💎 TON Core: TON is moving toward millisecond-like operations

TON Core (led by Anatoly Makosov) is showing real progress: the testnet has been running in Sub-Second mode for over a month — and it hasn’t fallen apart.

🔝 What changed
⚫️ TON testnet has been stable in Sub-Second mode for more than a month
⚫️ Throughput: 2–3 blocks per second
⚫️ Capacity: roughly ~1,000 TPS inside a single shardchain
⚫️ Operation time stays under 1 second
⚫️ Even during major mints (NOT, DOGS, HMSTR), the load reportedly didn’t exceed ~500 TPS — not even close to the ceiling

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ This looks like sustained stability, not a one-off benchmark screenshot
⚫️ TON is building headroom for the next Telegram-driven spikes (Mini Apps, payments, массовый user traffic)
⚫️ If Sub-Second becomes the baseline, TON UX starts feeling Web2-fast — with real on-chain settlement
⚫️ The takeaway: they’re not just “speeding up the chain” — they’re preparing it for scale

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Gateway 2026 may be postponed: “community safety first”… and refunds later?

Due to developments in the Middle East, TON Foundation is considering rescheduling Gateway 2026 (May 1–2, Dubai). A final decision is expected by March 20, 2026.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Gateway 2026 (May 1–2, Dubai) may be moved due to the regional situation
⚫️ TON Foundation says it’s evaluating multiple scenarios, with community safety as the top priority
⚫️ Final decision — by March 20, 2026
⚫️ The awkward part: there’s still no clear public guidance on refunds for tickets, hotels, or bookings if the event is postponed/cancelled

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ For attendees, this isn’t just a date change — it’s real money tied to flights, hotels, and travel windows
⚫️ If the event moves without a clear refund policy, it turns into the usual Web3 mini-game: “good luck sorting it out”
⚫️ Practical move right now: save receipts, check ticketing/hotel terms, prefer refundable bookings if possible — and watch for the March 20 update

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Degenphone: NFT phone numbers as assets + a tournament to fuel demand

Degenphone turned a “phone number” into an NFT on TON — with real functionality and a narrative of earning via resales and promos. Now they’ve added a tournament on top to push activity and referrals.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Key perks: instant SMS receiving, integrations with bots/AI/automations, maximum anonymity (no identity link), supported by Nicegram
⚫️ These numbers used to be basically free, but now marketplace prices reportedly start around 70 TON (~$100) and go up to 1000+ TON (~$1300)
⚫️ The team launched a tournament: 10 NFT prizes, with the highest PTS earners getting the most valuable rewards
⚫️ PTS logic is straightforward: 1 roll = 10 PTS, 1 referral = 1 PTS, plus “monetization” boosts (Diamond/Gold/Silver/Regular tiers)

📊 Prize pool:
1) https://t.me/nft/ScaredCat-18331
2) https://t.me/nft/IonGem-860
3) https://t.me/nft/PerfumeBottle-862
4) https://t.me/nft/MagicPotion-3672
5) https://t.me/nft/KissedFrog-2836
6) https://t.me/nft/NekoHelmet-5143
7) https://t.me/nft/SignetRing-8806
8) https://t.me/nft/VoodooDoll-15139
9) https://t.me/nft/EternalRose-24377
10) https://t.me/nft/CupidCharm-3414

🤑 Points system:
Basic actions:
🎲 1 roll — 10 PTS
👥 1 referral — 1 PTS

🏆 Monetization bonuses:
💎 Diamond: +500 PTS (+100 per referral)
🥇 Gold: +250 PTS (+75 per referral)
🥈 Silver: +150 PTS (+50 per referral)
🥉 Regular: +75 PTS (+25 per referral)

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ A phone number is being packaged as a tradable asset: value = secondary liquidity + scarcity + promo mechanics
⚫️ Real SMS + anonymity makes it genuinely useful for Telegram-native services, bots, and automation flows
⚫️ The tournament is a classic growth engine: rolls + referrals + upsells → more on-chain activity and more demand pressure
⚫️ But the entry isn’t “cheap fun” anymore: a 70 TON floor means you’re betting the secondary market stays alive — otherwise it turns into an expensive collectible fast

🦸‍♂️ Strategy: Make rolls, invite friends, and monetize more to secure a spot in the Top-10 and get your NFT!

