Okay, back to TON. ⤵️ |
WHAT THE HELL IS TON? ⛓️ |
Let's start with the history of TON. 📖 |
Telegram Open Network (TON) was originally developed by Telegram, the popular messenger app. |
However, due to legal issues with the SEC in 2020, Telegram had to step away from the project. |
Fortunately, the open-source community picked up right where Telegram left off, continuing development under the name The Open Network (TON). |
This new iteration has retained the original vision and technology but now operates independently of Telegram.👏 |
Telegram endorsed TON in September 2023, saying the blockchain and associated token would be its "official web3 infrastructure". |
In other words, TON received direct & exclusive access to Telegram's 900 million users. |
TON is built on core principles like high-speed, scalable transactions, smart contracts, and a user-friendly interface, all powered by a Proof of Stake consensus. |
Now, let's take a high-level look at how TON stacks up against other leading blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana. |
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Let's walk you through this table and provide comments for TON: |
Minimum Stake: Validators need to stake 300,000 $TON tokens (equivalent to $2.5 million at current prices) to validate blocks. This substantial barrier limits the entry of new validators into the network. HW requirements: Validators can validate the blockchain with a regular computer. Validators: There are about 350 validators across 30 countries. Block Time: Transactions take up to 5 seconds to be confirmed. TPS: The TON blockchain can process 160 transactions per second.
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Currently, TON doesn't excel in any of these metrics, but we believe it doesn't need to; it just needs to provide a good enough blockchain that can eventually scale to the masses. |
Let's elaborate on this further. ⤵️ |
Decentralization: With 350 validators across 30 countries, TON might already have enough decentralization. Or what is the threshold here? 🤔 |
High Entry Barriers: The high barriers to becoming a validator on TON might not be a real issue because we don't foresee a future where everyone runs their own validator at home anyway. So as long as there are economic incentives ($TON emissions), there will always be some people or companies with enough capital willing to run these validators. |
Consumer-Facing Stats: Block time and TPS are crucial. People expect things to happen instantly, and a 5-second block time is on the edge of providing a great user experience. |
While we would prefer something below 2 seconds, TON likely has good reasons for setting the block time at 5 seconds. |
TPS (Transactions Per Second): TON currently handles around 60 TPS, which is much lower compared to blockchains like Solana with 1200 TPS. |
However, the TON Foundation has run tests and claims to have achieved 104K TPS. This impressive number was tested and verified by the auditing crypto firm, Certik. |
Scaling: The TON blockchain plans to scale through sharding, a solution also on Ethereum's roadmap. However, we have yet to see any blockchain successfully take off using this scaling method. |
That being said, we think TON is not aiming to be the best in these blockchain metrics above but is instead focused on leveraging its unparalleled competitive advantage: access to 900 million users. |
To capitalize on this opportunity, TON only needs to optimize for scaling the blockchain to hundreds of millions of users. |
While they are not there yet, we believe they will be able to deliver such a scalable blockchain. |
This is a great segue to discussing TON's mission. |
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF TON? 📌 |
Simply put, to scale the TON blockchain to the masses. |
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Their goal is to have 500M monthly active users by the end of 2028 – today they have 3.5M (MAUs). |
Is this actually possible, or just clever marketing? |
That's exactly what we're diving into. |
WHAT MAKES TON SO ATTRACTIVE? 🌐 |
Before we dive in, let's explain what gives any blockchain its value. |
For a blockchain to thrive, it needs: |
1/ Developers: They build applications and use cases, forming the supply side of the blockchain. |
2/ Users: They access these applications, creating the demand. |
People use Ethereum or Solana because they can make swaps, lend stablecoins, borrow assets, mint NFTs, and more. |
Without these applications, these blockchains wouldn't have any users. |
So, it all starts with the supply side. |
Blockchains need to attract developers to create useful applications. But developers always face a huge gamble: will users actually show up on that particular blockchain? |
With TON, this existential risk is a thing of the past. |
Telegram already has access to over 900 million users. It is about 14% of the world's population. |
Building on TON allows developers to tap into this vast market, providing a strong incentive to choose TON over other blockchains. |
So let's see how many apps have been built on The Open Network. 👀 |
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The TON ecosystem already has hundreds of apps. We can see a diverse distribution across different sectors such as Wallets, DEXs, Staking, Bridges, Games, Lending and more. |
We are going to introduce some of them at the end so stay tuned. ⏬ |
But TON offers more than just users—it delivers a seamless experience. |
No need for extra apps; everything is accessible right from the familiar Telegram interface using mini-apps. |
Let us show you just how easy it is to swap 2 tokens using the Ston.fi mini-app. |
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1/ Select the App: Go to the "Telegram Apps Center," similar to the App Store or Google Play Store. |
2/ Click "Launch App": Choose the app you want to use and click "Launch App." |
3/ Connect Your Wallet: Make sure your wallet is connected to the app. |
4/ Enter Tokens: Input the tokens you want to swap. |
5/ Click "Swap": Finally, click the "Swap" button. |
6/ Done!: Voila! It's that easy. ✅ |
And there's more. It's not just about the users and the great experience – TON launched a new incentive program called The Open League. |
MEET THE OPEN LEAGUE 🎮 |
The Open League (TOL) is a dynamic competition within the TON ecosystem, designed to motivate two key groups: |
✅ Projects: Incentivized to develop more attractive and functional products, tapping into TON's massive audience. |
✅ Users: Incentivized for actively engaging with TON projects. |
It creates healthy competition among all participants, driving innovation and maximizing rewards. |
"The hypothesis is simple – once the world sees how every project in The Open League can make millions of Telegram users go onchain; TON becomes the obvious choice for every mass audience consumer product on the planet." TON Foundation |
We support this approach and believe it has the potential to succeed. |
TON uses simple yet highly effective incentives through the TOL program to bootstrap projects and users. |
And since anyone can participate, the rules are straightforward and the user experience is great, it's working exceptionally well. |
Here are the results of Season 3: |
Daily active wallets (DAW): 568,000 (+1,403%) Weekly Active Wallets: 2.2M (+1,308%) Monthly Active Wallets: 3.5M (+775%) DeFi Total Value Locked: $320.2M (+1,298%) Overall Total Value Locked: $637.6M (+402%) Avg. Number of Daily Transactions: 4.2M (+372%)
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Those are pretty impressive numbers, aren't they? And to be fair, there's a lot happening all the time. |
Here's some perspective on these incentive programs: Season 4, which ran from June 12th to June 26th, offered $1.2 million in $TON as rewards. |
Token Battle: $500k App Battle: $500k NFT Battle: $50k DeFi Battle: $150k
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We don't see the astronomical figures found in some competing Layer 1s, where incentives can reach hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. |
So the TON foundation is doing a great job and making these incentive programs well-coordinated and highly efficient. |
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