In 2024, there were 36.2 million cryptocurrency wallets created on The Open Network (TON)—a 55-fold increase in the year-over-year metric. According to an ecosystem developers’ report, the total number of Toncoin holders has surpassed 100 million.

Data shows that up to 40 million monthly active addresses and smart contracts have collectively operated in the network.

Surpassing Competitors

By June 2024, TON outperformed Base, BNB Chain, and other blockchains in terms of active addresses. On most days, it also surpassed Ethereum in daily active wallets (averaging 1.8 million).

Key drivers of user-base growth include the launch of USDt on TON, expansion of the TON DeFi ecosystem, and rising popularity of social gaming as a user-acquisition model.

Eight months after USDt’s debut, the net turnover in the USDt-TON ecosystem exceeded $1.2 billion, with 3.5 million wallets conducting 26 million transactions worth $39.6 billion.

TVL rose from $13.5 million to a peak of $776 million, spurred by significant inflows from other networks. Transaction volumes ranged between $5 billion and $10 billion.

Developer Incentives, Gaming, and Telegram Stars

The Open League incentive program has run for eight seasons in 2024, distributing over $26 million among more than 240 projects.

Web3 games turned into one of the most popular categories of mini-apps on Telegram. The Notcoin airdrop, totaling over $2.2 billion, ranked among the top five largest of the past year.

Subsequent airdrops from DOGS, Catizen, Hamster Kombat, Major, and other projects saw hundreds of millions of total participants (including exchange wallets).

Over 1.19 million users purchased Telegram Stars—an in-game currency—for $63 million. More than 1700 mini-app developers and content creators withdrew $55 million in earnings.

Major Investors in TON

Key backers of the TON ecosystem in 2024 include:

Pantera Capital — undisclosed “record” amount, joined as a validator.
Mirana Ventures — $8 million plus long-term partnership with TON Foundation.
Bybit — collaboration with TON Accelerator for cross-chain initiatives.
OKX Ventures — $5 million in TON Ventures.
Bitget and Foresight Ventures — $30 million to support Telegram-based projects.
Animoca Brands — ecosystem support, game launches.

Upcoming Goals

Developers plan to deepen Telegram integration via the TON Connect gateway, roll out the TON Teleport Bitcoin bridge, release tokenized stickers and gifts, and expand into the U.S. market.

Context

On January 21, Telegram and TON Foundation announced an exclusive deal requiring all integrated Web3 apps to use The Open Network exclusively.