Despite current challenges, the outlook for The Open Network (TON) remains positive. That’s according to Steve Yun, former president of TON Foundation and CEO of TVM Ventures, in comments to The Block.

The blockchain tied to Telegram saw a rapid surge in popularity thanks to the launch of Mini Apps, including tap-to-earn games. This was followed by a sharp decline in activity and a 70% drop in TON’s market cap—from a $25 billion peak down to $7.3 billion.

Yun pointed to the impact of Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s detainment on market sentiment. Still, he emphasized that TON’s price didn’t collapse to zero, which signals the resilience and independence of the growing ecosystem.

He noted that the tap-to-earn hype had a “limited” wealth effect, but it triggered numerous new experiments and preserved TON’s social momentum.

To improve developer adoption, the team is preparing two new programming languages—Tolk and Tact.

TON is ran poorly on the marketing and governance front. It was the TON community that pushed Aqua Protocol and PocketFi to the limelight. But the TON Foundation pumped attention and money into Blum… Blum is not even a TON project it's a multichain project that adds zero value… https://t.co/xfsgXaFPtf
— 𝓛𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓓𝓻𝓮𝔂 👑 (@HommiesDrey) December 31, 2024

Yun also acknowledged TON Foundation’s favoritism toward certain Mini Apps. Community members have noted that some apps receive preferential visibility in Telegram Wallet over others that may be more popular among users.

He called this issue “critical” and in need of a solution for TON’s long-term future.

The Open Platform (TOP), the company behind the Telegram wallet, is currently developing new aggregation mechanisms to make the product ecosystem more open and democratic.

Advertising

Yun named irrelevant advertising in Telegram as a major obstacle to ecosystem growth.

“We need the right balance. Without an effective way to showcase a product […] conversion takes way longer than it should. We’re making advertising optional,” he explained.

If users opt in, they’ll be able to earn rewards in Toncoin.

Expansion and Development

In the coming years, TON will focus on building out its payment infrastructure and expanding the Mini App ecosystem.

Yun highlighted the importance of listing the native token on local exchanges and adding a stablecoin to the network.

He estimated that $20 million will be allocated toward DeFi liquidity support within the TON ecosystem through the end of the year.

As a reminder, in January, TON Foundation elected a new president and announced a strategic push into the U.S. market. In December 2024, developers from TOP launched the non-custodial TON Space wallet for the ecosystem.