The Open Platform

TOP Newsletter April-May 2025

Spring was an important season for TOP and TON & Telegram ecosystem, marked by coordinated efforts to scale blockchain infrastructure and global presence. TOP newsletter outlines the key updates shaping the Web3 mass adoption.

Highlights:

– Insights from TOP leadership, with an exclusive look at our future vision
– Telegram global reach and premium subscribers growth
– TON Foundation leadership team expansion to drive Payments Infrastructure
– Ethena's launch of synthetic dollar on TON
– TOP’s plans to launch in the U.S.
– Technical updates for developers
– News from Getgems, STON.fi, Tonkeeper, and more.

Download the full report:
🔝 TOP Newsletter April - May 2025

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TAC Raises $11.5M to Bring DeFi to Telegram’s Billion-User Ecosystem

TOP Labs portfolio company TAC has raised a total of $11.5 million across its seed and strategic rounds. The newly closed $5 million strategic round led by Hack VC reinforces institutional belief in TAC’s mission to bring Ethereum applications to Telegram users and lays the groundwork for the next wave of TON-native consumer apps.

TAC is nearing mainnet launch and in the current DevMainnet phase, blue-chip DeFi protocols such as Curve Finance, Morpho Labs, and Euler Finance are live, with 20+ additional leading applications in preparation for Mainnet integration.

🔝 Read more on Cointelegraph

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

— The TON Foundation has released the TON Ecosystem May 2025 report, highlighting the integration of XAUt0 into the TON blockchain, the launch of Ethena’s USDe, and the Release Candidate status of the TOLK smart contract language, featuring expanded IDE support and a smoother coding experience.

Top portfolio companies

— Tonkeeper, STON.Fi, and TON Space by Wallet together with Ethena Labs participated in CryptoRank’s AMA, focused on bridging Ethena to the TON blockchain.

— STON.Fi announced a developer workshop scheduled for June 19 to discuss implementing liquidity provision via the STON.Fi SDK.

Worth exploring

— Future of Gaming on TON — Inal Kardan, Gaming Director at the TON Foundation, discusses major GameFi ecosystem updates and answers gaming community questions on the TON Builders Call. Watch the recording

— Simplifying Onboarding with Telegram Mini Apps — Martin Masser, Head of Growth at TON Foundation, explains how leveraging Telegram Mini Apps streamlines user onboarding and how digital assets like stickers and NFTs drive engagement. Watch the interview

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025.

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AMA Recap: Bridging Ethena on TON

Last Friday, CryptoRank hosted an AMA session with STON.Fi, Tonkeeper, Ethena Labs, and TON Space by Wallet. Here's a recap of the key highlights:

— Strategic Ethena Launch: Ethena's launch of USDe on TON is a major milestone, leveraging Telegram's vast global distribution to bring a synthetic dollar to a mainstream audience.
— Enhanced User Experience: A core focus is simplifying DeFi for mass adoption. Projects are developing intuitive and streamlined interfaces to make access seamless for both new and experienced users.
— Simple Interfaces, Better Security: Intuitive and simplified user interfaces are paramount for user safety in Web3. By reducing complexity and potential points of confusion, they minimize the risk of user errors that could lead to financial losses, thereby providing a more secure environment.
— Cross-chain Utility for Stable Synthetic Assets: USDe is designed for seamless operability across multiple chains. Its availability on TON significantly broadens access to this synthetic asset, allowing users to bridge USDe from other networks like Ethereum to TON, thereby enhancing liquidity and interconnectedness.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

— The integration of Tether Gold (XAUt) into TON blockchain — now live onchain and in Wallet in Telegram. It brings physically backed, inflation-resistant gold to hundreds of millions of Telegram users.

— Telegram NFT Gifts experienced explosive growth, driving over $190M market cap. This surge in activity made TON #1 blockchain by daily NFT trading volume.

TOP portfolio companies

— Tonkeeper Academy is a new resource for TON developers, launched by the team behind the Tonkeeper non-custodial wallet. This educational series covers advanced topics like tracking TON transactions, adding interactive buttons to NFTs, using webhooks, and more. Full articles are available on the TonConsole documentation or on Medium.

— Tribute, a service for monetization in Telegram, now supports bulk product uploads - a quick solution for managing large product catalogs.

— PlayDeck, a game distribution platform on Telegram, launches dev community to build closer ties with developers and expand features based on real feedback. A new community space is now live for studios to share ideas, showcase projects, and exchange tips. Explore here @playdeckdevhub

Worth exploring

— Manny Stotz, President at TON Foundation, talks about how TON aims to create a new digital financial ecosystem by leveraging Telegram’s massive distribution and targeting real-world use cases. Listen to podcast.