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 TON Foundation fires up the ecosystem: Art Contest + AI Hackathon

TF is playing both angles at once: culture/memes for buzz and AI agents for builders. A classic “media + devs” combo.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ TON Art Contest is live: 20 winners split $2,000 ($100 each)
⚫️ Task: create TON-themed art (memes, NFTs, games, community — anything goes)
⚫️ Limit: max 2 submissions per participant
⚫️ In parallel, an AI agents hackathon for Telegram + TON builders with a $20,000 prize pool — https://t.me/toncoin/2312

🗓 Application deadline: March 25, 23:59 UTC

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Art Contest = a fast way to flood the ecosystem with content and boost TON visibility without heavy ad spend
⚫️ The AI agents hackathon signals the next bet: Telegram as the interface, TON as settlement/infrastructure
⚫️ The window is short — ship a working MVP and you’re competing not just for prizes, but for ecosystem attention

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram without the internet: mesh mode as “VPN over Bluetooth”

A mesh-network scenario is back in the spotlight: Telegram could eventually support a mode where messages hop device-to-device via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, without relying on ISPs or the “normal” internet route. Sounds wild — but the motivation is obvious: resilience against shutdowns.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ The idea: a mesh mode where phones relay messages directly via Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, forming a living chain of devices
⚫️ In this model, internet access and classic server routing aren’t strictly required
⚫️ Building this at Telegram scale is hard, but the concept already exists in other messengers
⚫️ If it ever ships, ISP-level blocking becomes far less effective
⚫️ One of the few ways to seriously suppress mesh is radio jamming across Bluetooth/Wi-Fi bands — basically “scorched earth” for local connectivity

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ This would push Telegram toward censorship resistance by default, not as a workaround
⚫️ For strict regulators, the fight shifts from “blocking an app” to messing with the radio environment itself
⚫️ For TON inside Telegram, it’s also a potential safety net: if Telegram stays reachable, so do Mini Apps, wallets, payments, and on-chain activity
⚫️ But let’s be real: mesh isn’t a “next update” button — it’s a massive engineering + UX problem where mistakes get expensive fast

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 WalletKit MCP is now integrated into Mira: a TON wallet inside chat

Mira has integrated WalletKit MCP, letting users do core wallet actions directly in a chat. It’s testnet for now, but the direction is obvious: “wallet as a conversation”.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ WalletKit MCP is integrated into Mira
⚫️ Inside chat (testnet) you can: create a wallet, send TON by username, and check transactions
⚫️ Quick start: message @mira with something like “create a TON wallet”

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ UX shift: “open a wallet app” → “send a message” (near-zero onboarding friction)
⚫️ Username-based transfers push TON closer to social payments inside Telegram
⚫️ If this lands on mainnet, it becomes a building block for Mini Apps, bots, and Telegram-native on-chain flows
⚫️ For now it’s testnet — treat it as a trial run, not the final form

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Steve Yun: “TON should focus on AI agents”… while his fund already moved on

Former TON Foundation CEO Steve Yun says the TON ecosystem should double down on AI agents. At the same time, his fund tvm.ventures has stopped investing in TON and shifted fully into AI.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Steve Yun publicly pushes the message: TON should focus on AI agents
⚫️ tvm.ventures is no longer making TON investments and is now focused on AI
⚫️ The signal is awkwardly clear: “I like the direction — but I moved the capital elsewhere”

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ It’s a cold reminder: capital follows speed, and AI narratives are moving faster than “another chain story” right now
⚫️ For TON, this means AI agents must become a real, Telegram-native product — distribution + UX + monetization, not just hype
⚫️ A public pivot from a former top figure adds pressure: the ecosystem now has to prove it can retain both users and investors

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Mood Pack isn’t for everyone: iOS blocks non-Premium purchases

Looks like Telegram Market is once again behaving differently across platforms. On iOS, users without Premium can’t buy Mood Pack — while on Android everything works.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ On iOS, users without Telegram Premium can’t purchase Mood Pack on Telegram Market
⚫️ Previously, this gift was already semi-restricted: Premium-only with a 5 items per user limit
⚫️ On Android, the same restriction doesn’t seem to apply — purchases go through

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Another platform split: iOS tends to be stricter due to ecosystem and payment rules
⚫️ For Telegram, this creates friction: same marketplace, different access → lower conversions and trust
⚫️ For digital goods inside Telegram, it’s a reminder: monetization depends not only on the product, but also on the user’s platform

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Decentralization on “easy mode”: TON exists, but not in the product

A developer reviewed the network code and concluded that Cocoon isn’t used in Telegram’s core features — translations, voice, and summaries. Instead, those tasks run on private servers, with no on-chain linkage to TON.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Based on the code review, Cocoon isn’t involved in critical Telegram flows (translations/voice/summaries)
⚫️ Tasks are executed on private servers, not via TON on-chain logic
⚫️ The public network may exist, but it looks like a non-essential layer from a product standpoint
⚫️ Activity metrics look thin: over 3 months — ~20 workers, 3 clients, and ~2,000 TON earned

