From the crazy Notcoin to the popular Tap to earn game mode in the crypto community, the TON ecosystem has grown rapidly from obscurity to a super public chain with a value of hundreds of millions. Without adding additional user migration costs, by leveraging Telegram's existing social network, TON has reconstructed the Web2 business model in a Web3 way.
In this exclusive interview, LBank Labs invited Kenny, head of TON's Asia-Pacific ecosystem growth, to discuss in depth TON's development expectations, support plans, and token controversies, interpret the current status of the TON ecosystem, and answer market questions to help users better understand the current status of the TON market.
The following is the interview transcript, compiled by LBank:
LBank: First of all, we welcome Kenny, the head of TON's Asia-Pacific ecological growth, to visit LBank for our exclusive interview. Notcoin is very popular now. Since its launch, it has increased by 329.6%, and its market value is as high as 2466M, ranking 54th in market value, which has ignited the market's unprecedented expectations for the TON ecosystem. In this regard, does the development of notcoin meet your expectations?
Kenny: It basically met expectations. Although there were some technical hiccups during the whole process, the overall goal was achieved, and it was a great start for the ecological project. Of course, Notcoin’s journey is far from over, and subsequent developments are also worth looking forward to. In recent public sharing sessions, Sasha, the founder of Notcoin, also disclosed some roadmap information.
LBank: What is the current status of the TON ecosystem and what are its main applications? Please share with us.
Kenny: "All kinds of frosts compete for freedom." The current overall ecological situation, as well as on-chain data including TVL, have seen very significant multiple-level growth, and many public articles have been studied, so I will not share them repeatedly.
Among them, it is worth mentioning the vision and goal of the TON Foundation - "Let 30% of TG users hold and trade virtual assets by 2028" for sharing. I personally understand that holding and trading are two independent and progressive actions.
For TG users who are not web3 native, how can we enable them to achieve this path of conversion? The answer is wallets and applications (applets). Wallets are the carriers of conversion power, and the power of this conversion is the various self-growing applications backed by the TG ecosystem. Such applications are often strong web2 attributes, user-friendly, interesting, and valuable, such as small games, tools, entertainment, etc. Through interaction, these users can start to hold virtual assets (the simplest is tap to earn). Behind this are not only opportunities for 2C applications, but also opportunities for 2B applications.
Next, how to enable these users who hold virtual assets (including not only those converted from web2, but also web3 native) to start trading virtual assets requires relying on the basic ecology of our TON chain, the construction and development of various Defi, cross-chain bridges, CEX, NFT transactions, Meme and other fields, to promote the distribution and liquidity of assets together.
LBank: With 1 billion Telegram users, what tools or innovative applications are more widely accepted in enabling web2 users to seamlessly enter the web3 world? Can you give a detailed introduction to the efforts and support plans currently made by the TON Foundation in this area?
Kenny: Regarding which tools or innovative applications are more accepted, people in this circle are actually very good at collecting information. Some third-party platforms and public articles can also be used as references (for details, see LBank Research Institute: TON "Fission" Moment | Code the Future Traffic Entrance from the Trend). The efforts and support made at the foundation level have been very impressive in terms of quantity and intensity, including advertising incentives, grants, investments, etc.
I would like to emphasize that the Open League, the most important ecological support program of the foundation this year, will airdrop a total of $150 million worth of TON tokens to participating projects as rewards. It can be understood as setting up a stage for performance. Our foundation sets up the stage, and various project parties come to compete. We will set up several tracks, such as defi, mini programs, etc., and use a series of data indicators to get the comprehensive score of the project party. The higher the ranking, the more airdrops will be. What is more interesting is that we originally planned to have a season of 3 months, but later the speed of ecological development allowed us to compress the cycle to one month per season, and recently it has been compressed to half a month per season.
LBank: Currently, a large number of ecosystems have begun to be built on TON, especially mini games based on Notcoin. However, we have also noticed that there are still very few financial products such as DEX and lending that can absorb huge amounts of funds. Even the top ones are still not attractive enough, and the number of developers is far behind that of other public chains. In view of this situation, what may be the reason for TON TVL to be in a rather embarrassing situation? In this regard, does the TON Foundation have a practical ecological plan to solve the current dilemma?
Kenny: First of all, we cannot use traditional public chain value evaluation criteria to evaluate TON. TON is a very unique public chain, not just the financial effect of assets. The core value of TON lies in its close integration with Telegram, which provides TON with a unique user entrance and application scenario. Therefore, we prefer to measure the success of the ecosystem from aspects such as user base, transaction volume and DApps protocol revenue.
Secondly, since TON is still in a relatively early stage of development compared to other mature public chains (it was delayed for a long time due to the lawsuit with the SEC), the maturity of the developer community and financial products is still being gradually established. Recently, we have also contacted many project parties who plan to deploy in this direction.
In addition, through the many actions at the foundation level that I introduced earlier, we have also achieved good performance in TVL, with a monthly growth rate of 85%. I believe we are on a good momentum.
LBank: At this year’s dubai TOKEN2049 conference, TON announced that Tether would issue USDT on TON. What does this mean for the entire ecosystem?
Kenny: First of all, the integration of native USDT will simplify the transaction process for users on the TON chain, improve the liquidity and convenience of funds. Compared with the USDT or TRC-20 assets that were previously cross-chained through the ETH network, native USDT avoids complex cross-chain steps and potential security risks, and enhances transaction efficiency and security.
In addition, the access to native USDT is expected to attract more transactions and developers to join the TON ecosystem. As a widely accepted stablecoin, the direct support of USDT on TON can lower the entry threshold for users and developers. At the same time, the TON Foundation cooperates with exchanges to launch a zero-cost interaction model to further promote the circulation and acceptance of USDT on TON.
This deep integration not only enhances the functionality of the TON blockchain, but may also become a key factor in promoting its widespread adoption, providing stable currency support for various applications and services on the TON chain, and enhancing the vitality and attractiveness of the entire ecosystem. The data results achieved since the launch have exceeded the expectations of both parties, which is also obvious to all.
LBank: In the economic model of TON tokens, it grows at a rate of about 0.6% per year (about 3 million tokens), and most of the early TON tokens were controlled by miners. Its decentralization has been questioned a lot. What measures have the TON team and foundation taken to manage this situation?
Kenny: It should be noted that the TON Foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to promote and support the TON community's initiatives on the practicality and ecosystem of the TON blockchain. It is not the original issuer of the tokens. We also rely on public on-chain data for analysis.
To address this issue, first, based on a decentralized community vote, about 21% of inactive miners' wallets were locked until 2027. In addition, the community launched the TON Believers Fund, in which about 26% of the total supply of tokens are currently staked.
Finally, The Open League project aims to promote the decentralization of supply by distributing Toncoin to community members and projects. From a web2 perspective, another initiative is Telegram's advertising platform, which rewards channel owners with Toncoin from advertising revenue. Through these measures, including but not limited to the above, nearly 47% of the total supply has been locked, making a positive contribution to improving the decentralization of TON and promoting the healthy development of the ecosystem.
