TON becomes the exclusive blockchain for Telegram’s mini-apps

The Open Network Foundation expands its partnership with Telegram to drive adoption of the TON blockchain.

In their announcement On January 21, the TON Foundation and Telegram revealed that the TON blockchain will now exclusively support Telegram’s mini-apps.

As part of this growing ecosystem, popular gaming projects are launching on Toncoin (TONNE)-powered by a blockchain. Among the highlights are Tap-to-Earn games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin, which gained popularity on Telegram in 2024.

What does this mean?

With this expanded collaboration, TON has become the blockchain infrastructure for Telegram mini-apps. Applications not currently using TON must migrate to the network by February 21, 2025. Projects choosing to migrate will receive technical support, streamlined user onboarding, and marketing assistance.

The TON Foundation also introduced grants of up to $50,000 in advertising credits to support project migration efforts.

This collaboration is expected to drive further adoption of TON within Telegram’s vast user base of 950 million monthly active users. To facilitate this, TON Connect will become the exclusive wallet for mini apps, except in bridging cases.

The Open Network initially started as the Telegram Open Network in 2017, with Telegram raising $1.7 billion to develop a decentralized blockchain-based platform.

However, following regulatory challenges with the SEC, Telegram abandoned the project in 2020. In 2021, a community of developers revived the initiative by launching the TON blockchain mainnet. By 2023, Telegram and the TON Foundation have partnered to support the growth of the network, with Telegram enabling Toncoin payments.

This partnership marks the start of TON’s next phase of growth, TON Foundation President Manuel Stotz said in a statement.

“Having laid the foundation over the past several years, TON is now poised for explosive growth in 2025. The reinvigorated, deepened and exclusive partnership with Telegram is an important milestone in our roadmap,” noted Stotz.

Growth initiatives include leveraging the TON blockchain for asset tokenization, such as emojis and stickers. Telegram also plans to introduce tokenized gifts on the blockchain via NFTs.