Recently, from the frenzy of Notcoin to the popular Tap to earn game mode in the crypto community, the TON ecosystem has quickly grown from obscurity to a super public chain worth over a billion. Without adding extra user migration costs, TON has leveraged Telegram’s existing social network to restructure the Web2 business model in a Web3 way.
In this exclusive interview, LBank Labs invited Kenny, the head of TON’s ecosystem growth in the Asia-Pacific region, to discuss TON’s development expectations, support plans, token controversies, and to interpret the current state of the TON ecosystem and address market concerns, helping users better understand the current state of the TON market.
The following is the interview transcript, compiled by LBank:
LBank: First of all, welcome Kenny, head of TON’s ecosystem growth in the Asia-Pacific region, to LBank for our exclusive interview. Notcoin is currently very hot, with a rise of 329.6% since its launch, and a market value of 2466M, ranking 54th, igniting unprecedented expectations for the TON ecosystem in the market. Does the development of Notcoin meet your expectations?
Kenny: It basically meets expectations. Although there have been some minor technical hiccups throughout the process, the overall goal has been achieved, giving the ecosystem project a good start. Of course, Notcoin’s journey is far from over, and future developments are equally worth looking forward to. In recent public shares, Notcoin’s founder, Sasha, has also disclosed some roadmap plans.
LBank: What is the current state of the TON ecosystem, and what are the main applications? Please share with us.
Kenny: “There are many ways to compete in the world.” Currently, the overall ecosystem situation, including the on-chain data such as TVL, has seen a significant multiple-level growth. There have been many public articles on this, so I won’t repeat the details.
One notable vision and goal of the TON Foundation is to “have 30% of TG users hold and trade virtual assets by 2028.” Holding and trading, in my personal understanding, are two independent yet progressive actions.
For TG users who are not web3 native, the answer to how to make them transition along this path lies in wallets and applications (mini-programs). The wallet is the carrier of the transition power, and this transition power is supported by various self-growing applications within the TG ecosystem. These applications often have strong web2 attributes, are user-friendly, have a certain level of fun, and have utility value, such as mini-games, tools, entertainment, etc., through interaction to make these users start holding virtual assets (the simplest being tap to earn). This not only presents opportunities for 2C applications but also for 2B applications.
Next is how to get these users who hold virtual assets (not only those who have transitioned from web2 but also web3 natives) to start trading virtual assets. This relies on the basic ecosystem of our TON chain, various developments in DeFi, cross-chain bridges, CEX, NFT trading, Meme, and other fields, to promote asset distribution and liquidity.
LBank: With the backing of 1 billion Telegram users, what tools or innovative applications have a higher acceptance rate for seamless entry of web2 users into the web3 world? Can you provide a detailed introduction to the efforts and support plans that the TON Foundation has made in this area?
Kenny: Regarding the tools or innovative applications with higher acceptance rates, everyone in this circle is actually very good at collecting information, and some third-party platforms and public articles can also be referenced (details can be found in the LBank Research Institute: TON “Fission” Moment | Coding the Future Traffic Entry from Trends). At the foundation level, the efforts and support made have been quite powerful in terms of quantity and strength, including advertising incentives, grants, investments, and more.
I would like to emphasize the most important ecological support plan of the Foundation this year, The Open League. This year, participating projects will be airdropped a total of $150 million worth of TON tokens as rewards. It can be understood as setting the stage for the performance, with various project teams competing on this stage. We will set up several tracks, such as DeFi, mini-programs, etc., and evaluate the comprehensive scores of the project teams based on a series of data indicators. Those with high rankings will receive more airdrops. Interestingly, we originally planned for a season every 3 months, but the speed of ecosystem development has prompted us to compress the cycle to one season every month, and recently, it has been further compressed to one season every half month.
LBank: Currently, a large number of ecosystems are being built on TON, especially mini-games dominated by Notcoin. However, we have also noticed that basic financial products such as DEX and lending, which can absorb a large amount of funds, are still few, and even the top ones are not very attractive. Furthermore, the number of developers is significantly lower compared to other public chains. What are the possible reasons for TON’s TVL to be in a relatively awkward position? Does the TON Foundation have practical and feasible ecological plans to address the current dilemma?
Kenny: First of all, we cannot evaluate TON using traditional public chain value evaluation standards; TON is a very unique public chain, not just for the financial effects of assets.
The core value of TON lies in its tight integration with Telegram, providing TON with unique user entry points and application scenarios.
Therefore, we prefer to measure the success of the ecosystem from the user base, trading volume, and protocol income of DApps.
Secondly, as TON is still in a relatively early stage of development compared to other mature public chains (previously delayed for a long time due to the lawsuit with the SEC), the maturity of the developer community and financial products is still gradually being established, and we have recently been in touch with many projects planning to deploy in this direction.
Furthermore, through the various actions at the foundation level that I mentioned earlier, we have achieved good performance in TVL, with a monthly growth rate of 85%. We believe we are on a good trajectory.
LBank: At this year’s TOKEN2049 conference in Dubai, TON announced the issuance of USDT by Tether on TON. What does this mean for the entire ecosystem?
Kenny: Firstly, the integration of native USDT will simplify the trading process for users on the TON chain, enhance fund liquidity, and improve usability. Compared to previous cross-chain USDT or TRC-20 assets through the ETH network, native USDT avoids complex cross-chain steps and potential security risks, enhancing trading efficiency and security.
Additionally, the integration of native USDT is expected to attract more trading and developers to join the TON ecosystem. As a widely accepted stablecoin, its direct support on TON can reduce the entry barriers for users and developers. At the same time, the TON Foundation cooperates with exchanges to launch a zero-cost interaction mode, further promoting the circulation and acceptance of USDT on TON.
This deep integration not only enhances the functionality of the TON blockchain but may also be a key factor in driving its widespread adoption, providing stable currency support for various applications and services on the TON chain, enhancing the vitality and attractiveness of the entire ecosystem. The data performance since its launch has exceeded the expectations of both parties, which is also evident.
LBank: In the TON token’s economic model, the supply increases at a rate of about 0.6% per year (about 3 million coins), and most of the early TON tokens are controlled by miners, leading to concerns about its decentralization. What measures have the TON team and foundation taken to manage this situation?
Kenny: It is important to note that the TON Foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting and supporting the practicality of the TON community and the initiatives of the TON blockchain ecosystem, and is not the original issuer of the tokens. We also rely on publicly available on-chain data for analysis.
Regarding this issue, first, based on decentralized community voting, about 21% of inactive miner wallets have been locked until 2027. In addition, the community has initiated the TON Believers Fund, with about 26% of the total supply of tokens currently staked in this fund.
Finally, The Open League project aims to promote the decentralization of the supply by distributing Toncoin to community members and projects. From a web2 perspective, another initiative is the Telegram advertising platform, which rewards channel owners with Toncoin in the form of advertising revenue. Through these and other measures, nearly 47% of the total supply is now locked, making a positive contribution to increasing the decentralization of TON and promoting the healthy development of the ecosystem.
