Introduction: With the arrival of summer 2024, the TON network has shown unprecedented growth momentum, with daily active addresses, transaction volume, and total locked value (TVL) hitting new highs. This series of achievements indicates that the golden decade of TON ecology has begun. Focusing on the "TON Ecosystem Explosion", the CGV Research team deeply explored TON's internal innovation and external market factors, and analyzed its key driving force to become a leading blockchain platform.
Every day in June 2024, the records created by TON, whether it is users, transaction volume or TVL, are constantly being refreshed:
--TON's daily active addresses have exceeded $ETH for many consecutive days;
--TON's total locked value (TVL) has exceeded US$600 million, a 1,000-fold increase since 2024;
--In 47 days, US$450 million of $USDT was issued on TON;
--Steve, chairman of the TON Foundation, proposed that the sign of large-scale adoption of encryption is the birth of the first TON mini application with 100 million Telegram users; Hamster Kombat was achieved the next day.
CGV Research team believes that the arrival of TON summer 2024 this time is due to the dual benefits of "TON inside" and "TON outside".
TON internal driving force
——Wallet innovation: In July 2023, TON launched a new wallet payment function, allowing users to conduct various transactions and payments through the TON wallet, improving the user experience. Then in September, TON launched TONSpace, a self-hosted wallet that allows users to manage their own private keys and assets. In December, a secondary entrance to the wallet was added to the Telegram application, allowing users to use the TON wallet more conveniently within Telegram.
——Token Locking Strategy:In early 2023, the TON community and validators decided to freeze the wallets of inactive miners through on-chain voting, which accounted for about 21% of the total supply and will be locked 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 in smart contracts. This move locked 26% of the supply, and a total of about 47% of TON tokens were locked for three to five years, effectively reducing the circulating supply in the market and stabilizing the token price.
——TON Native USDT Deployment:In April 2024, Tether announced the introduction of USDT into the TON network, a move that added USDT-related transactions and financial activities to TON, providing strong support for DeFi applications. The issuance of USDT on TON quickly surpassed Cosmos and Near, becoming the network second only to Tron, Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche.
——Breakthrough in blockchain performance:On October 31, 2023, TON reached a peak of 104,715 transactions per second in a public live performance test, processing a total of 107,652,545 transactions, which was verified by Certik, marking TON as one of the fastest and most scalable blockchains in the world.
——Marketing:In the spring of 2024, TON attracted a large number of users and market attention by launching the #OpenLeague Super League with a total prize of US$150 million. In addition, the profit-sharing strategy jointly implemented by the TON Foundation and Telegram, as well as the listing of Notcoin on several major exchanges, have greatly enhanced its market performance and brand influence.
TON external factors
——Pantera's large investment: In May 2024, Pantera invested the largest single investment in history in the TON network, which not only proved the recognition of TON's technology and market potential, but also may attract more capital attention and enhance the market's confidence in the TON ecosystem.
——Global competitive environment and market demand: With Musk's X application planning to launch encrypted payment functions in mid-2024, TON faces pressure from global competitors. In addition, the entire encryption market is in urgent need of new market narratives and development directions. The TON ecosystem relies on its innovative technology and applications to inject new vitality into the market.
——New narrative needs:The crypto industry needs new narratives and directions. The TON ecosystem has provided new vitality to the market through the growth of users and transaction volume brought by social fission and flywheel effect.
In summary, the CGV Research team believes that the TON ecosystem may show four major development trends in the future. These trends will shape the unique position of the TON ecosystem and may have a profound impact on the entire crypto industry.
Trend 1: The black hole effect brought by Telegram's full ecological expansion
Originally as an instant messaging tool, Telegram has now developed into a multi-functional platform that integrates social, payment, service subscription and mini-program functions. With the addition of TON, Telegram is moving rapidly along a similar development trajectory.
Upstream (Infrastructure and Development Platform):TON provides a strong infrastructure and software development kits (SDKs) to attract developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (DApps), which may weaken the development resources of other blockchain platforms.
Midstream (Application Layer and Services):Customized stablecoin solutions, micropayment systems, etc. in the TON ecosystem, as well as the ability to seamlessly access mainstream crypto assets through official cross-chain bridges, provide users with a one-stop asset management and trading platform.
Downstream (User Adoption and Market Expansion):Telegram's large user base provides a market access point for TON, and by establishing relationships with partners such as financial institutions, media companies, and retailers, Telegram is able to integrate encryption technology into a wider range of economic activities.
Trend 2: No regulatory barriers + fastest public chain + flywheel effect, making TON ecosystem unlimited
TON's global service capabilities, not restricted by financial regulation in specific countries or regions, combined with its high performance and flywheel effect of user growth, indicate that the potential of TON ecosystem may have no upper limit.
Traffic monetization:Telegram's traffic advantage will bring huge monetization potential to TON, especially in decentralized markets such as Fragment, which has already contributed to significant trading volume.
NFT market:Telegram's stickers are converted into NFTs and traded through the TON blockchain, heralding a huge emerging market.
Web3 project revenue realization:Mini apps on TON are expected to become high-income Web3 projects, leveraging their large daily active user base
Trend three: Joining of global financial giants: mainstream recognition of TON ecosystem
As the TON platform matures and cross-chain functions are realized, it may attract the attention of traditional financial institutions, prompting them to explore blockchain technology and cooperate with TON.
Financial service innovation:Financial institutions may migrate their services to TON or cooperate with TON to take advantage of its low cost and high efficiency.
Stablecoins and financial products:Financial institutions may develop new loan, insurance and investment products on TON, and even create stablecoins pegged to specific assets.
Trend 4: Change in investment logic: The non-necessity of token economy
The maturity of TON ecology may change the investment logic of the primary market, making tokens no longer a must for crypto projects.
Technology and business model:Projects may rely on more mature technology and business models to attract users and investors, rather than relying solely on token economy.
Regulatory adaptability:Projects that do not issue tokens may be more likely to adapt to the regulatory environment and avoid potential legal risks.
Investment analysis:Future evaluations of TON ecological 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 focusing on the unlocking and distribution of tokens.
These trends indicate that the TON ecosystem will not only consolidate its position in the crypto space, but may also attract a wider range of user groups and traditional financial institutions to participate, ushering in a new stage of development.
Conclusion
The rise of the TON ecosystem foreshadows the future development direction of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. With the deep integration of Telegram and the innovation-driven TON, we foresee that a new ecosystem is taking shape, which will not only change our understanding of financial services, social interactions and digital assets, but will also bring unprecedented convenience and opportunities to global users.
Kikyo
JinseFinance
Hafiz
Cointelegraph