TON Core

Updated staking smart contract lineup

Single-nominator (v1.1) — Direct validation with one validator and one nominator. The nominator receives 100% of the rewards.

Nominator-pool (v2) — Private staking pools with a small group of nominators and validators.

Liquid-staking — User-facing staking products with many depositors. Issues jettons representing staked Gram for use in DeFi. Used by @StakeeBot and Tonstakers.

Nominator Pool 2.0

Nominator pools let Gram holders stake funds to support network validation and earn rewards without running their own validators.

Nominator Pool 2.0 replaces the original smart contract created in 2022 with a redesigned implementation in Tolk.

Key improvements:

— Up to 32 validators per pool, up from 1.

— Up to 512 nominators per pool, up from 40.

— Reward withdrawals without withdrawing the full stake.

— Lower gas fees.

— Automatic reimbursement of validator gas costs.

— Support for nominators on both the basechain and masterchain.

— A single pool for all validation rounds. Separate pool contracts for even and odd rounds are no longer required.

— A dedicated pool owner management role has been added, separate from validators and nominators.

The contract is fully open source, with comprehensive documentation, a management web UI, and MyTonCtrl support.

https://github.com/ton-blockchain/nominator-pool-v2#ton-nominator-pool-v2-smart-contract

LLM-based content moderation in Toncenter API

Toncenter API now automatically filters inappropriate token images (NFTs and Jettons) using an LLM-based moderation system.

Following the reduction in TON transaction fees, spam and inappropriate content distributed as NFTs have become more noticeable on the network.

Building on its existing manual moderation tools, Toncenter has introduced an LLM-based image analyzer. Images flagged as inappropriate are now served by the API in blurred form. No changes are required for services already using Toncenter API.

Guidelines for Services

Toncenter API v3 metadata includes the following fields to help services handle potentially unsafe or malicious tokens:

- is_nsfw — marks tokens that have been identified as unsafe or potentially unsafe;
- is_scam — marks tokens associated with scams or spam;
- extra._image_big, extra._image_medium, and extra._image_small — contain links to processed token images. Images are resized to standard presets and automatically blurred when a token is marked as unsafe.

To better protect users, we recommend using an opt-in approach when displaying tokens in wallets, explorers, and other services.

By default, show only well-known or trusted tokens and their images. Other tokens and their images should be displayed only after the user explicitly chooses to enable them.

Please note: LLM-based filtering provides an additional layer of protection, but no automated filtering system can guarantee 100% accuracy. Both false negatives and false positives may occur.

Pending API and Streaming API Performance Improvements

We’ve shipped a major performance update to the Pending API, Streaming API and trace processing pipeline.

Key improvements:

— Moved action classification to C++ and integrated it directly into the Trace Emulator.
— Moved external message TTL tracking into the Trace Emulator, removing a separate service from the pipeline.
— Reduced Redis reads across trace processing and Streaming API.
— Made confirmed → finalized trace promotion significantly cheaper by avoiding full trace reprocessing.

With these changes, performance increased by a factor of 2.5. The system demonstrated stability during testing on a testnet at 1,500 TPS on the blockchain.

No changes are required on the part of customers.

TON performance update

With the August 17 update, TON mainnet validators transitioned to a new collator-based architecture. The update has been running stably on mainnet.

The rollout of planned limit increases began on August 27. The first change raised leader_window from 4 to 16.

Single-shardchain performance tests

Two tests were conducted on mainnet to measure single-shardchain performance using a workload that simulated jetton transfers:

— August 25, approximately 10:30 UTC: an input load of approximately 1,200 TPS.

— September 4, approximately 11:30 UTC: an input load of approximately 1,500 TPS.

In the latest test, a single shardchain processed 600–650 TPS in sub-second mode for this workload. As the input load increased further, the shardchain split into two. After split operation latency increased, but the block production rate remained stable.

Next steps

Work to increase single-shardchain performance will continue. The current target is 1,000–2,000 TPS per shardchain.

As a reminder, single-shardchain throughput is not the throughput limit of the entire TON blockchain. TON can run many shardchains in parallel.

