The Open Network (TON) was originally known as the Telegram Open Network and provides users with deep integration with the popular messaging app Telegram. Through the Telegram applet, users can manage TON assets and even mine tokens in the "Tap to Earn" game. TON relies on its flexible and cost-effective network to operate, with fast transaction confirmation times and smart contract transaction fees as low as 0.037 TON. According to TonStat, the official TON network statistics platform, about 42 million wallets have been created on the network; more than 90% of these wallets were created in the first half of 2024, and about 387,000 wallets are expected to interact with the network every day.
According to data from DefiLlama, TON’s total locked value (TVL) reached a peak of around US$800 million in July, and has now declined to around US$410 million. So will TON be able to continue to make progress? Let’s take a look at the top projects in different tracks of its ecosystem today.
Currently, the first-ranked tvl is Tonstakers, which is a liquidity staking platform. The second is ston.fi and Dedust, which are dex. The fourth is also liquidity staking, and the fifth is rwa, so defi projects still occupy more than 80% of the volume.
DeFi projects on TON
1.Tonstakers
As of now, Tonstakers offers an annualized rate of return (APR) of over 4% for liquid staking of TON. According to the platform’s data, over 71,000 TON holders have liquid staked through the platform, with a total locked value of over $200 million.
Users who stake on Tonstakers will receive tsTON, a liquid staked derivative of TON on the platform. tsTON is a yield token that accumulates rewards over time based on the current annualized yield (APY), so holders will receive more TON than they initially staked when they exit. tsTON can be redeemed for other assets or used on supported platforms for operations such as lending, staking, and providing liquidity.
On Tonstakers, the minimum amount of TON that can be staked is 1 TON, and staking rewards are distributed every 18 hours. There is no time lock on staked assets, so users can enter and exit the staking pool at any time.
Tonstakers claims that its protocol is secure and auditable by individuals as it is open source. In addition, the platform has also conducted an internal audit and passed an audit by Certik according to the report.
2.Ston.fi
STON.fi is also a permissionless, AMM-powered decentralized exchange in the TON ecosystem. Since its launch in 2022, STON.fi has quickly grown to become the second largest DeFi protocol on TON, second only to DeDust. According to DefiLlama, STON.fi's total locked value (TVL) exceeds $195 million, while TonStat reports that its daily trading volume averages about $2 million.
STON.fi’s decentralized exchange feature allows TON network users to exchange TON tokens and jettons for other assets on the platform. STON.fi is also natively integrated with TON wallets such as Tonkeeper, allowing users to conduct fast transactions. In addition, anyone can create a liquidity pool for new or existing tokens, enabling trading capabilities.
STON.fi also offers a cross-chain asset exchange service, allowing users to exchange assets between different networks without bridging. For example, users can exchange USDT on the TON network for USDT on the TRON network. According to STON.fi, transactions on the platform are almost free. Decentralized exchanges charge a 0.3% fee, which is distributed to liquidity providers and the protocol. STON.fi also provides passive income opportunities through a liquidity mining program and unilateral staking of its native token, STON. The annualized rate of return (APR) of the liquidity mining program can reach 83%, depending on the asset for which the user provides liquidity.
3.Dedust
DeDust was launched on the TON mainnet in November 2022 and is a decentralized exchange on the TON network. As an automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange, DeDust processes trading requests through designated liquidity pools. According to DefiLlama data, DeDust is the largest decentralized application in the TON ecosystem, with a current total locked value (TVL) of nearly $150 million.
In addition to decentralized asset exchange, DeDust also provides cross-chain bridge services, allowing users to transfer assets between TON and other supported networks. Other practical features of the platform include a decentralized portfolio tracker that records the assets in users' wallets. DeDust also provides users with the opportunity to earn passive income through a unilateral staking program and a liquidity provider incentive program. Depending on the asset class for which users provide liquidity, they can enjoy up to 150% annualized rate of return (APR) in the liquidity mining program.
DeDust is backed by its native token, SCALE. SCALE is primarily used as an incentive token, and its unilateral staking program currently offers an annualized rate of return (APR) of 26%. According to DeDust, the staking program is supported by using the protocol's revenues to buy back SCALE and distribute it to stakers; these revenues include 0.4% fees collected on exchange transactions. The initial supply of SCALE is 21 million, of which 20.5% has been destroyed, 20% is reserved for the project team, and 25% is used for ecosystem growth. SCALE is tradable on DeDust, STON.fi, and BingX.
4. Blockchain game Hamster Kombat
The biggest click-to-play game is definitely not, but not has been mentioned before, let’s take a look at another one, Hamster Kombat.
Hamster Kombat is one of the most popular “tap to earn” games on the TON network, benefiting from the Notcoin craze. Since its launch on the TON network on March 25, 2024, Hamster Kombat has continued to grow in popularity and has a large community, including millions of social media followers and more than 50 million Telegram subscribers announced by the project.
Hamster Kombat also uses the same click-and-play gameplay mechanism as notcoin. The game provides users with points and leaderboard rankings through screen click tasks. Players gain points by continuously clicking on the hamster, but as the number of clicks increases, the hamster's energy will gradually deplete.
Players can gradually upgrade from ordinary hamsters to hamster CEOs of virtual centralized exchanges. Players can also increase their income by inviting friends, completing social activities, and using enhancements such as daily combos and in-game upgrades. The game also involves the use of NFTs, and players can trade NFTs of their hamster characters on the market.
Similar to Notcoin, Hamster Kombat has successfully attracted new users to the Telegram chat application and the TON network. The game reportedly attracted 239 million users in 81 days, with at least 3 million new users per day. Hamster Kombat also previewed its Token Generation Event (TGE) in the second half of 2024, which is scheduled for July 2024 according to the project roadmap. On July 8, 2024, the Bybit exchange announced support for the Hamster Kombat token to be launched on its pre-market trading platform.
5.Meme coin
Resistance Dog was launched on January 9, 2024 by an anonymous developer. The project references Telegram and TON blockchain founder Pavel Durov's stance on online censorship. Its main brand image is a cartoon dog wearing a hoodie - Resistance Dog, a symbol of digital resistance.
Similar to other meme coins, REDO thrives on community activities and group efforts and marketing strategies regularly contributed by social media KOLs. The REDO community hopes to build a community united under the concept of digital resistance, focusing on empowering those who believe in social balance and fairness on the Internet.
The total supply of REDO is 100 million, and the project is fair launched and managed by the REDO community. REDO can be traded on TON's decentralized exchanges (STON.fi and Dedust), and is also listed on centralized exchanges such as Lbank and CoinEX.
In summary, although the overall growth is indeed good, there is still a big gap between the overall DeFi sector and the big brother ETH. This wave has brought popularity to the NOT series, and the NOT series has brought popularity to the mini-game series on TON, but this will not save TON. Currently, TVL has also been cut in half. If the ecosystem wants to be strong, it still has to rely on DeFi. All the leading DeFi platforms must be able to compete with the second-tier platforms on ETH.
