The Next Phase of Applications on TON
How Applications, GameFi, and DeFi are Shaping the Future of Telegram’s Ecosystem
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Topics Covered
Lack of Application Development in Crypto
TON’s Investment in the Ecosystem
Long-Term Growth for TON
Applications are Core to the TON Ecosystem 📝
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the lack of application building in crypto. The frustration stems from the lack of devs building applications.
As mentioned in the last article, 2024 Reflections From ETHCC, the lack of investor money coming into dApps could be a reason for this phenomenon, but is also a positive signal for founder conviction.
One of the key points from the “2024 Reflections From ETHCC” was a solution to the lack of dApps being created. Effectively, the ecosystems are the entities that will need to allocate funds to fuel innovation on their chains.
TON is a blockchain that has taken the progression of innovation on its chain into its own hands. This is likely due to Telegram's traction, making now the perfect time for developers to build on its chain.
The tragic event of Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov will likely worry some founders. It brought a lot of questions about the future of Telegram. After some more clarity, builders hope to rally around the adverse circumstances and build dApps that drive users to Telegram.
TON is Invested in Driving Awareness of its Ecosystem
The Open League
The Ton Foundation has strongly invested in the ecosystem through various initiatives.
One of the primary investments in the ecosystem that TON makes is through its grants program. The Open League has over 300 million dollars in TVL and has distributed over 40 million dollars.
For the most recent season, season 5, 1.5 million dollars worth of TON was distributed to the teams. The rewards are distributed to the top seven teams in different categories.
App Battle
Top 2 Winners:
Catizen and YesCoin retained their spots from the previous seasons.
Catizen - Catizen is a cat-themed social entertainment experience on Telegram that blends playful interactions with the TON Blockchain, simplifying mobile payments and making Web3 access seamless for users.
YesCoin - Yescoin is a casual Web3 game where players collect gold coins by swiping, earning rewards, winning prizes, and joining a global Web3 community, effectively bridging Web2 and Web3.
Token Battle
Top 2 Winners:
Season 5 saw two projects advance their rankings from previous seasons. NotCoin advanced in the competition from 2nd place to the number one spot. JetTon advanced from 15th place in season 4 to 2nd this season.
NotCoin - Notcoin has grown purely through community efforts, reaching 0.44% of the global population with 300k people issuing 800k Vouchers and generating over $25M in P2P sales, demonstrating its decentralization and commitment to ever-growing systems like earning through market exploration or value-creating games.
JetTon - JetTon Games is a cross-platform gaming solution built on the TON blockchain, offering secure and transparent gambling experiences with its JETTON cryptocurrency, aiming to become a key player in the crypto gambling world by leveraging innovative features and expanding access through Telegram’s vast user base.
NFT League
Top 2 Winners:
Gatto, this season’s winner rose to the top spot for season 5 after being 6th in the last season. Market Makers is sticking in the same spot it was in season 4 of The Open League.
Gatto - Gatto is a P2E game, where you can raise strong Gattomons, take part in competitions against other players and earn TON.
Market Makers - The collection is by Storm Trade and is awarded to the most active Storm.tg users. Holding these exclusive NFTs unlocks special bonuses, including $STORM token whitelists.
DeFi League
EVAA, who were sitting in the 2nd place in season 4 grabbed the top spot for Season 5. DAOLama grabbed the second spot in the competition in this category after finishing 5th in the last challenge.
Top 2 Winners:
EVAA - EVAA lending protocol is a decentralized finance platform that leverages TON blockchain technology to enable secure and efficient borrowing and lending of digital assets. Users can participate as lenders to earn interest or as borrowers to access loans by collateralizing their cryptocurrency holdings
DAOLama - DAOLama offers a comprehensive suite of NFT financial services, allowing users to use their NFTs as collateral for TON Coin, provide liquidity to earn rewards, participate in private auctions for discounted NFTs, rent NFTs with smart contract guarantees, and buy NFTs now while paying later with flexible borrowing options.
As seen above, the open league has led to some quality outcomes.
During Season 5, active on-chain users grew by 48%, with over 2 million new active wallets and 700,000 daily active wallets. The total TON TVL with LP Boosts increased by $750k, achieving an average 50% APR, while daily DEX volumes reached $130 million.
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Venture Investment:
Along with the exposure from the TON foundation, projects building on TON are also attracting capital from venture investors.
One investor that has been recognized in the TON ecosystem is TON Ventures. Two former TON Foundation executives lead TON Ventures and is a 40 million dollar fund.
Thus far, the fund has invested in very notable projects on TON such as Ston.Fi, Storm Trade, and Catizen.
Additionally, the TON Blockchain recently secured over 30 million dollars in funding from Foresight Ventures and Bitget. This funding could drive even more support to the TON ecosystem.
Telegram's Traction Fuels Growth and Adoption of TON
Telegram continues to increase in traction as recently the platform reached over 10 million paid subscribers. The TON blockchain has driven over 1 billion transactions in parallel to Telegram. Because of this traction, some believe the chain could be undervalued.
TON’s rising popularity and various adoption points make it a platform that attracts developers. GameFi developers are taking advantage of Telegram’s user base, which could be a solid adoption point for web3.
It wouldn’t be surprising that GameFi propels Telegram and the other categories in the TON ecosystem to continue driving users and value.
Users are using mini apps like games as an opportunity to drive adoption.
The DeFi platforms on TON can piggyback off the influx of new Telegram users. The best way to do so is to ensure that other non-game apps have top-tier user experiences. Without this, users will be lost in the workflow and continue to prefer web2 platforms.
Gaming being a primary avenue for the first point of interaction with TON apps presents opportunities for DeFi and GameFi partnerships to drive ecosystem value.
DeFi and GameFi collaboration on TON could become a user-friendly practice that drives TVL and influences gameplay metrics simultaneously.
Driving more activity and retaining users will be a long-term driver for the value of the TON blockchain. Achieving this will aid in further usage and value, which is pivotal in making Telegram the top super app.
Let her go. You and I always made more sense.