TON coin surges 50% to become Top 10, Telegram ecosystem dividends are just beginning

TON’s recent performance is quite impressive. From its lowest point in April until now, this token has surged by 50% and has officially entered the top 10 by market cap. To understand why it’s suddenly so strong, we need to look at a series of moves by Telegram.

Quick Background Recap

TON was originally created by Telegram in 2018, aiming to compete with Ethereum. However, the SEC sued them in 2020, saying it wasn’t registered. Telegram backed down and abandoned the project. Later, a group of independent developers formed the TON Foundation, taking over operations in 2021, which led to today’s The Open Network.

To be honest, TON didn’t perform well before September last year, even dropping 70% relative to BTC. But starting in March, things completely reversed—with a 170% surge in just five weeks!

The Catalyst Arrived

Telegram officially got involved:

• In September last year, Telegram announced the development of a crypto wallet on The Open Network.
• On March 31, they announced users could use TON to buy ad slots, and that 50% of ad revenue would go to creators.

This is the key. It’s not just hype—it’s real utility. Telegram has hundreds of millions of monthly active users. Once TON is deeply integrated, the potential is huge.

Ecosystem Data Speaks

The TON Foundation hasn’t been idle either. On April 1, they launched the Open Alliance initiative:

• Allocated 30 million TON (worth $204 million at the time) to incentivize apps and the user ecosystem
• Also invested 1 million TON to launch HumanCode (an on-chain identity primitive)

Since early March, on-chain data has exploded:

• Number of wallets doubled
• TVL grew sixfold

This isn’t fake prosperity built on hype—it’s real users and capital coming in.

Why Be Bullish on This Token

Simply put, TON’s biggest advantage is having Telegram, a super app, behind it. Compared to other L1 chains, TON’s application ecosystem is still in its early days (EVM and Solana are way ahead), but it’s targeting “real-world use cases” directly.

Hundreds of millions of Telegram users as potential entry points, official support for in-app payments, revenue sharing for creators—all of these are real. The market is already starting to price in the tight coupling of “application-infrastructure.”

Bottom line: The current surge may only reflect the tip of the iceberg of the Telegram ecosystem story. But don’t overestimate it—there’s still a long way to go for ecosystem maturity.