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ This challenges the “fully decentralized” narrative: core functionality remains centralized
⚫️ If TON isn’t part of the critical flows, the real question isn’t “how fast” — it’s why it matters for the product
⚫️ An economy with 3 clients and 2,000 TON per quarter is not scale — it’s early-stage territory
⚫️ Takeaway: if they want real decentralization, it must be embedded into core user journeys — otherwise it’s a showcase, not infrastructure

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Gift record: Telegram just crossed 10 million

Total Telegram Gifts supply has crossed 10M, now sitting at 10,035,424. The number is growing — but ownership will still be highly uneven.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Telegram Gifts supply is now 10,035,424, officially above 10 million
⚫️ With ~1B Telegram users, that’s roughly 0.01 gifts per user on average
⚫️ If you assume “one gift per person,” at most about ~1% of users could own at least one gift

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Gifts are turning into a real in-app economy: storefront, status, resales, scarcity mechanics
⚫️ “Everyone owns one” is not the endgame — even at scale, it’ll remain a minority asset, which naturally drives concentration and speculation
⚫️ As supply grows, expect Telegram to tighten UX/rules/access (especially on iOS) to keep monetization under control

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram Gifts were planned back in 2022: a “new feature” with a 3-year warm-up

Telegram Gifts weren’t a random 2025 surprise — the idea was being tested three years earlier. What started as a small TON-community experiment has now evolved into a full in-app economy inside Telegram.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ In 2022, the TON Gift project launched — gifts you could send with comments
⚫️ Early collections were pure “holiday vibes”: Christmas trees, teddy bears, Valentine hearts
⚫️ Similar mechanics and visuals later appeared in official Telegram Gifts
⚫️ In 2025, Telegram released its first official Gifts
⚫️ Today, nearly 6 million users have received at least one gift

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ This shows Telegram’s playbook: test mechanics in the community first, then scale them into the core product
⚫️ 6M recipients means it’s no longer niche — it’s a массовый behavior layer inside Telegram
⚫️ Gifts aren’t just “cute collectibles” — they’re monetization via digital goods, and long warm-ups usually create stronger markets and habits

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram cleared its 2021 debt: the first bond tranche is fully repaid

Pavel Durov says Telegram has fully repaid the convertible bonds issued back in 2021. After years of “IPO soon,” this looks like a balance-sheet cleanup before the next move.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Telegram repaid its 5-year USD convertible bonds issued in March 2021
⚫️ Deal size: $1B at 7% annual interest
⚫️ The notes included an option to convert into Telegram shares at a 10% discount (if an IPO happened)
⚫️ In May 2021, Telegram added another $750M on similar terms
⚫️ Durov links this to monetization: Telegram became profitable in 2024, and a newer bond deal “was oversubscribed”
⚫️ At the same time, regulatory/legal overhang remains a narrative factor (France case headlines, tighter moderation, faster legal responses)

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Retiring convertibles reduces uncertainty and cleans up the cap/IPO narrative
⚫️ Telegram is signaling financial strength: “we can service debt and still raise capital”
⚫️ But the IPO timeline remains fluid, and legal/regulatory pressure is still part of the risk stack
⚫️ For the wider Telegram/TON ecosystem, a stronger Telegram balance sheet usually means more room to push product expansion

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Gifts market is crashing again: floor is back to 2 TON

Looks like the “gift economy” is back in panic mode. The floor has dropped to ~2 TON, and sentiment feels like hope just got unplugged.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Telegram gifts floor price fell again and is back around ~2 TON
⚫️ This looks like capitulation: sellers push, buyers disappear
⚫️ Fear & Greed index ≈ 1 — that’s not a dip, that’s pure fear

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Gifts are an emotion-driven asset: once sentiment breaks, liquidity is the first thing to vanish
⚫️ A 2 TON floor is a stress test for “real demand” without hype
⚫️ If Telegram tightens monetization rules further (especially on iOS), volatility likely gets worse
⚫️ Takeaway: gifts move in cycles — today it’s “collectibles”, tomorrow it’s “clearance sale”

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 TON × WalletConnect: a unified standard for wallet connections

TON announced a partnership with WalletConnect to bring a more reliable, standardized wallet-connection infrastructure into the ecosystem — less integration chaos, more consistent UX.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ TON is partnering with WalletConnect as wallet connection infrastructure
⚫️ For developers: shared standards across wallets and apps — less time wiring connections, more time building product
⚫️ For users: a cleaner, familiar “Connect” flow that feels the same across TON apps
⚫️ For external teams: apps already using WalletConnect in other networks can integrate with TON faster and reduce engineering overhead

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Standardized connections mean less friction, fewer edge-case bugs, and less fragmentation
⚫️ For TON, it’s an ecosystem accelerator: easier app expansion + broader wallet compatibility
⚫️ End result is simple: users don’t care about SDK wars — they want one predictable “Connect” experience

