TON is being renamed to GRAM

I've already discussed the reasons and implications. After 4 years with TON, I've become adept at reading Pavel Durov's behavior.

A proposal was made on TON Vote to rename the network's native token from Toncoin to Gram, and change the ticker from TON to GRAM. The vote was initiated by Telegram itself, and Durov later announced the renaming.

However, the blockchain itself will not be renamed. TON will remain TON (The Open Network), only the coin's name will change. If you currently have 10 TON, after the update, they will be the same 10 GRAM.

There will be no swaps, migrations, bridges, or conversions. Addresses, smart contracts, NFTs, staking, DeFi positions, and balances will remain unchanged. Wallets, explorers, exchanges, and other services will gradually update the token display.

As we know, the vote on TON Vote will surely gather more than 50% of the votes, because who owns the TON being voted with?!

⚠️ It's important to understand: no action is required from users. If someone offers to "exchange TON for GRAM," "receive new tokens," or undergo any migration after the vote, they are scammers.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Decentralization à la Durov

Pavel Durov plays a double game...

First, he criticizes Apple for its monopoly and for deciding which apps can stay in the App Store. Yet, Telegram removes mini-apps from other blockchains unless they use TON as their primary cryptocurrency for $300M.

Then, he claims that TON is becoming highly decentralized and welcomes new validators. However, he raises the minimum threshold for validation participation to 1M TON. Small businesses and DeFi projects in TON are already struggling, and such decisions only make it harder for them.

Today, Hipo Finance announced they dropped out of the validation cycle. The reason is simple - a major holder (TON Foundation) withdrew funds, and the project no longer meets the minimum TON requirements.

Meanwhile, Tonstakers, led by Durov's friend, profit from commissions and validation, making it increasingly difficult for independent players to compete.

For context: Tonstakers' yield is currently 14.55%, while Hipo's reached 17.88% in the same cycle. The difference in yield is someone's extra earnings, and we know whose As of today, Hipo remains one of the most profitable staking options in the TON ecosystem.

If you care, let's fight monopolization. Move your TON to Hipo. They need about 400K TON to return to the validation cycle, after which maximum yield will be available again.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Why TON Smells Like GRAM Again

Pavel Durov remains silent, yet people keep asking me about TON's future, as if I know

But if you look closely, an interesting picture emerges.

TON Foundation is gradually being dismantled. There's information that the Swiss prosecutor's office is interested in the foundation's structure: a fictitious office, massive financial turnover for a non-profit, and suspicious activities 😳

This isn't the first warning sign. During the Open League era, TON Foundation freely distributed millions of TON for "activity," only to suddenly demand contracts and KYC from projects weeks later. It seems Swiss authorities quickly pointed out that such actions don't go unnoticed.

When the pressure became too intense, Manuel Stotz abruptly left for another company, leaving Max Crown to deal with the aftermath. But it seems there was little point in maintaining the structure, so together with Durov, they decided to gradually close the whole story.

The layoffs were telling. First, they removed the most public figures: Alena, Dima, Viktor. Next, likely, will be less visible employees. And remember, we're talking about hundreds of people.

If TON Foundation is under scrutiny, it's logical to assume The Open Platform (TOP) will be next. Things aren't perfect there either.

Recently, Wallet (TON Space) was renamed to Crypto Wallet, and today, to further confuse users, it's being renamed to DeFi Account. Here's an interesting twist.

Previously, TON Foundation paid Telegram hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Wallet placement and integration. But if TON Foundation no longer exists as a full-fledged structure, there's no one to pay. It feels like Telegram is gradually taking Wallet back.

Overall, if everything is reverting, TON might be turned into GRAM and achieve that native Telegram integration discussed years ago. Without intermediaries, foundations, or "independent" organizations.

But then the main question arises: who will manage all this?

