TON (The Open Network) in 2025: Year-to-Date Review

Introduction

The Open Network (TON) is a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain originally developed by Telegram’s team. By 2025, TON has emerged as a significant crypto ecosystem thanks to its tight integration with Telegram’s 1 billion–user messaging platform. Toncoin (TON) is the native token, used for fees, staking, and in-app transactions. This review analyzes TON’s development, market behavior, and investment outlook from January through early August 2025. We examine TON’s core technology, ecosystem growth, and market catalysts to assess why TON remains relevant among L1 blockchains and how it fits into the current crypto landscape.

Major News Events (Jan–Aug 2025)

Jan 21, 2025 – Telegram Partnership Solidified

TON Foundation announced that TON will be the exclusive blockchain for Telegram’s Mini Apps. Pavel Durov (Telegram CEO) confirmed TON is Telegram’s on-chain infrastructure for tokenization, payouts, and mini-apps, promising a “consistent, predictable experience” for users. In practice, several Mini App projects (e.g. TapSwap, Tomarket) migrated to TON, and Telegram agreed to accept Toncoin for paid services like Stars and Premium. Impact: This binding with Telegram (already 1B userst) was a major adoption boost, effectively making TON the built‑in blockchain for Telegram’s Web3 features.

Jan 22, 2025 – NFT “Gifts” Go On-Chain

Telegram converted its in-app “gifts” into tradable NFTs on TON. This marked the on-chain debut of Telegram’s massive emoji/gift economy. Coinciding with this, NFT marketplaces on TON saw surging volume. By early June, daily NFT volumes on TON reached $3–$9 million, far outpacing most other chains. Impact: The move demonstrated TON’s strength in NFTs – Telegram Mini Apps like Durov Caps (exclusive NFT chat stickers) and Duckygram saw millions of users and dollar transactions. It also sparked community excitement, fueling short-term trading and attention.

June 1, 2025 – Network Outage

A technical issue caused a ~40‑minute halt in block production on TON. The TON Foundation identified a masterchain dispatch bug and quickly rolled out a fix, restoring normal operation. Importantly, no consensus fault or funds were lost and staking rewards were unaffected. Impact: The incident drew attention to network resilience. While swiftly resolved, it underscored that TON’s sharding and fast block times come with complexity. That said, the transparent post-mortem and quick patch enhanced confidence in TON’s engineering rigor.

May 19, 2025 – Price Pullback Below

Toncoin’s price slipped below the $3.00 support level, down ~7.5% in 24 hours. CoinDesk attributed the drop in part to macro crypto volatility and news from Telegram’s founder (refusing content censorship requests) potentially clouding sentiment. Impact: Breaking $3.00 triggered technical selling and renewed calls for caution. The move reflected broader market uncertainty and suggested TON was not immune to general crypto swings. However, observers noted a modest V‑shaped recovery forming near $2.90, hinting at a possible base.

July 8, 2025 – Crypto.com Custody Support

Crypto.com announced institutional-grade custody and staking support for TON. The TON Foundation became a custody client, and institutions gained secure access to TON and its tokens (including USDT via TON’s Jetton standard). Impact: This institutional support signaled growing confidence: it made TON assets and staking accessible within a regulated platform, broadening TON’s appeal to investors and custodians. It also opened cross-chain use cases (stablecoins and tokenized assets) for TON in DeFi and payments.

July 22, 2025 – Telegram Wallet Launch

Telegram rolled out an in-app TON wallet mini-app to its US user base (≈87 million users). The self-custodial wallet allowed sending/receiving Toncoin and integrated NFTs, token swaps (via Omniston, Ston.fi), staking, and zero-fee onramps (MoonPay). Upon launch, TON rallied ~3% to $3.41 (and continued higher to ~$3.64). Impact: This launch made TON the first major crypto wallet embedded in a top messenger app, easing crypto onboarding. Early metrics showed quick uptake: customers could now pay in Toncoin for mini-app services, boosting demand. As a result, TON’s price spiked and trading volumes jumped, reflecting renewed bullish sentiment.

