TON Blockchain has had a record-breaking year, marked by substantial user growth, an explosion of mini-apps, developer ecosystem updates, and significant achievements in the DeFi space. In collaboration with DWF Ventures, we delve into the data to uncover what’s driving this growth.

TON has experienced substantial growth, with daily active users (DAUs) increasing by over tenfold year-to-date. The number of transactions per user has also seen steady growth. On certain days, TON’s transaction numbers have even surpassed Ethereum’s, positioning TON as one of the leading blockchains.

.@ton_blockchain has had a record-breaking year with substantial user-growth, immense growth in mini-apps, developer ecosystem updates, and more. Check out what's happening under the hood with @DWFVentures 🧵If you're building on @ton_blockchain or have a project to share,… https://t.co/hq4IpdsRxV

— DWF Labs (@DWFLabs) August 2, 2024

A significant factor in TON’s growth is the rise of mini-apps. Prominent mini-apps such as the notcoin and @CatizenAI have onboarded millions of users. These mini-apps leverage Telegram for distribution, providing easy mechanisms for user involvement.

Stats from The Open League 5 indicate that mini-apps have successfully attracted Web2 users. This presents a huge opportunity for TON to become the leading chain for onboarding Web2 users, similar to Solana’s success in 2021.

DeFi Developments

In the DeFi space, @dedust_io and @ston_fi are the leading decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on TON. While Stonfi leads in the number of traders, Dedust has surpassed it in volume since July. The most traded tokens year-to-date include $TON, $NOT, and $USDT. Additionally, meme tokens appear frequently but tend to fall off quickly.

Since the native USDT was enabled on April 19, its supply has grown to over 730 million in just three months, quickly catching up to USDT on Solana. This has enhanced liquidity flow between TON and centralized exchanges (CEXs), with transfer volumes totaling around $1 billion in the past month.

In April this year, TON hit an all-time high with over $1 billion in daily trading volume. Despite recent lower volumes, the number of token holders has been steadily rising, indicating more users are being onboarded into the ecosystem.

TON’s developer ecosystem has seen significant advancements. With the introduction of TACT, a new language similar to Rust, developer engagement has surged. In July, active developers reached yearly highs of over 260, driven by the uniqueness of FunC, with 90% of developers building exclusively on TON. Beyond the mini-app craze, TON Blockchain’s metrics have been steadily growing across various sectors. With continuous efforts from the TON team and DWF Ventures, the growth potential for TON is immense and poised to gain even more momentum in the second half of the year.