Steve Yun has stepped away from TON. Ilya Perekopsky is busy elsewhere. Dmitry Eremeev likely doesn't want the headlines. Andrey Rogozov has enough projects - Tonkeeper, tonapi, Mira. Which public friends are left? Roxman vanished after the Major and Portals stories. From the old trusted team, almost no one remains. The only somewhat logical candidate is Anton Tsivarev, but his achievements aren't impressive. In three years as VP of Development at TON Foundation, nothing extraordinary was seen. At least he responded in chats, unlike Makosov and Emelyanenko

Oleg Seydak might return to the public eye (I haven't mentioned him before). He was the CEO of the Swiss company Gram Vault, which stored GRAM (TON) and was the only trading platform for selling not-yet-launched Gram tokens directly from legal investors. According to my information, he still manages a vast amount of TON and allocates millions for ecosystem development, like for the RSquad team

Back to the point.

Amidst all this, Durov's silence and missed deadlines are particularly odd. The 2-3 weeks of the third phase he mentioned have passed with no news. TON has returned to $1.8, as I previously noted, while Telegram posts jokes on X about other companies instead of explanations

At some point, it seems like Telegram is turning into a meme company, and TON into its meme coin. Bullish.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

TON's rise seems too convenient

TON soars by +25%, and suddenly a swarm of believers in a $20 TON emerges . But if you look deeper, this surge doesn't seem like a newfound faith in the ecosystem.

Funding was heavily negative (-56%), with too many shorts, and the market was already anticipating further decline. Right at this moment, news breaks: sharding update and a new analytics tool for developers at builders.ton.org.

The timing is just too perfect to shake out the short-sellers and restore hope.

Yet, TON's main issue remains unresolved. It's never been about speed, sharding, or fees. The problem is that TON is one of the most developer-unfriendly blockchains among major ecosystems.

Complex architecture, odd standards, weak tools, and a perpetual sense that TON exists in its own crypto universe. While other networks have been advancing DeFi and privacy, TON has been losing time, people, and solid products over the years.

Only now is there an attempt to fix this. But it seems more like an urgent repair of something that's been breaking for years.

Meanwhile, they're liquidating short-sellers and making profits 😂. We'll likely drop back to $1.8, Pavel will mention the fourth point, and the cycle will repeat.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

TON Revives in an Old Pattern

It seems the main sign of TON's revival isn't the rise of TON or Pavel Durov's posts, but rather the return of hackers, scammers, and traders to the ecosystem

While everyone was discussing Acton, the new AI-ready toolchain for TON, several amusing incidents occurred in the network over the week:
• Fake USDT on Getgems that looked genuine.
• A $2.5M hack of the TAC bridge (funds were returned by the hacker).
• Pepekton with the classic "raised presale and vanished" act.

Amusingly, all this happened alongside a surge in TON activity.

During the hype around Pavel Durov's posts, trading volumes via TON bots soared above 4M TON per day. It seemed like a new life for the ecosystem. But just a week later, volumes dropped about tenfold. Dtrade fell from 2.1M TON to ~220k, Maestro nearly died, and other bots followed suit.

It turns out TON's old problem hasn't disappeared. The ecosystem is great at generating hype but struggles to sustain it. Hype, pump, a bunch of new tokens, and then emptiness again a week later.

Honestly, even the wave of scams and hacks now seems more like a positive signal. When there's no money in the network, no one bothers to write exploits, test bridges, or create fake tokens for TON. It's too complicated and pointless.

Now, it's clear that interest in the ecosystem is reemerging. With liquidity comes not only developers but also the rest of the crypto market's wildlife

The main challenge now is for TON to finally learn how to retain people for more than a week, and so far, it's not doing well.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

15 AI Agents and Nearly a Million in Volume

Whale currently stands out as one of the few projects genuinely trying to apply AI, rather than just slapping an "AI" label on a banner.

While some use Claude and Cursor to find bugs in smart contracts, break bridges, and earn bug bounties, others have taken a more entertaining route—sending AI to play Whale

Whale recently concluded its MCP campaign, featuring over 15 AI agents that collectively generated more than $900k in volume. This is cyberludpunk at its finest.