Service updates

minter.ton.org

— Updated to jetton-2.1-tolk, the latest jetton smart contract implementation. You can still manage jettons deployed with earlier contract versions.

— Made minor improvements and fixed bugs.

dns.ton.org

— Added support for starting auctions for expired domains.

multisig.ton.org

— Improved security.

unfreezer.ton.org

— Completely rewrote the utility for unfreezing smart contracts frozen due to unpaid storage fees (the tool is primarily intended for developers and is not typically needed by end users).

Updates across all services

Migrated all services to the Toncenter API and updated links.

Node Update TON 2026.08

Following the deployment of TON 2026.07 on August 4, the block production rate and other network metrics returned to their normal levels.

The next update, TON 2026.08, will activate collators on TON mainnet.

Currently, validators both assemble blocks from user transactions and validate them. After the update, these responsibilities will be separated. Dedicated collator nodes will assemble blocks, while validators will only verify them. This separation increases network throughput.

The collator architecture was introduced approximately one year ago in the Accelerator update. Its activation was scheduled for a period of significant load growth. The launch and continued development of native non-custodial wallet in Telegram are expected to increase network activity, making this the appropriate time to activate the architecture.

Since its initial implementation, Accelerator has been adapted to operate in the Sub-Second mode. TON 2026.08 can therefore be referred to as Sub-Second Accelerator.

The update is scheduled for August 17, 2026. All the details will be posted on the @tonstatus channel.

Enabling collators, particularly in in-memory mode, will increase the maximum TPS of a single shardchain.

As the next step, we plan to increase the maximum block size and other network limits. This is possible due to the new network layer introduced in TON 2026.05 and TON 2026.06, which reduced traffic between nodes. Increasing the limits will also lead to a proportional increase in the TPS of a single shardchain.

Node Update TON 2026.07

Following the voting and activation of TON 2026.06, mainnet data from July 22 showed reduced efficiency among some validators. This lowered the average masterchain block rate from ~2.47 to ~2.30 blocks per second, also reduced shardchain block rates, and increased latency for some user operations.

This behavior was not observed during testnet or local testing.

TON 2026.07 retains the legacy broadcast mechanism for now and introduces improvements to the new broadcast mechanism to better account for mainnet conditions.

https://t.me/tonstatus/233

New Indexer Database Architecture

The database has been divided into three tiers:

Hot — transactions from the last week;
Cold — the complete transaction history;
Key-Value — states, BOCs, and metadata.

This makes processing queries to recent data, which account for most of the load, 2–4× faster.

The architecture is already used in toncenter.com/api/v3 and will later be available as a standalone build.

API V2 Hardware Update

The API V2 server infrastructure for direct requests to liteservers has been upgraded.

New Features

— A new API for nominator pools.

— A new API for validation cycles, including elections and complaints.

— Support for new DeDust V2 actions.

— Fixes and Improvements.

NFT Content Filtering

As network fees have decreased, the risk of spam and inappropriate content being distributed through NFTs has increased.

Toncenter has implemented a manual blacklist for individual NFTs and collections and is developing an automated LLM-based analyzer. Inappropriate pics will be displayed in a blurred form.

How TON Upgrades Are Evolving

To ensure TON’s technical superiority across key metrics, we are systematically upgrading or completely replacing the blockchain’s components and protocols.

Having reduced block time, finalization time, end-to-end latency, and fees, our current objective is to increase shardchain performance: the TPS that the blockchain can sustain in sub-second mode.

2026.03 — new consensus: 10× faster operations.

2026.04 — new Cartesian-tree-based mempool and networking improvements: 6× reduction in fees.

2026.05–2026.06 — new networking layer: 2–4× reduction in network traffic.

Upgrading the networking layer is a necessary step toward further increasing shardchain TPS.

The next stages are the activation of the collator + validator architecture, adapted to the new consensus, and the implementation of a new database to replace CellDB 2.0/RocksDB.

New Networking Layer for the TON Blockchain

Following the consensus and mempool upgrades, the blockchain’s networking layer has been completely redesigned.

Versions 2026.04-1 — 2026.06 introduced QUIC as a replacement for RLDP1/2 and the ADNL transport, dedicated block-sync and fast-sync overlays, as well as Plumtree broadcasts.