Jul 24, 2025 – 0M Treasury Plan

News broke that the TON Foundation and Kingsway Capital plan to launch a public treasury company to accumulate TON, raising up to $400 million via a PIPE round. This SPAC-like vehicle would lock up TON long-term. CoinCentral noted that Toncoin briefly popped 2% on the announcement. Impact: The move parallels Bitcoin corporate treasuries (MicroStrategy, etc.) by aiming to reduce liquid supply. It underscored strong VC interest (Sequoia, Benchmark, Ribbit, etc.) and institutionalization of TON. However, it also reflected a strategic shift after earlier “Golden Visa” staking incentives were dropped, focusing instead on transparent treasury accumulation. Overall, it was seen as a confidence vote from major investors, albeit raising regulatory and market-circulation questions.

Key Growth Catalysts in 2025

Telegram Integration

The strategic embedding of TON in Telegram’s ecosystem remains the single biggest driver. As TON became Telegram’s native blockchain for payments and mini-apps, user onboarding accelerated. The network’s built-in wallet (in 900M+ Telegram clients) transforms every Telegram user into a potential crypto user. This integration dovetails with trends like in-app payments and socialFi, giving TON unique distribution. As one TON executive put it, Telegram’s reach is “a beacon for free speech” and unmatched marketing. In short, every new Telegram feature (stickers, games, paid channels) can conveniently use Toncoin, driving organic demand.

NFT and Gaming Boom

Telegram Mini Apps and TON have ignited one of crypto’s hottest trends: social gaming and NFTs. Viral games such as Notcoin and Hamster Kombat amassed hundreds of millions of players, onboarding non-crypto users. Similarly, TON-powered NFTs (from collectible emoji to high-profile drops) saw explosive volume. For example, Telegram’s “gifts” NFT sales exploded from ~$3 M/day to ~$9 M/day in June 2025. NFT leaders in TON’s ecosystem report meteoric metrics (e.g. 996K NFTs sold in 30 minutes in a Snoop Dogg drop, Durov Caps reaching 14.4M users). An embedded chart below highlights how TON’s daily NFT trading volume dwarfed other chains by mid‑2025. These trends underscore a network effect: as more people play and collect on TON inside Telegram, network usage and token demand grow substantially.

DeFi and Financial Innovation

After early 2024’s memecoin/yield mania faded, TON is building long-term DeFi foundations. VC-backed programs poured in capital (TVM Ventures’ $100 M fund for TON DeFi/PayFi projects). High-throughput chain capabilities make TON attractive for stablecoins and payments: Tether deployed $60 M USDT on TON and launched XAUT (gold-backed), and TON plans omnichain stablecoins (Ethena’s USD in/out via LayerZero). TVL is growing – DefiLlama reports TON’s TVL stabilized around $600–650 M by mid-2025. Key DeFi projects are thriving (e.g. EVAA ($84M TVL) and Storm Trade (doubled to $26M)). Integration with cross-chain protocols (LayerZero) and support for institutional stablecoins is expanding TON’s utility beyond games, into payments and borderless finance.

Institutional & Treasury Inflows

Major institutional players are taking notice. Not only did leading VC firms (Sequoia, Benchmark, etc.) join TON’s $400M token raise, but enterprises like Crypto.com now custody TON. Enhanced compliance (custody insurance) and staking options are attracting conservative capital. The parallel trend of crypto treasuries (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana) is buoyant in 2025, and TON is riding that wave. The planned $400M treasury company (with Kingsway) is explicitly aimed at reducing free TON supply, aligning with those treasury strategies. In sum, TON’s narrative of a “billion-user blockchain” is drawing capital flows similar to larger ecosystems, bolstering its growth outlook.

Network Performance and Innovation

TON’s cutting-edge technology remains a selling point. Its hybrid consensus (Proof-of-History plus PoS) delivers extremely high throughput and fast finality. TON advertises 100,000+ TPS capacity and <1-second block times (via massive sharding) – far beyond Ethereum or Avalanche in theory. In practice, layer‑2 scaling networks and smart contract language improvements (Tact over FunC) have incrementally increased efficiency. For developers and users, this means near-instant transactions and cheap fees even under load, an advantage as TON attracts complex applications (games, fast NFT mints, etc.). Continued core upgrades (new L2s, efficient VM) provide confidence that TON can handle massive usage if the ecosystem demand continues.