In addition to the AI activities, they are also hosting tournaments and events with substantial prizes (one as high as $50K), where participants can earn rewards not only for playing but also for referrals. I keep saying that referrals are becoming one of the most valuable assets. When traffic picks up again, these bases will start generating the main revenue.

So, in TON, there are currently two paths:
* hunt for bugs and earn bug bounties
* or make AI play Whale

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

While Durov Awaits Developers, Scammers Arrive

The release of Acton seemed like it should be positive news, expected by Pavel Durov to attract many developers. However, as usual, loopholes are being sought through AI for profit.

Recently, a schoolboy used Claude Code to find a critical bug in the blockchain and received $4000 from TON Core through a bug bounty program. And just last night, a method was discovered to use fake USDT, which some projects mistakenly consider real.

A sad story unfolded with a Chinese investor who lost over $400K, believing he was selling an anonymous number for real USDT, but ended up with worthless tokens. The description of how this works can be read here, and it's not a new method; it's been around for a while, but Acton made it possible to execute without additional knowledge.

Personally, I believe that without hackathons, grants, favorable conditions, and convincing success stories, new developers simply won't join the TON ecosystem. Especially when there are more headlines about fake USDT than announcements about Acton itself. To attract real developers, money, motivation, and a strong community are needed, which TON currently lacks.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Why has TON accelerated only now, and who was the brake?

The TON blockchain seems to be coming to life after gaining momentum, but what held it back before? The answer lies not in what, but in who.

In TON Core, there's the well-known Anatoly Makosov, who took over ton.org after the Telegram lawsuit and continued the blockchain's development alongside Kirill Emelyanenko. A valuable person, no doubt, but he has been one of the main blockers of the ecosystem's growth.

Anatoly became so entrenched in his role as the leader that he wouldn't let anyone near the code and almost always said "no" to new ideas.

He forbade TON Core employees from communicating with others without his knowledge, cutting off all interactions. The RSQuad scandal also went public because of him. The team devised ways to speed up the blockchain, change node code, and implement other optimizations, but he publicly dismissed them, claiming the code was in beta and that there would be penalties for using it.

At the beginning of the year, Pavel Durov realized something was amiss with Anatoly, leading to a developers' meeting to figure out what was happening. When Pavel saw solutions and proposals from other teams that could genuinely speed up the blockchain, he gave Anatoly time to implement them himself. Otherwise, the task would be handed over to others.

That's why Anatoly sprang into action. He didn't want to lose his position or significance. In no time, an update was implemented to accelerate the blockchain, which we are witnessing now.

So, Anatoly should be developing the blockchain, but in reality, he's been severely hindering its progress, affecting us all. Ideally, such people should be shown the door. Rumor has it that Anatoly has long wanted to leave, yet he remains a key developer of TON.

I think that meeting also influenced Pavel to take matters into his own hands. For the first time, he truly engaged in what was happening with his praised blockchain and realized that many were just sitting idle, earning huge sums for doing nothing.

The main reason for TON's price drop was simple inaction from both the leader and the developers. Once they started taking action, the results were evident, with increased volumes and activity. If they continue, TON could indeed become great again.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Is Pavel Durov taking back control of TON?

What's happening with TON? You've probably seen what happened with the ton.org website 👀 My opinion is that Pasha is taking everything back under his wing.

Several points suggest this:

- He increased the number of TON validators, openly stating it's Telegram.

- He's closing all loopholes by renaming the GRAM token and all its channels.

- He's dissolving the TON Foundation. This has been coming for a while, and everyone seems indifferent to this organization now. I think we're at the final stage.

Will this be a plus for the blockchain? I think so, because then we can say it's not just an integration of TON into Telegram, but a unified ecosystem. Plus, there's Cocoon, which boosts us into the AI era.

But can Pavel Durov handle all this alone? Who will manage integrations? Partnerships? Presentations? Who will launch intensives and programs? It's impossible to handle solo.

Either the money from gifts will finally benefit the TON/Telegram ecosystem, or perhaps a deal is in the works that will make Pasha even richer

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

The Future Telegram Couldn't Replicate

I've decided to continue discussing China in comparison. Using Alipay multiple times a day, I began to understand what Pavel Durov and Andrey Rogozov aimed to achieve with @wallet.

