Introduction: As the summer of 2024 approaches, the TON network is experiencing unprecedented growth, with daily active addresses, trading volume, and total value locked (TVL) reaching new highs. These achievements indicate that the TON ecosystem is embarking on a golden decade. The CGV Research team explores the internal innovations and external market factors that have propelled TON to become a leading blockchain platform.
Every day in June 2024, TON is breaking records in terms of users, trading volume, and TVL:
– The number of daily active addresses on TON has surpassed that of Ethereum for several consecutive days.
– The TVL on TON has exceeded $600 million, a thousand-fold increase since 2024.
– Within 47 days, $450 million worth of USDT has been issued on TON.
– Steve, the chairman of the TON Foundation, proposed that the milestone of widespread adoption of encryption was achieved with the launch of the first TON mini-application with 100 million Telegram users. Hamster Kombat was realized the next day.
The CGV Research team believes that the arrival of TON Summer 2024 is due to both internal and external factors that have contributed to its explosive growth.
Internal Drivers of TON:
– Wallet Innovations: In July 2023, TON introduced new wallet payment features, enhancing user experience. In September, TON launched TONSpace, a self-hosted wallet that allows users to manage their private keys and assets. In December, Telegram added a secondary entrance to the wallet within the application, making it more convenient for users to use the TON wallet within Telegram.
– Token Locking Strategy: In early 2023, TON community and validators voted to freeze the wallets of inactive miners, which accounted for approximately 21% of the total supply, until February 2027. In October, the community launched the TON Believers Fund, a five-year lock-up plan where users can choose to donate or deposit their tokens into smart contracts. This locks up 26% of the supply, totaling approximately 47% of TON tokens locked up 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 strong support for TON’s related transactions and financial activities and offering a powerful foundation for DeFi applications. The issuance of USDT on TON quickly surpassed Cosmos and Near, becoming the network ranked only after Tron, Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche.
– Breakthrough in Blockchain Performance: On October 31, 2023, TON achieved a peak of 104,715 transactions per second and processed a total of 107,652,545 transactions during a public performance livestream test, verified by Certik. This performance 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 revenue-sharing strategy implemented by the TON Foundation in collaboration with Telegram and the listing of Notcoin on major exchanges greatly enhanced its market performance and brand influence.
External Factors of TON:
– Pantera’s Major Investment: In May 2024, Pantera made the largest investment in TON network’s history, demonstrating recognition of TON’s technological and market potential, which may attract more capital attention and enhance market confidence in the TON ecosystem.
– Global Competitive Environment and Market Demand: With Musk’s X App plan to launch crypto payment functionality in mid-2024, TON faces pressure from global competitors. Additionally, the entire crypto market is in need of 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 the growth of TON ecosystem in terms of users and trading volume through social proliferation and the flywheel effect provides new vitality to the market.
In summary, the CGV Research team believes that the TON ecosystem may exhibit four major development 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: The Black Hole Effect of Telegram’s Full Ecosystem Expansion
Telegram, originally an instant messaging tool, has evolved into a multifunctional platform integrating social, payment, service subscription, and mini-app features. With the inclusion of TON, Telegram is rapidly advancing along a similar development trajectory.
Upstream (Infrastructure and Development Platform): TON provides robust infrastructure and software development kits (SDKs) that attract developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps), potentially weakening the development resources of other blockchain platforms.
Midstream (Application Layer and Services): TON’s ecosystem offers customized stablecoin solutions, micro-payment systems, and the ability to seamlessly integrate mainstream crypto assets through official cross-chain bridges, providing users with an all-in-one asset management and trading platform.
Downstream (User Adoption and Market Expansion): Telegram’s massive user base serves as a market entry point for TON. By establishing relationships with financial institutions, media companies, and retailers, Telegram can integrate crypto technology into a broader range of economic activities.
Trend 2: Unregulated Barrier-Free + Fastest Public Chain + Flywheel Effect, Making TON Ecosystem Limitless
TON’s global service capabilities, unrestricted by specific countries or regions’ financial regulations, combined with its high performance and user growth flywheel effect, suggest that the potential of the TON ecosystem may be limitless.
Monetizing Traffic: Telegram’s traffic advantage will bring tremendous monetization potential to TON, especially in decentralized markets such as Fragment, which has already generated significant trading volume.
NFT Market: The conversion of Telegram stickers into NFTs and their trading on the TON blockchain indicates a huge emerging market.
Realization of Web3 Project Revenue: Mini-apps on TON are expected to become high-income Web3 projects, leveraging their massive daily active user base.
Trend 3: Inclusion of Global Financial Giants: Mainstream Recognition of the TON Ecosystem
As the TON platform matures and cross-chain functionality is implemented, it may attract the attention of traditional financial institutions, prompting them to explore blockchain technology and collaborate with TON.
Financial Service Innovations: 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, and even create stablecoins pegged to specific assets.
Trend 4: Shift in Investment Logic: Token Economy Becomes Non-essential
The maturity of the TON ecosystem may change the investment logic of the primary market, making tokens no longer a necessary element for crypto projects.
Technological and Business Models: Projects may rely on more mature technologies and business models to attract users and investors, rather than solely relying on the token economy.
Regulatory Adaptability: Projects that do not issue tokens may be more adaptable to regulatory environments, 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, opening up a new stage of development.
Conclusion: The rise of the TON ecosystem signifies the future direction of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. With the deep integration of Telegram and the innovative drive of TON, we foresee the formation of a new ecosystem that will not only change our understanding of financial services, social interactions, and digital assets but also bring unprecedented convenience and opportunities to users worldwide.
