Top TON Ecosystem Projects to Watch in 2024

Top TON Ecosystem Projects

The TON ecosystem is home to DeFi projects like DeDust, STON.fi and Tonstakers, GameFi tap-to-earn projects like NotCoin and Hamster Kombat, along with meme coin community projects like Resistance Dog (REDO), TON FISH, and Resistance Girl (REGI)

Key Takeaways

• The Open Network (TON) is a decentralized network built for scalability and flexibility, and boasts extensive integration with Telegram, the popular messaging application. 

• The TON network and its ecosystem have seen exponential growth in 2024, rising in ranks among top blockchain networks in terms of user count, network revenue, and other network activities. It is also one of the busiest blockchain networks with over 6 million daily transactions.

• Projects in the TON ecosystem range from DeFi, GameFi to community projects like meme coins, each contributing significantly to the growth of network activity.

The Open Network (TON) was originally known as the Telegram Open Network, and offers users extensive integration with the popular messaging application. Through Telegram mini-apps, users can manage TON assets and even farm tokens in tap-to-earn games. TON thrives on its agile cost-effective network with reported fast transaction finality and transaction fees as low as 0.037 TON for a smart contract transaction. 

Over the past few months, TON has enjoyed significant growth in general network activity and other metrics related to the project’s adoption. According to data from DefiLlama, TON is the 11th largest chain by TVL, with the interest in the chain taking off in the last quarter. 

According to TonStat, the project’s official network statistics platform, about 42 million wallets have been created on the network; over 90% of these wallets were created in the first half of 2024, and an estimated 387K wallets interact with the network daily. 

In order to grow the TON ecosystem, the TON Foundation has launched grants to support teams in developing products across Telegram Mini Apps (social web3), DeFi, GameFi, and more. To date, the foundation has distributed $1.4 million to over 110 projects. There is also the TON Open League, a long-term incentive program for TON users, developers, and traders. Users can mine tokens through tap-to-earn apps or earn rewards for providing liquidity, while projects can take part in Token Battles for a share of the prize pool – the pool for Season 5 (ending August 7) is $1,150,000 in TON. 

Now, let’s take a look at some of the projects within the TON ecosystem. This list is not exhaustive, and you can find more TON ecosystem projects here.

DeFi Projects on TON

Based on data from TON, the blockchain boasts over $757 million in DeFi TVL, along with daily trading volume of $33.7 million. Here are some DeFi projects on TON including DEXs and liquid staking projects.

DeDust – Largest DEX on TON

Launched on the TON mainnet in November 2022, DeDust is a decentralized exchange on the TON network. As an AMM dex, Dedust is designed to serve trade requests using assets committed to designated liquidity pools. Dedust is the biggest decentralized application on the TON ecosystem with a reported TVL of almost $379 million at the time of writing, according to data from DefiLlama.

In addition to decentralized asset swaps, DeDust also runs a bridging facility that enables users to move their assets between TON and other supported networks. Other utility features on the platform include a decentralized portfolio tracker that keeps a record of assets held in users’ wallets. DeDust also offers passive income opportunities through single-side staking programs and liquidity provider incentives. Depending on the asset(s) for which they provide liquidity, users can enjoy up to 150% APR in the liquidity farming program.

DeDust is powered by SCALE, its native token. SCALE serves primarily as an incentive token, where single-side staking program for SCALE offers a 26% APR at the time of writing. According to DeDust, it supports the staking program by using the protocol’s revenue to buy back SCALE and distribute it to stakers; this revenue includes the 0.4% fee charged for swap transactions. The initial supply of SCALE is 21 million tokens; of these, 20.5% of this supply has been burned, 20% is reserved for the project team, and 25% is dedicated to the ecosystem’s growth. SCALE can be traded on Dedust, STON.fi, and BingX. 

STON.fi: AMM DEX With Direct Integration With TON Wallets

STON.fi is also a permissionless AMM-powered decentralized exchange on the TON ecosystem. Since its launch in 2022, STON.fi has grown to become the second largest DeFi protocol on TON after DeDust, with DefiLlama reporting a TVL of over $305 million at time of writing and TonStat reporting an average of $2 million in daily trading volume.

STON.fi’s decentralized swap facility allows TON network users to exchange their TON coins and jettons with other assets listed on the platform. STON.fi is integrated natively into TON wallets like Tonkeeper to enable easy swaps. It also allows anyone to create a liquidity pool for new and existing tokens to enable trading.

STON.fi also provides cross-chain swap services. This enables users to swap assets across different networks without using bridges. For instance, a user will be able to swap USDT on TON to USDT on the TRON network. According to STON.fi, transactions on the platform are ‘almost’ free. Decentralized swaps attract a 0.3% fee, which is distributed between liquidity providers and the protocol. STON.fi offers passive income opportunities through liquidity farming programs and single-side staking for its native STON token. APR on the liquidity farming program is up to 83% depending on the asset for which the user provided liquidity.

