Toncoin (TON) is practically a blue-chip token, sitting among top 10 crypto assets with the highest market capitalization. Moreover, TON is exceptionally resilient, with a price above $7 even after the latest corrections. Still, TON is facing a serious barrier to exchange listings, seemingly cut off from Binance and Coinbase. 

Also read: SOL, TON, NEAR lead in on-chain network growth; here’s why

TON is the most successful crypto asset to be barred from the legitimacy and liquidity of the top exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. There are a series of reasons, mostly tied to regulations on the US market. 

SEC lawsuit drove skepticism for TON listings on centralized exchanges

The major source of skepticism for TON is the US Securities and Exchange Commission vs Telegram, Inc lawsuit. In late 2019, the US SEC barred Telegram from placing Grams, the initial tokens of the project. 

Despite rebranding and moving with a different game plan, the current Toncoin is affected by the clash with the SEC, raising concerns for exchanges operating with US-based clients. 

Also Read: Toncoin outshines top 50 tokens with over 40% rise in Q2 2024

The ban on selling Grams in 2019 was based on the decision of a single US-based judge assigned to the case. But Grams were banned from being sold anywhere around the world, due to concerns of being resold in the USA. The effects of the lawsuit and the judge’s decision are still a potential reason to avoid the listing of TON. 

Toncoin seen as competition for Binance Smart Chain

Toncoin is a highly active network, with close to 600M Tether (USDT) launched as a native asset. Additionally, Toncoin carries highly active bots, following a model similar to Solana. 

Alastair Caithness, host of Boom! It’s on the Blockchain! Podcast, said that when it comes to volatility, Binance has been ready to list even tokens like Pepe (PEPE). However, Toncoin seems like a competition to its native Binance Smart Chain. 

“It seems Binance may hesitate to list TONcoin due to its own blockchain already being established, and you would be promoting a much larger competitor for Binance’s future growth,” said Caithness.

In the past few days, Toncoin also showed it is a close competitor even of Ethereum when it comes to daily active users. Toncoin has 9.6M daily active wallets, compared to 300-500K for Ethereum. Banana Gun, one of the most active bots, also added to the Toncoin traffic and usage. The activity is based on an estimated 32M total user base for Toncoin.

Toncoin remains a community project with strong links to Telegram

The codebase of Toncoin and its native chain is currently in the hands of an international community of voluntary developers. Currently, the network is supported and grown by 13 core developers.

However, the coin’s main use cases are still closely tied to the Telegram app, as a source of both communication and crypto trading. Toncoin was the rebranded identity of  Telegram Open Network (TON), the initial project created by Pavel and Nikolai Durov. 

The new open source blockchain carries 4 to 5M monthly active users. More than 1M tokens have been active on the blockchain, driven by the recent boom of meme tokens. 

Also Read: New TON-based app pays users for dating on Telegram

Toncoin has not skipped any of the hottest trends of the past couple of years, including gaming, NFT collections and marketplaces, as well as decentralized finance, trading bots, and meme tokens. Additionally, Toncoin allows for mini-apps with micropayments, adding to the growing supply and usage of USDT. 

The limited listings of TON are compensated through Notcoin (NOT), the newly launched asset that also reflects the activity of the same ecosystem. NOT is listed on Binance and is among the top liquid assets. In the past 24 hours, NOT also defied the market trend to rise by 10% to $0.017.

Also Read: The TON Foundation launches a new ad monetization tool for developers to earn

The Telegram app is currently tied to TON through its ad revenue programs. Projects like Telegram Ads and Adsgram are highly active, delivering up to 8M impressions. With those apps, TON is also based on a banner and video ad economy. 

However, the Telegram app itself is seen as requiring stricter regulation. As soon as Telegram users in the EU exceed 45M, the local regulators may start requiring stricter monitoring under European laws for online content. 

Telegram groups are also a hotbed of activity for scammers, both for rug pull projects and for direct malicious links. But those personal risks are not the main concern of centralized exchanges.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva