A TON-based economy is gaining ground within the confines of the popular messaging app Telegram, with recent developments shedding light on the token’s exceptional performance amidst the broader cryptocurrency market. According to Justin Hyun, the director of investments at TON Foundation, this surge in TON’s value is underpinned by the platform’s pivot towards toncoin payments for advertisements and the introduction of the Open League reward program.
Throughout this month, TON has demonstrated remarkable growth, boasting a 15% increase in value, soaring to record highs above $7. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), the frontrunner in the cryptocurrency realm, witnessed an 11% decline, while the CoinDesk 20 Index, reflecting the overall market sentiment, plummeted by 16%, as per CoinDesk data. CoinGlass data further illustrates a notable surge in open interest tied to TON perpetual futures, reaching over $160 million, with a peak surpassing $200 million. This surge in open interest, coupled with an upward trajectory in price, signifies an influx of new investments, substantiating the ongoing uptrend.
Toncoin serves as the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network (TON), renowned as the TON blockchain—a decentralized, layer-1 network. In February, Telegram, boasting a user base of 800 million, introduced an innovative advertising revenue-sharing model exclusively based on TON. This system rewards channel owners with 50% of the generated revenue from advertisements displayed within their channels, payable solely in TON. Considering that Telegram channels amass over 1 trillion views monthly, this initiative holds significant potential for channel owners, especially those with a subscriber base exceeding 1,000 individuals.
“Telegram has embraced the principles of Web3 by launching its ad platform, which exclusively accepts Toncoin instead of fiat. By allocating 50% of the advertising revenue back to Telegram channel owners, the platform fosters the distribution of Toncoin through giveaways, thereby enhancing awareness of the TON ecosystem,” remarked Hyun in an email interview.
Furthermore, the TON Foundation recently collaborated with HashKey Group to facilitate seamless conversion between fiat currencies and digital assets for wallet users in the Asia Pacific region. This partnership aims to streamline the process of onboarding new users into the TON ecosystem, thereby fostering broader adoption and engagement.
Hyun emphasized the significance of the Open League program, unveiled on April 1, in driving user participation and ecosystem development. This initiative, offering rewards through quests, airdrops, and liquidity pools, is poised to distribute 30 million TON tokens, equivalent to $188 million, to community members.
“The Open League program is instrumental in onboarding millions of users onto the TON ecosystem, solidifying its position as a hub for consumer product markets. This strategic focus on developers and fostering user engagement is pivotal for achieving mass adoption of Web3 technologies,” stated Hyun.
Preliminary results from the league’s pilot season have demonstrated a remarkable surge in daily active wallets and the dollar value of crypto assets locked within the TON ecosystem, underscoring the program’s efficacy in driving engagement and fostering growth.