The new approach reduces inbound node traffic by approximately 4× and outbound traffic by 2×, while improving synchronization and node connectivity.

The 2026.06 update is already deployed on mainnet. Validators will next vote to enable Plumtree, after which the legacy broadcasts will be disabled in a separate update.

Added guidelines for generating sub-wallets from a single mnemonic phrase:

https://github.com/ton-blockchain/TEPs/blob/master/text/0003-wallets.md#11-subwallets

Guidelines for TON wallets regarding mnemonics, IDs, and smart contracts have been published

We ask that wallets and SDKs follow these guidelines to ensure product compatibility.

https://github.com/ton-blockchain/TEPs/blob/master/text/0003-wallets.md

Next technical objective: increasing shardchain performance

Under normal load, TON operates on a single shardchain. Under peak load, dynamic sharding is activated: the network splits into multiple shardchains, increasing throughput while maintaining static fees. In this mode, operation execution time may increase by several seconds.

With TON 2026.05 we start a new series of updates focused on performance improvement of a single shardchain

The objective is to activate dynamic sharding at a load level at which other blockchains cannot operate effectively.

TON 2026.05-rc »

Update timeline »

One of Acton’s key features is its advanced support for developing TON smart contracts using AI.

Introducing Acton — a new, modern toolchain for developing smart contracts on TON

Acton covers the full development lifecycle: project creation, testing, debugging, dApp integration, deployment, and verification.

CLI-first by design, it works naturally for both developers and AI agents.

1. One toolchain, not a bunch of utilities
Create, build, test, lint, format, deploy, and verify TON contracts in a single coherent environment around Tolk.

2. A tighter build-test-debug loop
Write tests directly in Tolk programming language, run them fast, debug failed transactions, and inspect what actually happened on-chain.

3. Security built in
Coverage, fuzzing, mutation testing, gas profiling, and CI help catch regressions early.

4. A native debugger
Step in, step over, step out, watch variables, and inspect the call stack. A smooth Web2-style developer experience, now inside a blockchain language.

5. Friendly for AI agents
A modern CLI tool that becomes an agent's runtime, with skills and manuals bundled.

6. IDE integtation
Use it with VS Code, JetBrains, Cursor, Zed, and other LSP‑based editors.

Read more »

Docs »

Author's notes »

Tolk 1.4 Programming Language

Introducing source maps, debugger support, ABI export, and auto-generated TypeScript wrappers.

— ABI export for toolchains, explorers, SDKs, and UI integrations.

— Auto-generated TypeScript wrappers for Tolk smart contracts.

— Source maps that connect TVM execution back to Tolk source code, variables, stack layout, and call frames.

— Debugger marks that enable step-by-step debugging of fully optimized production contracts.

— Language enhancements continuing Tolk’s evolution toward a general-purpose smart contract language.

Release »

Voting by validators on reducing network fees has begun

Validators, please participate in the vote.

Follow the voting progress here.

UPD: All proposals were accepted, fees on the mainnet have been reduced, thank you!

Blockchain Fee Reduction

The TON Core team has prepared a blockchain update (TON 2026.04, TON 2026.04-1) to reduce fees by 6x, in line with Pavel Durov’s MTONGA plan.

This update includes:

1) Performance improvements

The previous Sub-Second update improved not only operation speed but also overall blockchain performance, making a fee reduction possible. Since then, additional optimizations and performance improvements have also been implemented, including a new mempool based on a persistent Cartesian tree.

2) Fixes

In addition to performance improvements, this update will include fixes for issues identified on mainnet after the Sub-Second release. In particular, it addresses loss of synchronization on some liteservers and rare block rate instability.

Planned Schedule:

April 28, 2026 12:00 UTC — Validator software update.
April 30, 2026 13:00 UTC — Vote to lower gas prices in the blockchain configuration.

Lower fees are important for the next stages of the MTONGA plan. Since fees do not constitute a significant portion of validator rewards, validator rewards are expected to decrease by less than 0.4%.

Mainnet validator operators are asked to be prepared to update their software on 28 April and to participate in the vote on 30 April.