STON.fi is powered by STON, a deflationary token. STON doubles as an incentive and governance token. It is used in promotional programs such as liquidity mining and other reward-based ventures. STON stakers also make up the STON.fi DAO, where DAO members decide on the project’s development by voting on improvement proposals. STON operates a multi-token economy with two additional tokens distributed as staking rewards for STON holders. 

Holders who stake their STON tokens receive GEMSTON and ARKENSTON. ARKENSTON gives the holder voting rights while GEMSTON is used to incentivize active participation in the protocol. The total supply of STON is 100 million, which is split between the project team (14%), DAO treasury (20%), marketing (10%), project operations (10%) and other project-related ventures. STON currently trades on STON.fi and Bitmart exchange. 

Tonstakers: Liquid Staking on TON

Tonstakers is an open-source decentralized liquid staking platform on the TON network. It is the leading staking protocol on the TON network (based on TVL) at the time of writing. Tonstakers enable TON holders to stake their coins on the native consensus staking facility in exchange for a liquid staking derivative token, which lets them re-use their assets on supported DeFi platforms while earning their staking rewards. 

Tonstakers offers over 3% APR in liquid staked TON at the time of writing. According to data from the platform, over 71,000 TON holders have liquid-staked their assets using the platform, with over $260 million in total value locked.

Stakers on Tonstakers receive tsTON – the liquid staking derivative of TON on the platform. tsTON is a yield-bearing token, which accrues rewards over time according to the presiding APY so holders can exit the program with more TON than they staked initially. tsTON can be exchanged for other assets or used on supported platforms for operations like lending, staking, and providing liquidity.

The minimum amount of TON that can be staked on Tonstakers is 1 TON, and staking rewards are distributed every 18 hours. There are no time locks on staked assets, therefore, users are able to enter and exit the staking pool at will. 

According to Tonstakers, the protocol is secure and auditable by individual auditors as it is open source. Additionally, internal audits have been carried out on the protocol’s contracts and also an audit by Certik as reported on the platform. 

Tap-to-Earn Games

Tap-to-earn games are play-to-earn games with gamified click-based activities. Players earn points by tapping on their screen, which may translate to a share of a future crypto airdrop. Due to Telegram’s support for cryptocurrencies and the TON blockchain, tap-to-earn games have a ready-made audience and offer easy deployment for developers. Tap-to-earn games also enjoy support from the TON foundation, with TON Open League sharing a list of tap-to-earn games with free tokens.

Some tap-to-earn games in the TON ecosystem include;

Notcoin – Pioneer Clicker Game on TON

Notcoin was first launched in November 2023 and quickly grew to prominence. It welcomed its first 650,000 users in the first week of launch and grew into a viral project within four months of launch. In January 2024, the project gained over 5 million users. It subsequently earned the support of the TON foundation and became a major player in the TON ecosystem before initial TGE and exchange listings. 

In May 2024, Notcoin was listed officially on several centralized exchanges, after distributing over 80 billion tokens to users and launching at over $900 million market cap. It has since grown to a record high of $2.8 billion in market cap.

At the time of writing, Notcoin has over 40 million users and is famed for onboarding several millions of users to the TON network and Telegram. Notcoin rewards players for performing tasks, which basically involves gamified screen clicker quests and a scoring system. Gamers can also boost their earnings by referring friends to the game, logging into the application regularly, and joining squads. Players initially received shares, which were converted to Notcoin during the token generation event.

Notcoin has also progressed past its initial launch program and is working on initiatives that support the growth of decentralized games and utility applications on the TON network. On July 5, 2024, it announced the public launch of Explore, a feature that rewards users on the TON network for contributing to projects in the ecosystem. Project owners can also list their projects on the platform to gain exposure through incentivized social activities. 

Hamster Kombat – Tap-to-Earn game on TON

Hamster Kombat is one of TON’s most popular tap-to-earn games, riding the wave created by Notcoin. Hamster Kombat has grown in popularity since launching on the TON network on March 25 2024, with a large community, including millions of social media followers and over 50 million subscribers on Telegram as announced by the project.

Hamster Kombat is a classic tap-to-earn game, easily onboarding new users due to its simplicity. Hamster Kombat features screen clicker tasks that reward users with points and leaderboard rankings. The gameplay involves repeatedly tapping on the Hamster and earning points, although the Hamster’s energy depletes as players tap. 

Players progress from normal Hamsters to a Hamster CEO of a virtual centralized exchange. Players can also boost their earnings by inviting their friends, performing social activities, and using booster features like daily combos and in-game upgrades. Hamster Kombat’s gameplay also involves the use of NFTs, where players can trade their Hamster characters’ NFTs on the marketplace.

