Introduction
With the arrival of the summer of 2024, the TON Network has shown unprecedented growth momentum, with daily active addresses, trading volume, and total value locked (TVL) reaching new highs. These achievements signify the beginning of a golden decade for the TON ecosystem. The CGV Research team delves into the “TON ecosystem explosion” and explores the internal innovations and external market factors that have propelled TON to become a leading blockchain platform.
TON’s Record-breaking Performance in June 2024
Every day in June 2024, TON has been creating records in terms of users, trading volume, and TVL:
– TON’s daily active addresses have exceeded Ethereum for multiple consecutive days.
– The total value locked (TVL) on TON has surpassed $600 million, a 1000-fold increase since 2024.
– Within 47 days, $450 million worth of USDT has been issued on TON.
– Steve from the TON Foundation has proposed that the milestone for widespread adoption of encryption is the birth of the first TON mini application with 100 million Telegram users. This has already been achieved the day after Hamster Kombat was launched.
The CGV Research team believes that the arrival of TON summer 2024 is due to the dual positive factors of “TON internal” and “TON external.”
Internal Drivers of TON
– Wallet Innovation: In July 2023, TON introduced new wallet payment features, enhancing the user experience by allowing various transactions and payments through the TON wallet. In September, TON launched TONSpace, a self-hosted wallet that allows users to manage their private keys and assets. In December, the Telegram app added a secondary entry point for wallets, making it more convenient for users to use the TON wallet within Telegram.
– Token Locking Strategy: In early 2023, the TON community and validators voted to freeze the wallets of inactive miners, which accounted for approximately 21% of the total supply. These wallets will be locked until February 2027. In October, the community launched the TON Believers Fund, a five-year locking plan that allows users to donate or deposit their tokens into smart contracts. This locks 26% of the supply, totaling approximately 47% of TON tokens locked for three to five years, effectively reducing the circulating supply in the market and stabilizing token prices.
– Deployment of TON Native USDT: In April 2024, Tether announced the introduction of USDT to the TON network, providing support for TON-related transactions and financial activities, and empowering DeFi applications. The issuance of USDT on TON quickly surpassed Cosmos and Near, making TON the network following Tron, Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche.
– Breakthrough in Blockchain Performance: On October 31, 2023, TON achieved a peak performance of 104,715 transactions per second and processed a total of 107,652,545 transactions in a public performance stress test, validated by Certik. This marked TON as one of the fastest and most scalable blockchains globally.
– Market Promotion: In the spring of 2024, TON attracted a large number of users and market attention through the launch of the #OpenLeague Super League with a total prize pool of $150 million. Additionally, the partnership between the TON Foundation and Telegram, as well as the listing of Notcoin on major exchanges, greatly enhanced its market performance and brand influence.
External Factors of TON
– Pantera’s Large-scale Investment: In May 2024, Pantera made the largest single investment in the history of TON, demonstrating recognition of TON’s technological and market potential and potentially attracting more capital attention, enhancing confidence in the TON ecosystem.
– Global Competitive Environment and Market Demand: With Elon Musk’s X App plan to launch encrypted payment functionality in mid-2024, TON faces pressure from global competitors. Furthermore, the entire crypto market needs new market narratives and development directions, and TON’s innovative technology and applications inject new vitality into the market.
– New Narrative Demand: The crypto industry requires new narratives and directions, and TON’s user and trading volume growth through social viral effects and flywheel effects provide new vitality to the market.
Based on the above analysis, the CGV Research team believes that the TON ecosystem may exhibit four major trends in the future. These trends will shape the unique position of the TON ecosystem and potentially have a profound impact on the entire crypto industry.
Trend 1: Black Hole Effect of Telegram’s Full Ecosystem Expansion
Telegram, originally an instant messaging tool, has evolved into a multi-functional platform that integrates social, payment, service subscriptions, and mini-apps. With the integration of TON, Telegram is rapidly advancing along a similar development path.
