19, 2024, at 08:00 (UTC+8), with the HMSTR activity lasting for 7 days.

Catizen is a cat-themed game that combines the metaverse, GameFi, and AI technology. The project has introduced a revolutionary "play-to-airdrop" model, allowing players to earn future airdrop rewards while playing the game. Since its launch, Catizen has attracted a large number of users, especially Telegram Premium users, with over 2 million active players on-chain, indicating its high popularity within the TON ecosystem.

Hamster Kombat, on the other hand, is a mini-program platform based on Telegram and the TON chain, aimed at simulating a P2E (Play-to-Earn) game for cryptocurrency exchange CEOs. According to official announcements, Hamster Kombat has surpassed 100 million users, with daily active users reaching as high as 32 million, making it one of the leading meme coin projects on the TON chain.

USDT Issuance on the TON Chain Exceeds $730 Million, Further Boosting Internal Liquidity of the Ecosystem

Since the TON Foundation announced the issuance of USDT on April 18, 2024, the total supply of USDT on the TON network has rapidly soared to $730 million in just four months. This growth positions USDT as the fifth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization on the TON chain, following Tron, Ethereum, Avalanche, and Solana, highlighting its significant position in the stablecoin market.

The rapid growth of liquidity is crucial for the expansion of the TON network, as it not only supports a wide range of financial and technological applications but also provides a solid foundation for financial transactions within the network, promoting the popularization and application of TON. Data shows that P2P transfer activities of USDT on the TON chain are particularly active, with the median transaction amount mostly between $15 and $100, indicating its widespread use in daily small payment scenarios.

Moreover, the low transfer fees on the TON network further enhance the attractiveness of USDT for everyday transactions, with an average transaction fee of only 4 cents, making it an ideal choice for retail and daily financial interactions.

At the same time, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on the TON chain has also rapidly developed due to the presence of USDT. In TON's decentralized exchanges, such as Ston.Fi, Dedust, and StormTrade, USDT has become a core circulating asset, greatly promoting the prosperity of DeFi activities within the TON ecosystem.

With Binance's Support and USDT Stablecoin Boost, the TON Ecosystem Continues to Prosper

As a blockchain network centered on decentralization and Web3 applications, the expansion speed and scale of the TON ecosystem have exceeded many market expectations.

Binance's frequent launches of TON ecosystem projects have continuously attracted market attention and brought in more users. In addition, the successful integration of USDT has provided ample liquidity support for the TON network, with the supply of USDT on the TON chain exceeding $730 million, becoming an important force in the stablecoin market. The rise of wallet applications and DeFi projects has further enriched the applications within the TON ecosystem.

However, the future development of TON still faces some challenges. First, the continuous improvement of infrastructure is key to future growth, especially in innovation capabilities in cross-chain bridges and lending. Second, community governance and user education still need to be strengthened to ensure the sustainable development of the TON ecosystem. Finally, the incident involving the arrest of the TG founder, along with related compliance issues, remains unresolved, posing a significant "time bomb" for the development of the TON ecosystem.