—TON Foundation CEO Max Crown talks about TON’s master plan to onboard 1 billion users. Watch the interview.

— Pavel Altukhov, CEO of TAC, shares how TAC bridges EVM dApps directly into Telegram, simplifying Web3 for millions of users. Read the interview.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025.

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TON Leads in NFT Activity

TON ranks #1 in daily active NFT traders, according to a Dune dashboard analyzing on-chain NFT activity. Over the past two months, TON has averaged 5,000 daily traders and it also ranks #3 in on-chain NFT trading volume.

Updates from Getgems

Getgems — the largest NFT marketplace on TON by number of transactions, has recently rolled out several user-centric updates to drive NFT activity:

— 0% trading fees for Telegram Gifts and other Telegram-linked collections — making secure, and fully on-chain option for trading NFTs tied to Telegram identity.

— Third-level domains, allowing users to create and monetize collections via TON DNS.

— On-chain announcements and comments, enabling engagement directly with specific NFTs and collections — all on the blockchain.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025.

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

- Nikola Plecas has joined the TON Foundation as Vice President of Payments. A former top executive at Visa, Nikola brings deep expertise in crypto, compliance, and partnerships to help scale payment solutions for Telegram’s 1B+ users.

- Telegram Premium subscriptions doubled in a year, reaching 15 million. This growth boosts opportunities for TON projects to reach and monetize a paying, engaged audience.

TOP portfolio companies

⁃ USDe is now available on all major TON non-custodial wallets. This integration allows Ethena synthetic dollar USDe savings in TON Space and Tonkeeper. It’s a key product for Telegram’s 1 billion users, allowing dollar savings technology while promoting global financial inclusion.

- STON.fi AMM protocol: USDe is available to users via its STON.fi dApp. As part of TON's growing DeFi ecosystem, users can easily swap, stake, and provide liquidity for USDe directly through STON.fi — without the need for bridges or third-party tools.

⁃ Tonkeeper wallet: Signer is a new way to approve TON transactions without exposing private keys. Users can sign via QR code, app pairing, or keep Signer fully offline for maximum security— no new keys or accounts needed.

Worth exploring

- How Telegram is powering the creator economy: Manny Stotz, President at TON Foundation, explains why Telegram is becoming the go-to platform for the creator economy on TON. From enabling financial access in emerging markets to offering seamless on-chain monetization tools. Watch or read the interview. 

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025.

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🍫 Tether Gold сomes to TON

Starting today, tokenized gold (XAUt) is available to all users in the TON Ecosystem. This launch was made possible through a strategic partnership between Tether, USDt0, the TON Foundation and TOP.

Wallet users can now take full advantage of Tether Gold, unlocking new investment opportunities and broadening the use of digital assets 💎

This partnership strengthens the TON Ecosystem by giving users access to traditional assets through digital ownership. Tether Gold can now be traded directly in Wallet, with a major promotional campaign and exclusive offers coming soon, so stay tuned for the next updates 🎉

Investments in crypto are risky. This communication is not intended for persons in the United Kingdom

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USDe Is Now Available on All Major TON Non-custodial Wallets with up to 18% APY 

Remember Ethena's big announcement at Token2049 Dubai? Their integration with TON is officially live, bringing simple savings technology to Telegram's 1 billion users.

You can now access USDe and TON staked tsUSDe in popular non-custodial wallets: 

▪️ TON Space, available at @wallet
▪️ MyTonWallet
▪️ Tonkeeper 
▪️ Tonhub 

You can also get USDe directly from major exchanges or via the Stargate bridge. 

Additionally, tsUSDe holders can earn up to 18% APY, including ~8% from Ethena and an additional 10% boost in Toncoin.

With USDe live across TON, saving in dollars is now as easy as sending a Telegram message. Check out the blog and unlock APY from TON’s dollar-pegged asset today.

🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

⁃ TON ranks 1st in daily active NFT traders, according to a Dune dashboard analyzing on chain NFT activity. Over the past two months, TON has averaged 5,000 daily NFT traders — a strong foundation for an active NFT community. TON also ranks 3rd in on chain NFT trading volume, highlighting growing market activity.

- Telegram moved up in the global mobile app download rankings for Q1 2025, while all major Meta apps saw a decline — signaling an ongoing shift in user preferences across messaging and social platforms.

TOP portfolio companies

⁃ Getgems: TON DNS domain holders can now launch their own collections of third-level domains and sell them directly on Getgems. The first subdomain collection has already been launched with the Lost Dogs project based on the woof.ton domain.

⁃ TonTech dev tools updates: @ton/blueprint v0.34.0 and @ton/sandbox v0.31.0 are live — with improved reliability, DX, and tooling performance. Highlights include contract renaming, npm packaging for wrappers, gas benchmarks, and wallet ID support for mnemonic providers.