What is Alipay? You register, complete KYC, and get an account linked to any bank card. Now you can pay anyone using a QR code (similar to SBP payments). The key is that everyone has Alipay. Just like Sberbank in Russia, it's ubiquitous here. I even tried to find coins as souvenirs, but everyone uses WeChat and Alipay; no one carries cash.

It's a mix of Sberbank, SBP, Telegram (since it has a messenger), Yandex Go (with all services as mini-apps), and even TikTok (you can scroll through videos with likes and comments)

So, if you need to pay in a store, you show your ID as a QR code, and the payment is made. If you need to pay a self-employed vendor, you scan their QR and send the money. Want to message someone? You can. Want to buy a ticket? You can. The main rule: everything is in one app, and everyone has Alipay.

If Telegram had linked cards and allowed sending money to anyone with Telegram via QR, it would have been groundbreaking. However, in Russia, Sberbank allows transfers by phone number, which kills the novelty.

Andrey and Pavel likely understood this and decided that since Russia ranks second in crypto adoption, they could enable crypto transfers in the messenger. While it works, not all Telegram users need it. Buying crypto in Russia is becoming harder (integration: you can legally buy USDT through Altyn, then any crypto). Plus, anyone can replicate the wallet functionality as a bot without KYC (e.g., xRocket) - users simply don't want to use @wallet. Telegram also took a step back by releasing the Stars feature, killing the idea altogether.

Thus, mass adoption hasn't happened and likely won't, given the tightening regulations for both messengers and crypto.

In the end, if MAX integrates most Russian residents, adds services like Gosuslugi, Yandex Go, and card linking, it would be a complete Telegram + Alipay equivalent

It seems everyone sees it working in China and is moving towards it. Even X is trying to create a messenger + X Pay for user transfers (not just crypto).

So, either Nikolai Durov has planned so far ahead that Telegram will fully transition on-chain, and its era will come with crypto adoption in the CIS, or it will remain a niche crypto messenger for geeks. Only time will tell.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

When WeChat Has Done It All

I'm currently in China and realize that there's no need for blockchain or Telegram here. Everything works seamlessly through Alipay and WeChat. Mini-apps are everywhere, and after using Telegram, you quickly get the hang of it—it's very convenient. A solid 10/10

So, Telegram's attempt to enter Asia seemed doomed from the start. Sure, it's perfect for shady dealings, but it's definitely not about mass adoption.

Therefore, losing the CIS and Russia is not an option for Pavel Durov. Otherwise, it's a path to poverty for all of us, and no fast or cheap blockchain will help. Although, we're still waiting to see what's in store with MTONGA.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

A Crypto Mini-Course That Won't Happen 😁

"Too modest to be an influencer. Too dumb for crypto. Too honest to scam. Too lazy for a 9-to-5 job. How the heck am I supposed to make money?"

Sometimes, regular folks from the factory ask me to teach them about crypto. Other times, I get messages about my fake persona from Sweden, Czech Republic, or elsewhere, launching VIP courses or something similar.

I don't have any courses, and I don't take anyone for training. But if someone is really eager, I usually give them the toughest task—try buying USDT. It turns out to be quite a challenge because everyone thinks the purchase happens on an exchange. So, they go to register, face KYC, then weak p2p, and eventually get caught in a "triangle," leading to their card being blocked. No thanks for that, for sure.

That's why I now send everyone to Altyn first. There, they buy easily, without any hassle, and then transfer to xRocket, where there's an exchange with limit orders, and they learn there. Then, if all goes well (which it usually does), they withdraw back to Altyn and simply pay for something via QR after work or withdraw to a card.

It's great that now there are project connections where you can go through the entire cycle. It's like you could open a course for beginners, but I have no desire to. Just thought I'd share this case, in case you have friends with similar questions

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Cheap TON, Expensive Illusions

After Pavel Durov's post about reducing the fee in TON by six times, I saw many positive posts in public forums. At first, I even believed it was great, but I still don't understand—what will change?