TON Overview: Technology & Architecture

TON was designed as a “blockchain of blockchains” to meet the needs of a mass-market platform. Its consensus combines Proof-of-History (like Solana) with Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant Proof-of-Stake, yielding high security with sub-3‑second finality. In benchmarks, TON shows ~104,000 TPS capability (theoretical), dwarfing Ethereum’s ~30 TPS and even Solana’s ~59,000 in peak tests. Crucially, TON’s architecture uses dynamic sharding: each account has its own account-chain, grouped into “shardchains” that split or merge based on load. A MasterChain oversees network state, while numerous parallel WorkChains and ShardChains process transactions in parallel. This design (drawn from its original whitepaper) allows TON to scale linearly with demand. For developers, TON offers the TON Virtual Machine (TVM) and smart contract languages (initially FunC, now Tact) optimized for performance. Compared to other L1s: Avalanche achieves ~4,500 TPS via its DAG consensus, and even Solana (also PoH) typically hits a few thousand under real conditions. By contrast, TON’s combination of PoH, fast finality, and infinite sharding gives it a theoretical throughput advantage, positioning it uniquely as a Web2-style platform for millions of users.

Mid-2025 Ecosystem Statistics

Validators & Staking

As of late 2024, TON had hundreds of active validators. Roughly ~457 million TON (≈9% of supply) was staked across ~339 validator seats. The minimum stake is 300K TON (validator) or 10K TON (nominator). While these figures grow as TON expands, they indicate a moderately decentralized network (top 10 addresses hold ~3.14B TON, ~63% of supply). Validator tools and on-boarding have improved, but the relatively high stake requirements mean a more limited validator set than some chains.

Transactions & Activity

Usage spiked in late 2024. DefiLlama/Dune data showed 4.3 million average daily transactions by Dec 2024, with peak days over 10 million. Daily active addresses grew from ~26K in early 2024 to ~880K by year-end. By spring 2025 this cooled to ~100–170K daily addresses. However, TON’s total accounts ever-created exceeded 151 million by mid-2025, reflecting massive short‑term signups. Nearly 41 million Telegram users had a TON wallet by year-end 2024 (up from 4 million a year prior) thanks to the in-app TON Space wallet. This underlines how integrations yield huge on-chain wallet growth even if many are idle.

Ecosystem & TVL

TON’s DeFi ecosystem is young but growing. DefiLlama data and the TON Foundation report show TVL in the $600–650 million range by mid-2025. (Analysts note $150 M of this is in traditional DeFi protocols, the rest in things like stablecoins and liquidity pools.) The network supports 650+ active dApps and 200+ tokens across gaming, NFTs, and DeFi. Top DeFi platforms include Ston.fi, DeDust, EVAA, Storm, etc., with EVAA alone hitting a record $84M TVL and Storm’s TVL rising from $15M to $26M. TON’s NFT sector is vibrant: beyond “Durov Caps” and “Duckygram” collectibles, free-market stats show TON leading in daily NFT volume thanks to Telegram’s mechanics. Social-fi mini-games (Notcoin, Hamster Kombat) and memecoins now account for ~30–40% of on-chain trading volume, highlighting community-driven activity. According to BingX, TON’s mini-app games engage ~500 million monthly active users inside Telegram, demonstrating its unprecedented scale. All these figures place TON solidly among the top 15–20 blockchains by market cap and activity.

Sentiment Analysis in 2025

Community sentiment around TON has oscillated with its news flow. Early 2025 sentiment was largely bullish: Telegram’s announcements (exclusive Mini Apps integration, built-in wallet) drew enthusiastic reactions on Twitter, Telegram channels, and crypto forums. TON’s vision of “Web3 for Telegram” resonated with many, and phrases like “TON will be our blockchain infrastructure” by Durov were widely shared. The surge in NFT and memecoin activity generated positive buzz in mid-2025, as users tweeted chart milestones and new features.

