Open Network was originally called Telegram Open Network and was launched by a popular messaging app in the crypto community with over 900 million users. However, the blockchain drew the ire of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, forcing the open source community to continue developing it and Telegram to continue maintaining the network.
In February, Telegram announced an advertising revenue split that splits profits 50/50 with channel owners. But the most important thing is that the income is paid in TON’s own token - toncoin and is carried out through the network.
According to Telegram's CEO, Telegram channels generate 1 trillion views per month, but at the time of the ad exchange's launch, only 10% of channels were monetized through advertising. While content creators can cash out the tokens they earn, they can also use the tokens to reinvest in their channels by promoting or updating them. The idea was to include core Telegram users into the TON ecosystem.
Tether also launched its USDT stablecoin on-chain in April, giving TON users access to the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin. The launch was a success and TON's supply on USDT already exceeded 500 million last week, approximately two months after the first launch on the blockchain.
The network has recently seen a surge in activity and users due to the popularity of Telegram cryptocurrency mini-games using TON. "Notcoin", "Hamster Kombat" and "Catizen" are all examples of such click-to-click games that allow users to earn in-game currencies that can eventually be converted into real airdrops. A similar phenomenon was observed with the game "Tapos" on Aptos, which highlights how much these clicker games can captivate users looking to earn tokens.
But as TON grew in popularity and adoption, toncoin also took off. Toncoin is currently the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a market cap of $18 billion, more than double what it was at the start of the year. Likewise, the total locked value of TON has skyrocketed, surpassing $600 million earlier this month after reaching $300 million just three weeks earlier.
Many are optimistic about TON because it has such a wide user base to tap into and is easily integrated into the Telegram app. Cryptocurrency venture capital firm Pantera Capital is already raising its second TON fund after making its largest investment in the network in May.
And we see the explosive growth of TON in terms of its usage. The 7-day moving average of transactions on TON has risen from 645,000 at the start of the year to 5 million, and the 7-day moving average of active addresses has risen from 26,000 to over 340,000.
The trends in these graphs have ebbed and flowed, but the overall direction appears to be upward. While it is too early to tell whether this level of growth is sustainable, it is likely that TON has reached a point where its activity will continue to exceed levels through 2024.
TONUSDT 7.0176