Firstly, why does Pavel Durov decide whether the fee will be reduced or not? We are for decentralization, which means validators should decide. Yet, he's already stating it will be reduced. Oh right, most validators belong to Telegram and TON Foundation.

Secondly, what will a low fee change? Max gives an example that USDT will be cheap to transfer, leading to mass adoption. Frankly, it won't. In Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, the cost of transferring USDT is negligible, yet everyone still uses the TRON network.

It's all about trust. Trust in USDT on TON and trust in USDT on TRX are different things. Tell someone you'll transfer USDT on TON, and they'll scoff Most use USDT on TRC-20 (TRON), and many don't even know other USDTs exist, let alone TON. Although, due to the similarity in names, someone might be deceived.

Overall, the news is certainly positive, but no key changes will occur. We await five more announcements from Pavel, as all official TON channels only publish his posts. There haven't been other posts for a month, and TON Foundation has vanished from the radar.

There's a rumor that Pavel is preparing for a major deal and has erased everything damaging to his reputation, banning any publications. But what kind of deal could this be?

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

TON is saved not by security, but by boredom

Right now, everyone is worried about DeFi due to the increasing number of hacks, but TON is actually doing quite well in this regard. And not because it's secure, but because no one has studied it.

For those who don't know, TON has a different architecture compared to Ethereum and other networks, and all smart contracts are written in languages for which documentation has only recently become available.

Moreover, the documentation doesn't cover the nuances embedded in the code. That's why, for example, the code for DeDust isn't open, because there are nuances that allow contracts to use less gas and so on.

So even if AI is involved in hacks, breaking into TON or its contracts would be quite a challenge. And who would bother when the entire ecosystem's TVL is less than $60 million?

Exactly. So as long as there's no money, there's no interest. And even when there is money, studying TON in detail is quite a task, even for AI.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

3%? No, it's actually 19% 😅

Remember the post where I asked liquid staking services to contact me? Only Hipo Finance reached out, proving once again to be the most responsive. However, I discovered I was mistaken about the commission rates.

Alexey Gosunov contacted me and explained that the number given by the smart contract should be divided by 2^24. So, the commission isn't 3.18% and 2.26%...

Actual commissions:
Stakee: 3187671 / 2^24 = 19%
MyTonWallet: 3187671 / 2^24 = 19%
TonStakers: 2684355 / 2^24 = 16%
Hipo: 0x1000 / 2^16 = 6.25%

These are the percentages projects take from your staking income. So, your current income is about ±18% APR, minus 4% inflation, minus 16-19% commission. Not as sweet as promised...

Now, both of us want to figure out the real yield percentages and commissions for each project. We'll uncover the truth soon.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

While everyone was watching the scenes, A7A5 took over the hall

I've been following the Blockchain Forum 2026 through the stories of those who attended, and I noticed one important detail. Almost every story featured a banner or logo of the A7A5 project, which I've written about multiple times They were sponsors there, but it's surprising they chose placements where my followers mostly gathered—I saw them literally everywhere.

The project's leader, Leonid Shumakov, spoke at the forum, stating that 99% of stablecoins are dollar-based, and this needs to change, as the blockchain financial system is essentially controlled by the US.

The ruble stablecoin has faced sanction pressures, infrastructure blocking attempts, and DDoS attacks. Yet, these obstacles don't stop them from moving forward.

A7A5 has already entered the top 20 among all stablecoins worldwide and became the first to receive the CFA status in Russia. I continue to believe in them—an incredibly ambitious team and project

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Referrals Now - Money Later

A bear market is the best time to gather referrals. They may come slowly and might not bring immediate returns, but the fact that people are signing up under your name in a project's database will play a crucial role later when the bull market begins.