However, by mid-2025 sentiment turned more cautious amid market headwinds. The May price slide below $3 brought out worries and “spend your TON” memes on Telegram. Reddit threads and X (Twitter) posts shifted tone – some long-time holders expressed impatience at consolidation, while skeptics pointed to regulatory events (e.g. Durov’s clashes) or centralization as red flags. Quantitatively, comment volume peaked after major news (wallet launch, VC fundraising) but sentiment scores dipped during sell-offs. On Discord/Telegram groups, newer users praised the ease of in-app wallets, while veterans debated token valuation. Overall, the net sentiment appears mixed: optimistic about fundamentals (integration, use cases) but guarded about token price and execution. Tools that analyze Twitter sentiment show a balanced split: roughly 55–60% positive for Telegram wallet news and 40–45% negative/mixed for market pullbacks. In sum, the community conversation has matured: early “FOMO” gave way to analytical discussions of metrics and strategy, reflecting the network’s transition from hype to steady growth.

Fundamental Analysis

Tokenomics

Toncoin has a fixed “pre-mined” supply structure of 5.0 billion tokens. Nearly all were allocated at launch (mainly through “POW Giver” contracts by 2022). Today, circulating supply is ~5.09 billion (only slight increase since 2023 due to inflation). TON’s issuance is inflationary at about 0.60% annually, minted mainly as block rewards for validators (roughly 1.7 TON per masterchain block plus 1 TON per basechain block). Crucially, TON also employs deflationary features: since June 2023, 50% of all transaction/storage fees are burned, and “black hole” burning addresses allow manual token destruction. This hybrid model (moderate inflation to reward staking vs. fee-burning) is designed to incentivize network security while gradually reducing supply. By late 2023, ~69% of TON was in circulation (≈3.45B tokens), with ~9% staked (≈457M TON).

Governance & Treasury

The TON Foundation (a non-profit backed by Telegram interests) controls key governance functions. TON holders have an on-chain voting portal, and TON Improvement Proposals guide upgrades. There is no profit-rights in TON, but token holders have “one-wallet-one-vote” schemes for on-chain matters. A major governance shift in 2025 is the move toward a public treasury vehicle: by forming a joint company with Kingsway and raising $400M, the Foundation is effectively privatizing a large TON reserve. This strategy aligns TON with other corporate treasury trends (see Bitcoin’s corporate buys) and suggests a focus on price stability via locked reserves. It also means the Foundation is betting on TON as an appreciating asset, tying its treasury success to token performance.

Developer Activity

Developer engagement is rising. Official reports cite hundreds of new developers in early 2025 (906 active developers in Jan 2025, up 40%). By mid-2025, sources claim over 10,000 unique developers and 34,000 smart contracts on TON (though double-check needed). TON’s architecture and grant programs (marketing grants, hackathons) have drawn interest. A critical mass of developer tools emerged: integrations with Nansen, Pyth, and Audits (Trail of Bits) improved infrastructure. Compared to Ethereum (with thousands of dApps) or Avalanche (hundreds of projects), TON’s 650+ dApps is modest but growing rapidly. The selective focus on Telegram Mini Apps means TON’s ecosystem is more specialized (games, NFTs, chat utilities) than broad DeFi. Still, the combination of newbie-friendly environment (Telegram UI) and technical horsepower has generated a unique developer niche.

Key Partnerships

Aside from Telegram itself, TON inked several partnerships boosting its profile. Crypto.com’s custody support (July 2025) opens institutional gateways. LayerZero integration allows multi-chain stablecoin flows (USDT bridging from Ethereum/Tron/Arbitrum), an innovative finance play. A Kuwaiti or UAE Golden Visa program (offering residency for TON stakers) was briefly proposed but shelved amid criticism, illustrating real-world integration ambitions. TON has also courted exchanges (major listings on Binance, OKX, etc.), and Web2 firms are experimenting with TON-based products. In comparison to competitors: Ethereum has unmatched developer traction and liquidity but suffers high fees/slower speed. Avalanche offers enterprise subnets but lacks Telegram’s user base. Sui (new Ethereum competitor) promises high TPS but is still attracting mid-tier interest. TON’s value-add is its built-in user network and social focus, which no other L1 possesses.

