TON Ecosystem Overview: Deep Integration with Telegram Unleashes Core Competitiveness

Oct 12, 2023

Author: defioasis

Note: This article is for informational sharing only and does not endorse any projects mentioned.

In mid-September, the TON Foundation announced a formal partnership with Telegram, one of the top three social media platforms in the crypto community, aiming to integrate and promote the TON network ecosystem for Telegram’s 800 million active users. They plan to attract and convert 30% of Telegram’s active users, or 240 million people, into active users of the TON network by 2028. The TON blockchain was originally developed by the Telegram team in 2018 but was later transferred to community developers due to legal disputes and investor withdrawals in 2020. Over the past two years, TON and Telegram have maintained a somewhat loose relationship; this formal announcement undoubtedly strengthens the connection between TON and Telegram users, developers, and communities.

The rapid rise of Telegram Bots this year confirms the possibility of a platform that combines social media and financial returns. Deep integration with Telegram will become the core competitive advantage for the TON network. Although the TON ecosystem is still in its early stages, those TON on-chain applications that deeply integrate with Telegram have the potential to stand out. This article will take stock of such projects.

Wallet

Wallet in Telegram

The official TON wallet has been seamlessly integrated into Telegram following the partnership announcement. Within the Telegram settings interface, the “Wallet” is located in the first column. This wallet features self-custodial space TON Space as the user’s on-chain account, eliminating the need for storing mnemonic phrases. It supports secure recovery via email and Telegram accounts, as well as functionalities like Wallet bot and TON Connect. Moreover, the wallet allows users to purchase TON, USDT, and BTC using a bank card, and engage in cryptocurrency trading on the P2P market.

Native DEX (Integrated with Wallet in Telegram)

DeDust

Developed by Scaleton and built on the TON network, DeDust launched its SDK and DeDust Protocol 2.0 in September, supporting swap, liquidity provision, and bridge functionalities. DeDust’s TVL is at $2.94 million, with a trading volume of $13.5k in the past 24 hours.

OPTUS

OPTUS is a TON Foundation-funded on-chain DEX. It placed third and won a $70k prize in the TON Foundation’s Hack-a-TONx in Q3. OPTUS has also launched its exclusive OPTUS SBT as a reward for swap, liquidity provision, vulnerability identification, and contributions, indicating that it will have unique functionalities in the future. OPTUS plans to introduce features like TON’s first on-chain DEX aggregator, gasless transactions, and RFQ orders in Q4.

Megaton Finance

Megaton is the first TON network DEX to be audited by Certik and offers more complete functionalities and UI design, including phishing protection. Megaton has launched its governance token MEGA with a total supply of 100 million. Of this, 54% can be earned through liquidity mining and will be available for four years; 16% is allocated to developers, 7% to investors, and 5% to advisors — all of which have a six-month lockup period followed by a linear release over the next 8, 4, and 4.5 years respectively. Apart from the initial 1% supply, the remaining tokens are allocated for marketing, partners, liquidity, and the treasury, with a linear release period extending from 5 to 12 years.

Boosted by token rewards from liquidity mining, Megaton’s TVL is $4.973 million, making it the largest DEX on the TON network, although its trading volume in the last 24 hours is just $29k.

Perpetual Swap

Storm Trade

Storm Trade is the first decentralized perpetual swap trading platform on the TON network. It utilizes a virtual AMM and a liquidity capture model similar to GMX GLP but is currently still in the testnet phase. Storm provides incentives for testnet users with a reward pool of 30k Storm tokens for Testnet 1, Testnet 2: Early Birds, and Tonraffles events, which make up 3% of the future total supply of STORM tokens. According to official data, Storm Trade completed over $35 billion in trading volume within a month by the end of September during the Testnet 2: Early Birds period, with more than 9k users participating in the testing and providing over 10k bug reports. Storm will have utility tokens STORM and LP tokens SLP, capturing 30% and 70% of protocol fees respectively, along with a Genesis NFT that can save on fees. Storm plans to integrate directly with Telegram, eliminating the need for a separate frontend interface.

Lending

EvAA Protocol

EvAA Protocol is a TON network lending protocol incubated by Tonstarter and invested in by TONcoin fund and Existential Capital. It has also been a finalist in the DoraHacks hackathon. EvAA has seamlessly integrated with Telegram and allows users to execute lending transactions directly via the Telegram EvaaAppBot, without needing to open a separate frontend. EvAA supports lending in three assets: TON, jUSDT, and jUSDC, with a total deposit of $24k and a total loan of $112.

Liquidity Staking Protocol

Tonstakers

Tonstakers is a liquidity staking protocol launched in partnership with the TON netwrok core developers. Users stake TON at Tonstakers to get tsTON and earn 4% APY in validator rewards.Tonstakers has integrated with Wallet in Telegram and Tonkeeper wallets. Currently, Tonstakers has 1.929 million staked TON, with a total value of $3.75 million.