– Upstream (Infrastructure and Development Platform): TON provides a powerful infrastructure and software development kit (SDKs) that attracts developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps), potentially weakening the development resources of other blockchain platforms.
– Midstream (Application Layer and Services): Custom stablecoin solutions, micro-payment systems, and the ability to seamlessly integrate mainstream crypto assets through official cross-chain bridges in the TON ecosystem provide users with an all-in-one asset management and trading platform.
– Downstream (User Adoption and Market Expansion): Telegram’s massive user base provides TON with market access points. By establishing relationships with financial institutions, media companies, and retailers, Telegram can integrate crypto technology into a wider range of economic activities.
Trend 2: Unregulated Barrier-Free + Fastest Public Chain + Flywheel Effect Makes TON Ecosystem Limitless
TON’s global service capabilities, unrestricted by specific country or regional financial regulations, combined with its high performance and user growth flywheel effect, indicate that the potential of the TON ecosystem may have no limits.
– Monetizing Traffic: Telegram’s traffic advantage will bring tremendous monetization potential to TON, especially in decentralized markets like Fragment, which has already seen significant trading volume.
– NFT Market: The conversion of Telegram stickers into NFTs and their trading on the TON blockchain signify a huge emerging market.
– Web3 Project Revenue Generation: TON’s mini-apps on the platform have the potential to become high-revenue Web3 projects, leveraging its massive daily active user base.
Trend 3: Involvement of Global Financial Giants: Mainstream Recognition of the TON Ecosystem
As the TON platform matures and cross-chain capabilities are implemented, it may attract the attention of traditional financial institutions, prompting them to explore blockchain technology and collaborate with TON.
– Financial Service Innovation: Financial institutions may migrate their services to TON or collaborate with TON, leveraging its low cost and high efficiency advantages.
– Stablecoins and Financial Products: Financial institutions may develop new loans, insurance, and investment products on TON, or even create stablecoins pegged to specific assets.
Trend 4: Shift in Investment Logic: Non-necessity of Token Economy
The maturity of the TON ecosystem may change the investment logic in the primary market, making tokens no longer a necessary component of crypto projects.
– Technology and Business Models: Projects may rely on more mature technology and business models to attract users and investors, rather than solely relying on token economies.
– Regulatory Adaptability: Projects that do not issue tokens may be more adaptable to the regulatory environment, avoiding potential legal risks.
– Investment Analysis: Future evaluations of TON ecosystem projects may focus more on actual user data and business performance, such as daily active users (DAU), user retention, and average revenue per user (ARPU), rather than just token unlocking and distribution.
These trends indicate that the TON ecosystem will not only consolidate its position within the crypto field but also attract a broader user base and the participation of traditional financial institutions, ushering in a new phase of development.
Conclusion
The rise of the TON ecosystem signifies the future direction of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. With deep integration with Telegram and innovative drive from TON, we foresee the formation of a new ecosystem that will not only change our understanding of financial services, social interaction, and digital assets, but also bring unprecedented convenience and opportunities to global users.
About Cryptogram Venture (CGV)
CGV (Cryptogram Venture) is a crypto investment firm headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2017, its funds and predecessor funds have participated in over 200 projects, including the investment and incubation of the licensed Japanese yen stablecoin JPYW. CGV is also a limited partner of several globally renowned crypto funds. Since 2022, CGV has successfully hosted two editions of the Japan Web3 Hackathon (TWSH), with support from institutions and experts such as the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Keio University, and NTT Docomo. Currently, CGV has branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Toronto, and other locations. Additionally, CGV is one of the founding members of Bitcoin Tokyo Club, based in Tokyo, Japan.
Disclaimer:
The information and data presented in this article are from public sources, and the accuracy and completeness of this information are not guaranteed by our company. Descriptions or predictions of future events are forward-looking statements, and any advice or opinions provided are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice or implications for any individual. The strategies that our company may adopt may be the same, opposite, or unrelated to the strategies speculated by readers based on this article.