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram × OpenClaw: teaming up for an in-app AI agent

Pavel Durov says Telegram is working with Peter Steinberger (creator of OpenClaw) to improve Telegram’s AI agent inside the messenger. This looks like the “Telegram as an agent platform” narrative getting real.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Telegram is collaborating with OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger
⚫️ The goal is to improve an AI agent experience inside Telegram
⚫️ Fits the broader direction: bots/agents become a native layer, not a third-party addon

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ If Telegram nails the UX, it unlocks a new behavior layer: less chatting, more task orchestration
⚫️ For TON, agents can naturally lead to monetization: payments, subscriptions, purchases, automation flows
⚫️ And when Durov publicly name-drops a specific builder/project, it usually signals a real product push — not a weekend experiment

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram will flag unofficial clients: Telega and others in the spotlight

Telegram is set to label users of third-party clients (like Telega) with a warning that chats with them may be unsafe. The move follows a scandal around a VK-linked client that was allegedly able to transmit message contents.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Telegram will display a notice for accounts using unofficial clients
⚫️ The warning will indicate that conversations may be insecure
⚫️ The trigger was a controversy around a VK-linked client accused of potentially leaking message content
⚫️ The message is clear: “not official” = “not trusted by default”

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ Telegram is turning client choice into a security signal inside the UI
⚫️ This hits the third-party client ecosystem: many users will move back to the official app for peace of mind
⚫️ It’s also a broader stance: privacy depends on end-to-end control — if Telegram can’t guarantee the client, it won’t guarantee the chat

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Telegram Ads is tightening the screws: TON ad accounts under threat

According to agencies connected to Telegram, moderation has become noticeably stricter — especially for TON ad accounts. This is already hitting launches: more delays, more rejections, more requests to “add details.”

🔝 What is happening
⚫️ Ad moderation in Telegram is becoming more thorough, and TON ad accounts are being reviewed more carefully than before
⚫️ More and more often, campaigns get stuck in review for several days, weeks, or even several months, or receive a rejection — especially in the crypto segment, where requirements are stricter and more formal
⚫️ The bottleneck now is no longer budget or creatives, but time: a launch can drag on even if everything is ready
⚫️ The logic is simple: Telegram is “cleaning up the storefront,” and any risk zones (crypto, finance, yield promises, gray funnels) are getting increased scrutiny

🔝 Why this matters
⚫️ Planning a launch “for tomorrow” is becoming dangerous: review timelines are turning into a lottery
⚫️ For the TON ecosystem, this is a sign of growing up: less chaos, but more control and compliance
⚫️ The practical approach right now: build in extra time, get your landing page and funnel in order in advance, remove aggressive promises and ambiguous wording — moderation is increasingly looking not only at the banner, but also at where the ad leads
⚫️ The soft but very real fear: if you do not have discipline around the rules, you will not get launches. Not because you are “bad,” but because the rules have become real

🔝 Comment from an official source connected to an agency working directly with Telegram:

Hello, the situation is extremely complicated, and for now we still do not understand how to resolve things with our campaigns.
The moderation criteria are becoming stricter and stricter, and there are simply no fast ways to solve these issues. The only thing left for us is to wait, wait, and wait again until everything becomes clearer. — Yan P.

The FUD here is simple: if you do not have compliance, you will not have launches. Not because you are “bad,” but because the rules have become real.

📌 Conclusion:

What is this leading to right now? We are seeing that hundreds of thousands of campaigns are being stopped and delayed because of these changed rules that have not been publicly announced to everyone. And this is according to an agency that works directly with Telegram and has direct access to it.
So what will happen next, we do not know, but according to these sources, this will most likely continue until at least the end of this year.

🤑 TON Insider 🤑

💎 Sub-Second activation: TON is pushing confirmations below 1 second

Anatoly Makosov announced the start of Sub-Second activation — one of the biggest upgrades to the TON protocol. The goal is straightforward: transaction confirmations should become faster than 1 second.

🔝 What’s happening
⚫️ Sub-Second activation has started
⚫️ Expected outcome: transaction confirmations under 1 second
⚫️ The rollout is split into three stages: March 31, April 2, and April 7

🔝 Why it matters
⚫️ This isn’t a “nice-to-have” upgrade: confirmation speed directly shapes user experience — especially for Mini Apps and payment flows
⚫️ The closer TON gets to Web2-like speed, the easier it is for Telegram-native services to scale without UX pain
⚫️ A staged rollout signals caution: it’s a major change, and they’re deploying it in controlled steps to avoid surprises on the live network

🤑 TON Insider 🤑