Technical Analysis (TON Price 2025)

Toncoin’s 2025 price history shows distinct phases. Q1 2025: After peaking near $6–$7 in late 2024, TON drifted down to ~$5 by mid-January. (One analysis noted TON around $5.13 on Jan 23.) Bulls were buoyed by big announcements, but broader market pullbacks kept price rangebound. March–April: The token gradually slid as crypto-wide sentiment sagged, breaking below earlier supports. By mid-May TON plunged below the psychological $3.00 mark. This marked a ~40–50% drop from January levels. On May 19, 2025, a sharp 6.98% one-day decline sent TON to ~$2.94.

Chart Patterns

On the short-term chart, TON formed a descending channel from March through mid-May, with each rebound capped lower than the last. Key support zones emerged around $2.88–$2.90, where buyers have stepped in. Resistance appeared near the $3.20–$3.30 range until mid-July. By July 22, after the wallet news, TON “jumped 3% to $3.41” and soon tested $3.60. The closing high was about $3.64 (as of early August). The weekly chart thus shows an uptrend resumption in July, breaking the prior downtrend. Volume spikes aligned with news: e.g. very high volume on the May sell-off (4.43M in one hour) and on the June wallet rollout (multi-million TON volume).

Support & Resistance

From technical indicators, we identify ~$2.90 as critical support (it held during the May bottom and early July dip). On the upside, ~$3.60–3.70 appears as the nearest resistance zone, tested in late July. If Bitcoin and broader crypto sentiment remain steady, breaking above $3.70 could open a run toward prior highs in the $5 range. Conversely, a breakdown below $2.90 might see TON retest $2.50–$2.60, a level not touched since early 2025. Notably, TON’s price exhibits a positive divergence with Bitcoin at times: in July, TON held flat while BTC rose modestly. This suggests some decoupling, likely due to TON-specific catalysts (Telegram events). Correlation analysis is mixed: TON tends to amplify crypto market moves (down in crypto-crash June, up in alt rallies), but direct causation is secondary to its own news.

Fortuna’s Insight (AI-Powered Analysis)

Drawing together these trends, an AI-style market commentary would note: “Toncoin’s trajectory in H1 2025 reflects a maturing crypto story: viral growth powered by Telegram integration, now encountering normalization amid broader market cycles.” The network’s fundamentals are strong – backed by a massive user base and venture capital – yet the token price has room for consolidation. In the short term, expect volatility to persist around key triggers (Telegram feature rollouts, macro shifts). However, as Toncoin’s supply reduces via staking and burn mechanisms, and institutional hands absorb large allocations (through the $400M treasury vehicle), any upward moves may become more pronounced.

Predictions

If Telegram continues embedding TON (e.g. launching more mini-apps, NFT drops, global wallet launches), on-chain activity should climb, likely supporting higher prices. A sustained bull market in crypto could propel TON toward its 2024 peaks (~$5–$6) by year-end 2025. Conversely, if regulators pressure Telegram or global crypto markets sour, TON may simply tread water in the $3–$4 range. But even in a conservative scenario, Fortuna’s model sees TON outperforming lesser networks due to its unique user funnel. By late 2025, the AI suggests watching December volatility cues: if Toncoin stays above ~$3.20 and news flow remains positive (e.g. new partnerships or app launches), we could revisit all-time highs in 2026.

Investment Potential in 2025

Medium-/Long-Term Case

TON offers an intriguing investment narrative: it combines a huge built‑in audience (Telegram) with a technical edge. Its real utility (crypto payments, collectibles, games) is fully integrated into a social app environment, reducing onboarding friction. The backing of Telegram’s team and global VCs adds credibility. With more use cases (wallets, mini-apps) coming online, TON’s network effects could accelerate. In a broader bull cycle, Toncoin’s scarcity (inflation ~0.6% partially offset by burns) and reduced float (locked via staking and treasury plans) could create strong appreciation pressure. As a result, many analysts see TON as a better medium-long term play than meme-coins or small alt-L1’s. Its roadmap – features like layer2 payments and further developer grants – also adds confidence that TON’s utility will deepen.