Worth exploring

- EVM on TON and the future of interoperability — a conversation with TAC founder Marco Monaco. Listen to the interview on Bitcoin News.

- STON.fi AMM protocol: community meetup with fresh details about its grant program, developer initiatives, and ambassador opportunities. Listen recording.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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Introducing Recent Product Updates in Wallet in Telegram

Wallet in Telegram keeps adding new features, helping grow the TON blockchain and Telegram ecosystems and contributing to Web3 mass adoption.

Recent updates include:

- Wallet Earn. A new section has been added, allowing users to earn rewards on TON holdings. A permanent bonus campaign is now active for all TON holders.

- Expanded Token Support. The “Trade” tab now supports a broader range of cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, and other top tokens.

- USDT with Zero Fees. Users can now purchase USDT with zero fees using Visa or Mastercard.

- P2P Market Enhancements. Ethereum is now available on the P2P Market. The interface has been redesigned, with new features like auto-accept to streamline the trading process.

Wallet continues to focus on making crypto accessible and integrated within Telegram.

Investments in crypto are risky. This communication is not intended for persons in the United Kingdom.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

- TON has published its April Ecosystem updates — check them out to get the full picture of news and projects happening in the ecosystem.

TOP portfolio companies

– Anniversary of Notcoin's listing: Notcoin was minted on May 16th, one year ago, and became one of the most successful Web3 experiments in TON history — evolving from a simple mini-game into a full-fledged Web3 platform.

- Tonkeeper wallet: Tonkeeper Pro app launch on iPhone, bringing the professional-grade crypto experience to mobile for the first time – offering multi‑wallet management, USDT (TRC‑20) transfer without holding TRX, on‑chain 2FA and multisig, Pro‑only upgrades, and others.

– STON.fi AMM protocol: Weighted Constant Product Invariant (WCPI) pools launched by protocol, giving strong control over liquidity strategy. Unlike traditional pools where the assets are usually balanced equally (50%/50%), a weighted pool can allocate different percentages to each asset. This flexibility enables the pool to reflect various portfolio allocations or risk preferences, offering a broader range of use cases compared to standard liquidity pools.

Worth exploring

- Missed TON Day at Web3 Fest in HK? The full YouTube playlist is live — with keynotes covering everything from building on TON and scaling with Telegram to what’s coming next in 2025. The playlist includes the keynote of Andrew Rogozov, Founder and CEO of The Open Platform (TOP). Watch here.

- Panel discussion hosted by Pavel Altukhov (Co-Founder @ TAC) at dApps and Mini-Apps Day in Dubai: Onboarding Users via Telegram. Watch recording.

– Online event | May 21: STON.fi community meet-up AMA - join the team for the latest updates and QA session. Join AMA session.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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Introducing the First Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for TON Wallets

Tonkeeper Pro introduces a new feature that is new for all crypto wallets: on-chain second factor authentication for TON wallets with Telegram.

When 2FA is enabled, all transfers require two signatures: one from Tonkeeper and one from the Telegram bot. The bot sends a confirmation request to approve or cancel the transaction.

Why is it a big deal?

Instead of assuming users will do the impossible — safely storing their recovery keys in a vault — Tonkeeper acknowledges that many people keep them in notes apps, photo libraries, or even drawers. The nature of cryptographic material is such that once it’s leaked, it cannot be taken back. Tonkeeper’s 2FA acts as a safety belt for recovery phrase.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

- Telegram launches Gift Marketplace, allowing users to instantly buy gifts from others or sell their own. These gifts are special NFTs on the TON blockchain — each one is a unique collectible token.

TOP portfolio companies

– Tonkeeper wallet: USDT transfer on TRON can now be made without holding TRX for gas fees. The transfer is handled by Tonkeeper Battery, a prepaid balance that covers the fees.

– STON.fi AMM Protocol: Weighted Stable Swap (WSS) pool, a proprietary innovation in the TON DeFi ecosystem, arrived exclusively on STON.fi. This technology goes beyond traditional stable swaps by introducing weighted mechanisms that dynamically adjust to market conditions, minimizing slippage for tokens with correlated values.

– Tribute content monetization platform: Introduced a public API access key, making it easy to integrate transaction data from Telegram with external services.

– Wallet in Telegram: check news digest, covering new features from Wallet Earn and zero fees on buying USDT to ETH available on the P2P market.

Worth exploring

- Interview: Insights into Omniston, the brand-new decentralized liquidity aggregation protocol on TON, with Andrey Fedorov, CMO and Acting CBDO at STON.fi. Read here.

