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**Authored by Joyce**
Recently, the overall market sentiment has been notably pessimistic, especially in the altcoin sector. Amidst Bitcoin’s volatile market, many altcoin projects have plummeted drastically, with numerous being severely impacted.
However, amidst this bleak market outlook, the Ton ecosystem has demonstrated remarkable stability. Over the past thirty days, Ton has surged by 23%, while the Total Value Locked (TVL) within the entire Ton ecosystem has skyrocketed over sixfold since March, a testament to its robust growth. Projects like Notcoin within this ecosystem have seen significant increases in both price and user adoption. Is it summer for the Ton ecosystem? Let’s explore the new highlights of Ton.
Backed by Telegram’s 900 million active users, Ton’s greatest strength lies in this vast user base. However, it has long been criticized for the lack of integration and empowerment from Telegram’s platform systems, remaining somewhat detached.
Nevertheless, this perception seems to have fundamentally changed this year. From March onwards, Ton’s TVL has surged from under $23 million to a current $145 million, a growth of over six times. Concurrently, TON’s price has approximately tripled during this period, remaining resilient even through recent market downturns. What are the driving factors behind these positive developments?
**Data Source: DefiLlama**
1. **Utilizing TON for Settlement in Telegram’s Advertising Platform**
Unlike Facebook and WeChat, Telegram, while boasting a massive user base, upholds a commitment to user privacy, avoiding targeted advertising based on user data. Consequently, Telegram lacked a precise user advertising platform, foregoing the mainstream ad revenue models seen with other social media giants. This led to years of financial imbalance until recent developments.
In late February, Telegram founder Durov announced on his Telegram channel that their advertising platform, with over a trillion monthly views, would officially open in March to advertisers across nearly a hundred countries. Channel owners will receive 50% of all ad revenues, settled exclusively in TON.
**Translation:** Next month, channel owners on Telegram can start earning money from their work. Telegram’s broadcasting channels generate 10 trillion views per month. Currently, only 10% of these views are commercialized through Telegram ads, focusing on privacy as a promotional tool.
In March, Telegram’s advertising platform will officially open to all advertisers in nearly a hundred new countries. Channel owners in these countries will begin receiving 50% of any revenue generated from ads shown on their channels.
To ensure swift and secure ad payments and withdrawals, we will specifically use the TON blockchain. Similar to how we handle Telegram usernames on Fragment, we will sell ads with TON and share revenue with channel owners. This creates a virtuous cycle where content creators can withdraw their TON or reinvest it in promoting and upgrading their channels.
For TON, this transition from “air” to “value” is significant.
Previously, TON was mainly used for on-chain smart contract transactions, staking, cross-chain transactions, and other on-chain services, similar to other general-purpose blockchains. Even though it could be used to purchase virtual goods like anonymous accounts on Telegram, its overall transaction volume was not considerable.
The exclusive use of TON as the settlement asset for Telegram’s advertising platform represents a major strategic move for Ton, effectively harnessing Telegram’s massive user base to empower Ton. This deep integration between Ton’s ecosystem and Telegram’s platform opens up unprecedented potential for Ton’s ecosystem and TON’s price ceiling.
To prevent the Telegram team from accumulating excessive TON through this initiative, potentially leading to centralization risks, Durov subsequently announced plans to sell more than 10% of the team’s TON holdings at a discounted price to long-term holders. These sold TON tokens will be subject to a lock-up period ranging from 1 to 4 years.
For TON, this move effectively allows Telegram to use advertising revenues for continuous TON buybacks while seeking other long-term investors or institutions. This dual approach not only mitigates the risks of centralization but also reduces circulating supply through lock-ups, synergistically benefiting both parties.
2. **Launch of Ton Space**
Ton Space, launched in September 2023, represents a pivotal shift from Telegram’s previous KYC-based Wallet to Ton Space, where users manage their private keys independently, similar to conventional crypto wallets.
With Ton Space, users seamlessly integrate their Telegram accounts with various DeFi, GameFi, NFT, and other services within the Ton ecosystem. Just as users can navigate directly from WeChat to mini-programs like Pinduoduo or JD.com, Telegram’s 900 million active users can now engage in token/NFT trading, borrowing, or participating in GameFi projects directly within Telegram.
This integration not only lowers the entry barriers for Telegram’s vast user base into Web3 but also marks a significant strategic move for the Ton ecosystem, uniquely positioned with access to Telegram’s extensive user pool.
