Author: Nancy, PANews

A tweet by Pavel Durov caused an immediate rally in the TON ecosystem.

After being forced to exit and then regaining control, Telegram took six years to return to the TON stage. Behind the slogan “Make TON Great Again,” Telegram has now grown into a billion-level traffic platform, and TON has gained survivability.

Six years later, Telegram regains control of TON

On May 4, Pavel Durov announced that Telegram would replace the TON Foundation, becoming the main driver of TON and the largest validator. This significant news means that TON has officially returned to Telegram's control.

Looking back to 2020, a lawsuit from the SEC forced Telegram to pause TON. After that, TON was taken over by the community and the TON Foundation.

In the past two years, Telegram has gradually integrated TON into its ecosystem through Mini Apps, wallets, etc., and last year established it as the exclusive cooperating blockchain. Now, Telegram has finally transitioned from partner to leader.

In the “Make TON Great Again (MTONGA)” seven-step technical and ecological upgrade plan that Telegram began to lead in April this year, two core upgrades have been implemented so far.

Firstly, the performance of the TON network has significantly improved, with processing speed increased by about tenfold, block production accelerated to six times, and transaction confirmation entering sub-second level; secondly, fees have been further reduced to extremely low levels, with each transaction costing only about 0.00039 TON (approximately 0.05 cents), moving towards being almost free.

The most recent step still revolves around technical optimization. Durov stated clearly that TON’s focus will fully shift to technological advantages and plans to launch a brand-new ton.org website, developer tools, and performance upgrades within the next 2 to 3 weeks, which is also the third step of the MTONGA plan.

This series of technical acceleration is not surprising. The previous network congestion and slow iterations of TON have begun to affect user experience and do not align with Telegram's user scale and product ambitions. Rather than waiting for the TON Foundation to advance, it’s better to take control personally.

Behind the full return, multiple considerations for Telegram

In fact, Telegram's return this time is not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

On one hand, the regulatory environment of the cryptocurrency market has significantly improved, clearing crucial obstacles for Telegram's re-entry and providing more room for development.

On the other hand, Telegram itself has completed the transition from burning money for growth to diversified monetization, establishing stable cash flow through subscriptions, advertisements, and other businesses. In the first half of 2025, its revenue increased by 65% year-on-year to $870 million, providing the funds needed for continuous investment in TON.

Moreover, Telegram's monthly active users have surpassed 1 billion, evolving from a simple communication tool into a super platform integrating social, content, business, and Web3. The natural traffic entrance and rich application scenarios add more confidence to its efforts in TON.

More importantly, TON has become an important part of Telegram’s revenue structure (the exclusive cooperation agreement contributes about $300 million in revenue). However, affected by the price fluctuations of TON, Telegram's profit side is under pressure. Especially under considerations for IPO and debt pressures, Telegram needs to build TON, this core revenue source, into a more stable and sustainable business engine.

In addition, Telegram's takeover also aims to consolidate governance and enhance decision-making efficiency. By becoming the largest validator, Telegram can better promote protocol upgrades, security, and functionality implementation, avoiding uncertainties under the foundation's leadership.

With Durov's strong return, the ecosystem sentiment of TON has been significantly boosted in a short time. As a result, according to Coingecko data, TON rose about 26% in the past 24 hours, with an increase of 72.9% in nearly a month. Meanwhile, the TON ecosystem is also simultaneously warming up, such as the daily increase of over 34.2% in the total market value of MEME coins.

Bound to Telegram, TON's dividends and concerns

Telegram was once the main force behind the full explosion of the TON ecosystem.

Dune data shows that large-scale usage of TON is concentrated between 2024 and 2025, with a transaction volume exceeding $184.29 billion achieved during these two years, accounting for nearly 87% of the historical total transaction volume (about $210.8 billion); the number of transactions reached 2.59 billion, accounting for about 80% of the historical total number of transactions (3.257 billion); in terms of user growth and retention, TON indeed saw a noticeable explosion in the second half of 2024, with daily new and returning wallets once surging to the millions.

This can be attributed to the continuous integration of Telegram with the TON ecosystem during this period, including wallet embedding, the explosive growth of Mini Apps like Notcoin, payment binding, and the official establishment of TON as the exclusive blockchain infrastructure.

However, while the deep binding with Telegram allows TON to reach the public more quickly than most L1s, excessive reliance on a single platform is also deemed likely to hinder the ecosystem from achieving lasting, independent long-term development.

Currently, the TON ecosystem covers several sectors such as infrastructure, payments, DeFi, AI, NFTs, and Mini Apps, but the vast majority are still in the early stages, with core scenarios highly concentrated on two types of applications within the Telegram ecosystem: NFTs and gaming Mini Apps. Among them, NFTs include types such as usernames, anonymous numbers, and gifts, with a cumulative transaction volume exceeding $920 million; revenue-generating gaming Mini Apps exceed 1,300, with over 14 million active addresses.

At the same time, TON's user activity and fund retention are also facing challenges. From Dune and DeFillama data, the number of on-chain users has continuously declined from its peak, falling to levels of a fraction of the peak period; transaction volume and transaction count are also significantly lower than historical highs; TVL has dropped from about $760 million to around $77.17 million.

Moreover, with Telegram becoming the largest validator of TON, although efficiency is improved, it also increases doubts about decentralization. At the same time, the global regulatory pressures faced by Telegram itself are also believed to potentially affect TON users and assets.

Regarding tokens, Telegram had previously sparked market panic by selling large amounts of TON, but Telegram responded by stating that it would limit its own TON holding ratio to about 10%, with excess portions to be sold at a discount to long-term investors, mainly to TONX for long-term holding and staking.

In terms of governance, Durov stated that Telegram's participation actually strengthens the network's decentralization, creating conditions for other major participants to join the validator network, rather than leading the network back towards centralization. Telegram will exist as a balancing force. With increased competition for validation rewards, more TON will be locked for staking in the future.

However, for TON, which has long been sluggish, Telegram's re-entry and Pavel Durov's personal backing have at least rekindled the market's expectations for its growth.

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