In pure numbers, TON’s market cap (~$8–9B in mid-2025) is still below Ethereum’s and Solana’s, implying room to grow if adoption continues. If TON were to capture even 5–10% of Telegram’s user base (several tens of millions of active wallets) and maintain moderate on-chain activity, the network’s economic throughput could justify several-fold token appreciation. The storm of mini-app launches and NFT drops suggests many scenarios where TON’s usage – and thus transaction fee/TVL metrics – could multiply. For a patient investor, TON’s unique alignment with social media and crypto is a strong utility case.

Weaknesses and Risks

Centralization & Governance

A significant portion of TON (top 10 wallets) is closely held. The TON Foundation and early backers own much of the supply. This concentration risks outsized market moves if large holders sell, and it raises questions about decentralization. Relatedly, TON’s fate is tightly linked to Telegram. If Telegram’s leadership or strategy changes (e.g. Durov’s ongoing legal battles, or if Telegram faced regulatory bans), TON could suffer. Past events highlighted this: when Durov was detained in 2024, TON’s price plunged ~20% in 48 hours, showing Telegram risk is TON risk.

Network Vulnerabilities

Though incidents are rare, the June 1 outage shows TON’s complexity can lead to disruptions. Future scale challenges (e.g. if a mini-app craze overloads the network) could cause latency or downtime. TON has no major hackers yet, but as activity grows, smart contract bugs or exploits (front-running was noted in late 2024) remain possible. Any high-profile failure could dent confidence.

Market Competition

Other blockchains are targeting TON’s niches. For Web3 games and NFTs, Solana, Sui, and even BNB Chain compete for developer mindshare. On DeFi, Ethereum’s dominance remains hard to unseat, and newcomers (Aptos, Layer2s) may dilute attention. TON will need to keep innovating to stay unique. If Telegram’s mini-app boom fades (as many crypto fads do), TON’s usage might slump. So far, its heavy reliance on Telegram is a double-edged sword: great user funnel, but also a single point of failure in adoption.

Regulatory Uncertainty

TON’s ties to Telegram have already raised eyebrows. Crypto regulators might scrutinize TON more closely, especially if it becomes a payment method on such a mass platform. Past U.S. actions (blocking TON wallet in late 2023 for U.S. users) suggest authorities will watch TON’s links to Telegram. Internationally, any crackdown on Telegram or messaging-based crypto could imperil TON. The scrapped “Golden Visa” plan indicates some governmental discomfort with crypto incentives tied to residency. Investors should be aware that future policy changes could impact TON’s growth.

Conclusion

From January through mid-2025, TON transformed from a buzzing experiment into a fully-featured blockchain ecosystem with real user traction. On one hand, metrics and partnerships are impressive: multi-million player games, hundreds of millions of tokens traded as NFTs, and strong institutional interest (big fundraisers, custody providers). TON’s technical foundation (PoH+PoS, sharding) and exclusive Telegram integration give it a potent blend of scalability and distribution. On the other hand, caution is warranted: the network’s growth has moderated from its parabolic late-2024 run, and token price remains sensitive to market mood.

Balanced outloo

If Telegram continues to invest in TON (rollout of mini-apps, global wallet expansion, new on-chain features), and if the broader crypto market enters a bullish phase, TON could thrive and push towards its previous highs. Its advantages in user onboarding and speed are real assets in a world where mass adoption is scarce. However, risks (centralization, regulatory, technical faults) loom and could limit upside. Ultimately, TON appears set to survive and likely thrive as a specialized ecosystem, though it may not outpace fundamentals-driven chains like Ethereum. A fair conclusion is that TON’s unique union of social platform and blockchain gives it a strong mid- to long-term case, but investors should remain aware of the dependency on Telegram’s fortunes.