#Ethereum remains the main infrastructure for #defi and smart contracts, but has yet to deliver on its main promise—mass adoption. Almost ten years later, Ethereum-based applications remain too complex, fragmented, and expensive for the average user.
The Open Network is betting on a completely different scenario, which is already beginning to materialize within Telegram.
With an audience of over 900 million, Telegram remains the largest point of contact for the crypto community today. $TON is the only network deeply integrated directly into this messenger. This is not just about launching apps on the blockchain, but about making technologies #Web3 work in the background and feel like a familiar part of the interface.
From concept to cultural phenomenon
$TON emerged in 2018 as a project to integrate blockchain into the Telegram messenger. The network spent a long time building its infrastructure and ecosystem before taking a noticeable place in the market.
By 2024, the growth of TON usage has become almost parabolic. The integration of Tether gave an additional boost. In May, the company launched the USDt stablecoin on this blockchain network.
This year, TON has secured its position as an important element in the multi-chain space. The March wallet update added support for trading and staking TON for over 100 million Telegram Wallet users. Over the past two years, the network has introduced key infrastructure services: TON DNS, TON Storage, and TON Proxy. They provide the operation of decentralized domains, storage, and privacy tools.
Today, TON confidently fulfills its promise to leverage the vast Telegram user base for a smooth introduction of millions of users into Web3 in a familiar Web2 format. More than 150 million accounts have been created on the network, with an average of about 2 million transactions per day, and the number of active monthly wallets also remains around 2 million. The figures are impressive, but they do not yet make TON the most popular blockchain ecosystem.
What sets TON apart
TON does not sell users an ecosystem. It provides them with familiar tools under which cryptocurrency operates. The Telegram Wallet, available today to millions of people around the world, transforms tokens from speculative assets into real means for use directly in chats, channels, games, and P2P services.
What awaits the future of cryptocurrencies and their everyday application? Everything will become simpler. Most current barriers—gas fees, storing private keys, and other technical complexities—will fade into the background. This doesn't even require predictions. The history of the internet's development has already shown that Web3 will follow the path of Web2: better user experience, deep integration, and unification of services in one interface.
The next wave of blockchains aimed at the mass user will be led by networks that eliminate unnecessary complexity: no convoluted registration, fast, cheap, and deeply integrated into familiar Web2 platforms.
Neither Ethereum with its long-standing scalability issues nor the so-called next-generation blockchains, which lack distribution channels, meet these requirements. Today, only TON, natively integrated into the Telegram messenger with its billion-strong audience, addresses all these points.
This brings us back to Mini Apps, a key factor in the mass distribution of TON. The main advantage of this network over its competitors is the native integration with the Telegram audience. Apps like Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, and Catizen bring millions of people into Web3, many of whom may not even realize they are already using blockchain infrastructure. These are true stress tests of what a scalable and user-friendly Web3 can be without unnecessary barriers.
Ethereum has been promising since 2018 to attract the next billion users, while TON is simply doing it—meme by meme, micropayment by micropayment, with a single tap. For comparison, Ethereum applications like Uniswap or Aave require browser extensions, seed phrases, and an understanding of gas fee mechanics—all of which remain insurmountable obstacles for the average user. Even faster networks like Solana and BNB Chain, despite high TVL figures, rely on external wallets and complex entry schemes into Web3. TON completely removes these barriers.
A new standard of behavior
The growth of TON coincides with a global shift in the crypto industry. Trust in traditional platforms is gradually declining, and user interest is shifting towards ecosystems that provide self-control over assets, compatibility, and a convenient user experience.
While second-layer solutions and rollup networks compete for the scalability of Ethereum, TON is building what most first-layer blockchains lack—a native, everyday interface directly within Telegram.
The wide crypto community is also tired of overloaded interfaces, high volatility, and convoluted processes for entering Web3. TON, on the other hand, is riding the wave of popularity of Mini Apps—a format that originated in Asia on platforms like WeChat and is now becoming a global standard for behavior. The ability to integrate cryptocurrency into users' daily habits gives the network a unique advantage in the mobile environment.
Moreover, TON has already proven its resilience. Even after the arrest of Pavel Durov in 2024, the platform continued to operate without interruption—this demonstrated its level of decentralization. Telegram has also begun preparing for any emergencies so that the network's infrastructure does not depend on a single control center.
TON can set a new direction for blockchain
Where will the current growth lead? If the pace continues, by 2026, TON could reach 2.6 million active users per day, and by 2027 exceed 10 million. For comparison, just two years ago this figure was less than 40,000. Ethereum hovers around 420,000 active accounts per day, while Solana's rapid growth to 5 million is mainly explained by massive airdrops and a boom in meme coins.
TON is unlikely to become the largest network by user count as soon as next year, but its development is structured differently. While Solana grows through speculation and bonuses, TON relies on transfers, gaming mechanics, and payments repeated millions of times right within the Telegram interface.
There is no other application as closely tied to the crypto industry as Telegram. It ranks among the top four largest messengers in the world and remains the only one with native blockchain support. And the blockchain on which its Mini Apps operate is TON. No other network has such reach, which is why when it comes to the future of mass blockchain adoption, all roads lead to TON.
If TON manages to establish itself in the US market, the network could attract millions of new users who are currently in ecosystems like WhatsApp and Facebook. The American market remains one of the most competitive and tightly regulated in the crypto sphere, but TON has a significant advantage—a seamless user experience, a mobile format, and deep integration with Telegram.
Positioning itself as a platform for creators, micropayments, and native monetization, TON can open up a segment where Ethereum previously dominated and which many other networks have simply ignored.
By 2027, Ethereum will likely remain the main player in the DeFi segment, while Solana will continue to dominate in liquidity and on-chain trading. But TON is taking a different path. If the network maintains its current pace, it could occupy a unique place—becoming a blockchain integrated into daily online services that operates unnoticed but is present in almost every user action.