3. **Promotion of Mini Applications**
Following the establishment of payment channels, Telegram has begun promoting mini applications akin to WeChat’s mini-programs, accessible without the need for installation.
For instance, the recent surge in popularity of Notcoin, an embedded mini-application platform within Telegram, allows users to participate directly in activities like “Click to Earn” Tokens. The integration of a Web3 wallet significantly reduces participation thresholds, supported by Telegram’s official traffic, leading to over 40 million users within a few months.
Under official support, Telegram has witnessed an influx of Web3 mini-application developments similar to Notcoin, fostering mass user participation without the need for traditional studios driving GameFi trends. This collaboration with Ton demonstrates Telegram’s strategic commitment to Web3 since the latter half of 2023.
These initiatives have not only propelled TON’s price and TVL to breakthrough levels but also diversified Telegram’s revenue streams beyond advertising and subscription fees, paving the way for highly profitable models.
Clearly, this symbiotic relationship benefits both Ton’s ecosystem and Telegram’s platform, fostering a mutually beneficial environment.
**Ton Ecosystem Project Overview**
Ton.app currently hosts 874 projects, a number that, while modest compared to ecosystems like Ethereum, Solana, or Polygon, has grown by nearly 60% in the past eight months. The TVL of the entire ecosystem has increased several-fold, underscoring Ton’s robust growth trajectory.
Among the notable projects within the Ton ecosystem:
– **Notcoin:** A popular “Click to Earn” game within the Telegram Apps Center, quickly becoming one of the most recognized Web3 applications in the Ton ecosystem, with over 40 million users within a few months.
– **Catizen:** The largest gaming platform in the Telegram ecosystem, boasting over 20 million total users, including 500,000 paying users and over 1.25 million on-chain users, consistently ranking first in Ton Open League seasons.
– **Hamster Kombat:** Another gaming sensation with recent explosive growth, currently exceeding 150 million active users, ranking third in popularity within the Telegram Apps Center.
– **Gatto|Game:** A pet breeding game highlighted in Ton Foundation’s Q1 2024 report, boasting 30,000 daily active users, over 1 million pets created, and monthly revenues of $35,000.
– **Gamee:** A social gaming platform under Animoca Brands, highly popular on Telegram, despite a recent price dip due to a hacking incident in early 2024.
– **PocketFi:** A Telegram trading bot supporting cross-chain transactions, attracting over 1.4 million users within three months of its launch, showcasing strong popularity in the Telegram Apps Center.
– **Blum:** A DEX in the Telegram ecosystem offering spot and derivative trading, preparing for future features through gamified mining. It has surpassed ten million users and was founded by a former BN executive, selected for the Binance Labs accelerator.
– **Yescoin:** A derivative of Notcoin, currently gaining significant traction with over 18 million users and more than 6 million subscribers on its official Telegram channel.
– **DeDust and Ston.fi:** Both are prominent DEX platforms within the Telegram ecosystem, ranking among the top apps in the Apps Center, with TVLs of $320 million and $260 million respectively, serving as cornerstone projects within the Ton ecosystem.
– **Uxlink:** The largest social infrastructure project in the Telegram ecosystem, facilitating rapid growth through acquaintances on Telegram, boasting over 10 million registered users in the SocialFi space, attracting investments from True Fund, Sequoia Capital, GGV, among others.
**Conclusion**
From the perspectives of TON’s price, TVL growth, and ecosystem prosperity, Ton stands out as a beacon of success in the current challenging market environment. However, beneath this prosperity lie significant challenges that cannot be ignored.
For instance, Ton’s ecosystem has only 39 full-time developers (Developer Report data), and a total of 175 developers, far fewer compared to Ethereum’s 2,392 and 7,864 respectively, and Solana’s figures of 436 and 1,615, highlighting substantial room for growth.
Additionally, frequent account theft issues on Telegram’s platform, exacerbated by phishing links and other security vulnerabilities post-introduction of the Web3 wallet, remain pressing issues that need urgent resolution. This is especially critical for newcomers to Web3 with limited awareness of security practices.
Nevertheless, both developer capacity and security issues can be progressively addressed and optimized in the ecosystem’s ongoing development process. Such evolution is intrinsic to the Web3 industry’s growth trajectory, involving continuous improvement and adaptation.