Hipo

Hipo is an open-source, non-custodial liquidity staking protocol built on the TON network. Users can stake TON to receive hTON tokens representing staked TON and rewards. Hipo charges a 6.25% validator reward as a protocol fee. In early October, Hipo dropped 55 Hipo Community Champions NFT rewards to 55 testnet users who completed tasks.

NFT Marketplace

Getgems

Getgems is the most commonly used general NFT marketplace on the TON network, charging a 5% platform fee for each sale. Getgems has seamlessly integrated with Telegram and allows users to browse, trade, and send TON NFT via the Telegram GetgemsNftBot. Currently, the NFT with the highest volume on Getgems is “Telegram Usernames,” with a floor price of 6 TON and a total volume reaching 59 million TON. The PFP NFT with the highest volume is TON Punks, with a floor price of 114.8 TON and a total volume of 804k TON.

TON Diamonds

Different from Getgems, TON Diamonds focuses on art trade and auctions, charging a 5% platform fee per sale. TON Diamonds has released official NFT representing private community equity, with a floor price of 34.5 TON and a total volume exceeding 1 million TON. Users can engage in low or zero-fee trades and mine platform utility tokens, named GLINT, by holding NFT of different tiers. According to official data, there are currently 2,401 TON Diamonds holders, saving more than $120k in fees for the holders. Moreover, GLINT was launched on October 5, with a total supply of 22 million; the first season of mining activities will last for 6 weeks, accounting for 22% of the total supply.

Notably, TON Diamonds has also recruited many well-known Russian artists, including hyper-realist female artist Ellen Sheidlin’s Annihilation series, graffiti artist Pokras Lampas’ CALLIGRAFUTURISM series, and 3D artist Brickspacer’s animated NFT series, OCTOPUS BOYZ. TON Diamonds has integrated with Wallet in Telegram.

Fragment

Fragment is an NFT platform specifically designed for trading and auctioning Telegram-exclusive usernames and virtual numbers on the TON network, charging a 5% platform fee for each sale. Currently, Telegram usernames and virtual numbers have become the most actively traded NFT on the TON network.

Game

Cards Ahoy!

Cards Ahoy! is the first 60-second fast-paced Meme card game backed by Metalist Game, in partnership with NetEase Games and Yolofox Game. Metalist Game has entered into a strategic partnership with the TON Foundation to jointly explore the development of Web3 games in the Telegram ecosystem. Players can participate in the Cards Ahoy! game via MetalistGameBot within Telegram and win airdrop rewards worth 1 million USD.

Cards Ahoy! will also provide on-chain identity Game Console for TON and Telegram target players, which is Metalist Game’s first gaming identity in the TON ecosystem. Holders will receive Genesis blind box airdrops and unlock more gaming rights in the future. Currently, Cards Ahoy! has over 1.17 million pre-registered players.

Combined with data observation, Cards ahoy! has the ability to break boundaries. The team has experience in developing hit card games (such as Marvel Snap, Onmyoji, etc.), and the game design lowers the entry barrier for players, with 60-second fast-paced gameplay. It is reported that the game will be launched on the public beta in December, and will be released in Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia to publicize.

Fanton: Fantasy Football

Fanton: Fantasy Football is a Free2Play soccer NFT card game in the TON ecosystem, hosting matches through Telegram’s FanTonGameBot. Players can build teams with NFT cards and then participate in various tournaments to earn TON and NFT cards. NFT cards can be rented or sold. On the roadmap, Fanton plans to launch the platform utility token FNTF, used for accessing higher-tier rewards in paid tournaments, buying loot, renting and staking NFT. The team also plans to expand sports events to American football, NBA basketball, and cricket in the future.

TON Play: Escape from Zeya, Towers: Card Battles

TON Play has launched a development toolkit called PlayDeck, allowing game developers to build Web3 games on the TON network based on Telegram, and can earn profits through in-app advertising and digital asset sales. There are already dozens of games built through PlayDeck, including featured games like Escape from Zeya, Towers: Card Battles, and Qubix Infinity, etc. Users can participate in these games via Telegram’s playdeckbot.

Launchpad

Tonstarter

Tonstarter is a platform aimed at assisting the launch of ecological applications for the TON network and has been integrated with Wallet in Telegram. Project teams can use Tonstarter to raise funds from the community, distribute smart airdrops, arrange custom tasks, etc., without requiring participants to leave the Telegram interface, accomplishing tasks while chatting. Projects like Fanton: Fantasy Football, TON Diamonds, DeDust, and Storm Trade have all launched through Tonstarter.

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