– Online event | May 13: From Zero to DeFi with Omniston - register for technical deep-dive into new liquidity aggregation protocol on TON.

Want to partner with us?
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Introducing Omniston: The First Unified Liquidity Solution for TON DeFi

The TON ecosystem is solving the challenge of fragmented liquidity. Omniston by STON.fi is the first decentralized liquidity aggregation protocol tailored for TON with access to all TON liquidity in one place, simplifying DeFi for everyone.

Why is it a big deal?

– Instantly aggregate liquidity across multiple DEXs
– Access optimized swap rates with minimal slippage
– Provide liquidity efficiently, maximizing capital use

A streamlined solution making TON’s DeFi ecosystem more interconnected and user-friendly. Learn more.

🗓 Online event | 13 May: From Zero to DeFi with Omniston - register for the deep-dive session.

Missed last TOP Newsletter?
🔝 Catch up on the Q1 2025 here.

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🔝 TOP Weekly News

Ecosystem updates

– Ethena’s dollar savings come to Telegram’s 1B+ users. Strategic partnership between TON, Ethena and TOP: starting in May, the users will be able to save with the Ethena synthetic dollar USDe in Wallet in Telegram, Tonkeeper and all major TON wallets.

– Libre & TON Foundation launched $500M Tokenized Telegram Bond Fund.

– Broxus just launched TON Factory, a scalability accelerator for high-throughput projects like games and DEXs.

TOP portfolio companies updates

– Getgems turns 3 years anniversary - the pioneer TON NFT marketplace keeps driving innovation and has backed dozens of standout collections.

Worth exploring

– Interview: how STON.fi grew to a $5.8B powerhouse with co-founder Slavik Baranov, exploring the rapid evolution in the TON ecosystem.

– Online event | May 13: From zero to DeFi with Omniston - register for technical deep-dive into game-changing liquidity aggregation protocol on TON.

Want to partner with us?
🔝 Submit an application

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USDe: Savings Tech Going Live on TON

Ethena is coming to TON, bringing dollar savings technology to Telegram’s 1 billion users. This integration makes accessing savings in your Wallet effortless, for everyone. Ethena has become one of the fastest-growing blockchain applications, reaching over $6 billion in TVL, and we couldn’t be more excited to be bringing them to TON.

What’s coming:

▪️USDe and tsUSDe, available natively in all major TON wallets and integrated ecosystem-wide.

▪️Ethena rewards will power dollar savings with tsUSDe in TON Space, Tonkeeper, MyTonWallet, Tonhub and other wallets.

▪️Users of the Wallet in Telegram will access rewards on their Dollar balances

Help spread the word. Say it from the rooftops, savings tech is about to hit everyone’s pockets!

Stay tuned for more information about how you can access Ethena on TON in the coming weeks!

Dear friends of the TOP community, we’re back and we’re relaunching this channel as your go-to source for quick insights and updates from TOP, our portfolio companies, and the wider TON ecosystem.

To kick things off, we’ve just released our very first TOP Newsletter (Q1 2025) — your insider’s guide to what we’re building, where our investments lie, and the latest news across TON and Telegram.

Q1 2025 highlights:

– Insights from TOP leadership, with an exclusive look at our future vision
– TON’s U.S. expansion and TOP’s plans to launch in the U.S
– Projects TOP Labs is looking for
– Technical updates for developers
– News from Wallet in Telegram, STON.fi, Tonkeeper, and more

Download the full report:
🔝 TOP Newsletter Q1 2025

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Web3 Traffic Shift: Integrating & Monetizing Users on Web2 Platforms

Initially driven by ideals of full decentralization, privacy, and disrupting traditional systems, Web3 has struggled to provide practical, user-friendly applications that meet mainstream needs. This lack of a unified, compelling narrative for mass adoption has resulted in stagnation in user growth and insufficient liquidity within the ecosystems. The market now demands more accessible, user-centric models that integrate seamlessly with familiar Web2 environments like Telegram to drive broader adoption and engagement.

One way to address this stagnation is by facilitating a traffic shift from Web2 to Web3. Telegram is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge. Unlike most platforms, Telegram combines traditional social features with integrated blockchain capabilities, such as wallets and Mini Apps, allowing users to engage with Web3 without leaving the app. This blend of Web2 familiarity and Web3 functionality lowers entry barriers, making it easier for users to explore, adopt, and interact with decentralized applications.

To understand the current challenges in user growth and the importance of seamless integration with Web2 environments like Telegram, as well as to explore new monetization models and traffic acquisition strategies in Web3, read our new article: Web3 Traffic Shift: Integrating & Monetizing Users on Web2 Platforms.

This report is a collaboration with Samuel QIN (@Samuel_Q6).

#TON #Telegram #TelegramMiniApps

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