Right now, everyone is actively pushing to attract as many referrals as possible. To give you an idea, even TON wallet has implemented a referral system across all its products following xRocket and is giving out prizes through cases

The Altyn wallet is also striving to draw maximum attention to crypto-to-fiat exchanges and vice versa. Their referral system returns up to 50% of the commission, which is substantial. Successful channels earn up to 300k rubles a month

Whale is not lagging behind either. They've organized a contest where they give away $7k for referrals. The rules are simple - invite a referral, they play, and you earn points for each of their actions. They've also brought back the Telegram bot, so referrals are added immediately after clicking the link in a post.

Referrals are the most valuable asset you can acquire in this market right now. When the market wakes up, they will start generating good profits for those who didn't idle during the dead period and built a database.

So here's the advice - get your referral links from the projects above and share them with your friends.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Whale has come up with a way for you to farm even in your sleep

Many projects now create APIs for agents (MCP servers) that allow wallet connections, transfers, deposits, trades, and more. It's fairly simple, but Whale has taken it a step further.

They've developed an MCP server for their games So now, when you can't play, your agent built on Claude, OpenAI, GPTs, LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, or any custom LLM can play for you.

The full instructions are on GitHub, and there are currently 7 games available. To spice things up, they've created a leaderboard and a $10,000 prize pool for the first season, which will last 2 weeks.

I think Battle Pass users will get bonuses, so don't forget to grab one. It usually pays off right after purchase, as you get a bunch of cases right away

The launch is coming soon, and you'll be able to get a key for your OpenClaw. Star the repository and stay tuned!

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Staking without fees? Yeah, right

I've been getting a lot of questions about where to place TON now so it doesn't lose value and yields the maximum percentage.

Here's the deal: I tried to dig up my old posts evaluating fees, but they're outdated. Then I checked contracts, and only two projects had fees directly in the contract. All others have non-standard contracts, making it nearly impossible to find anything.

ChatGPT won't give you an answer either, so don't bother trying.

Here's what I found after 2 hours of manual research.

Tonstakers - the leader on Defillama by TVL. Their site and documentation claim no user fees, but if you open their contract, there's a 2.68% fee on your TON income It's odd to claim no fees while showing protocol revenue.

Stakee - second place by TVL. No fee info on the site, but the contract shows a 3.18% fee on your TON income.

Bemo - the site states there's a fee but doesn't specify the amount Couldn't verify the contract.

KTON - the site claims no fees, but this can't be verified.

Hipo - historically had the lowest fee among liquid staking options, and it used to be listed on the site, but now it's not. Couldn't verify via contract either.

TON Whale - haven't heard from them in a while, but pools are active on the site. No fee info available.

Since the latest update significantly boosts liquid staking, I urge the projects mentioned above to contact me and clarify your actual fees, and also update your sites to avoid misleading users. Thank you.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.

Almost instantly, but with a nuance

TON Core has rolled out an upgrade that seems to technologically boost the blockchain, making blocks about six times faster and transactions nearly instantaneous.

However, with this acceleration, the number of blocks created has also increased significantly, leading to higher emissions. Previously, it was around 93k TON per day, but now it's approximately 560k. This results in about 4% annual inflation, up from the previous ~0.6%. Kiba from TON Tech has created a page that visually demonstrates this.

Currently, everyone is talking about the 20%+ APY in staking, but they often forget to mention that this 20% is merely a redistribution of emissions among stakers.

In reality, if you don't stake TON, you're diluted by about 4% annually. If you do stake, you earn around 20%, with the real profit after inflation remaining at about 16–17% (you can loop and increase it to 30%).

As a result, initiatives like the TON Believers Fund, which offer 5% annually, will now yield almost nothing and are essentially "frozen" TON.

The mythical "burning of fees" currently plays no significant role because there are no people, no volumes, no transactions. There's simply nothing to burn.

So, the network has been improved and accelerated, but those who don't hold or stake TON will bear the cost.

Off to stake... Now, even holding TON in projects like STORM is simply unprofitable; staking is the only option, meaning people will now start reducing the TVL of ecosystem projects to a minimum.

Time will tell where this leads. For now, it looks rather bleak.

@investkingyru | @investkingyru_en | twitter | CMC | Chats
$KINGY: swap.coffee, xRocket, STON.fi, Dtrade, x1000.