Like Notcoin, Hamster Kombat has onboarded new users to both the Telegram chat app and the TON network. The game has reportedly netted 239 million users in 81 days, and at least 3 new million users daily. Hamster Kombat also teased its TGE event for the second half of 2024; according to the project’s roadmap, this is set for July 2024. On July 8, 2024, Bybit Exchange announced support for the Hamster Kombat token on its pre-market trading platform. 

Meme Coins on TON

Community-based projects are also thriving on the TON network, with tools like TON’s Memelandia  that simplify the creation of community-based projects on the network, offering users easy token minters and trading platforms.

Sticker-inspired meme coins are a type of meme coins that is unique to the TON network, as seen in REDO and REGI. 

Notable meme coin projects on TON include;

Resistance Dog (REDO) – A Tribute to Telegram and Pavel Durov’s Fight Against Online Censorship

Resistance Dog was launched on January 9, 2024, by an anonymous developer. The project references the stance of Telegram and TON blockchain’s founder Pavel Durov on online censorship. Its primary brand item is a cartoon image of a dog in a hood – Resistance Dog – and the symbol of digital resistance.

Like other meme coins, REDO thrives on community activities and marketing strategies powered by group efforts and regular contributions by social media KOLs. The REDO community hopes to create a community united by the idea of digital resistance and focused on empowering a group of people who believe in the possibility of a balanced society and the internet as a level playground.

In their own words,

“$REDO has created a holistic community - one that unapologetically voices its opinions while borrowing from Pavel Durov’s vision to overthrow the regime, with the help of memes. $REDO is intended to prove that decentralization, memes, and decensorship can propel a community on TON – THE OPEN NETWORK to reach new heights, similar to flagship tokens on other blockchains.”

The total supply of REDO is 100 million; the project kicked off via a fair launch and is run by the REDO community. REDO can be traded on decentralized exchanges on TON (STON.fi and Dedust) it is also listed on centralized exchanges like Lbank and CoinEX. 

TON Fish (FISH) – TON-Based Meme Coin and NFT Ecosystem

TON FISH brands itself as the first non-foundation social meme coin in the TON ecosystem. It aims to create exposure and onboard new users to the TON ecosystem. TON FISH is a multi-project ecosystem powered by the FISH meme coin. Like other meme coin projects, FISH is marketed by the TON FISH community and branded with fish-themed imagery and puns. The TON Fish ecosystem also houses a handful of other projects. These projects include:

TON FISH BOX – an NFT collection featuring 9,999 images of fish and TON branded boxes. TON FISH BOX trades at a floor price of 3.9 TON at the time of writing. According to TON FISH, it is the first NFT with a function for upgrades.

Deleted Ghost Club (DGC) Boxes – an NFT collection of 99 images of cartoon ghost and fish-branded boxes trading at a floor price of 107 TON at the time of writing.

TON Rock – Regarded as the first on-chain rock created on the TON blockchain. It is an NFT collection of 2023 graphic images of rocks. It trades at a floor price of 490 TON at the time of writing.

The TON FISH team is also working on releasing TON Pet, a mini tap-to-earn game on the TON Blockchain.

The FISH meme coin can be traded on decentralized exchanges on the TON blockchain and centralized exchanges like Bitget and XT.COM. 

Resistance Girl (REGI): Tribute to Resistance Girl Telegram Sticker Pack

Winner of the token category for season 4 of the TON Open League, Resistance Girl (REGI) is a meme coin that pays homage to the popular Resistance Girl Telegram sticker pack. REGI takes a leaf from the Resistance Dog meme coin and shares the same ideology. It uses the Resistance Girl as a representation of opposition to online censorship. REGI was launched in a fair launch on March 14, 2024, with a total supply of 100 million.

REGI can be traded on decentralized exchanges on the TON blockchain.

Final Thoughts

TON’s relationship with the Telegram messaging application helps to drive its exposure to the latter’s audience, and with an easy onboarding process, including wallets that offer access to TON from within the messaging application, it’s easy for Telegram users to get started exploring the TON blockchain.

The TON Foundation’s focus on building a strong ecosystem is another major factor, with grants and the TON Open League offering incentives to applications on the blockchain. TON is home to viral projects like tap-to-earn games, appealing to both crypto-natives and mainstream users. Over the course of the article, we’ve looked at a variety of projects in the TON ecosystem. However, this list is not exhaustive, and is only meant to serve as an introduction to the TON ecosystem and the types of projects within. 

Always do your own research before investing time and money in any blockchain project, and remember that cryptocurrencies (especially meme coins) are volatile. Finally, note that this article is only for informational purposes and should not be taken as financial and investment advice.