Origin and Founders of TON Coin
TON (The Open Network) project was initially designed by Nikolai Durov, co-founder of Telegram, and publicly launched in 2018 by his brother, Pavel Durov, Telegram's CEO. Their vision was to create a decentralized, high-performance blockchain platform capable of handling millions of users and transactions, integrated into Telegram's ecosystem. However, this ambitious plan faced a major setback in 2020. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Telegram's token, Gram (the initial token name for TON), of being an "unregistered security," forcing Telegram to terminate the project and halt the planned token issuance.
Community Takeover and the Evolution of "The Open Network"
After Telegram's withdrawal, the TON project did not end. An independent open-source community quickly took over the project's development and established the TON Foundation, dedicated to its continued growth. To differentiate from Telegram's original branding, the project was renamed "The Open Network," and the token was officially renamed Toncoin. Through the community's efforts, TON continued to develop its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and multi-chain sharding architecture, aiming for high scalability and efficiency.
Toncoin Supply and Inflation Mechanism
Toncoin's initial total supply was approximately 5 billion tokens. According to the latest data, as of October 27, 2026, the total supply of Toncoin has reached approximately 5.27 billion tokens. Its circulating supply is approximately 2.84 billion tokens. Notably, Toncoin is an inflationary token with an annual inflation rate of approximately 0.6%, with these newly minted tokens primarily used to reward validators who secure the network. Theoretically, Toncoin does not have a fixed supply cap.
Telegram's Official Integration and Ecosystem Outlook
Despite the initial regulatory-driven separation, the relationship between Telegram and TON has become closer in recent years. In 2023, Telegram announced TON as its official Web3 infrastructure and deeply integrated it into the Telegram application, supporting built-in wallet and payment functionalities. By February 2024, Telegram explicitly stipulated that its channel transactions and advertising payments would exclusively use the TON blockchain and Toncoin. This series of initiatives has significantly enhanced Toncoin's utility and market attention, making it a crucial bridge connecting Web2 social platforms with the Web3 decentralized world.
Toncoin Trading Channels
Currently, Toncoin can be traded on platforms that support the token. According to market data, Toncoin is available for buying and selling on trading platforms such as WEEX, DigiFinex, and XT.COM.
The platform information mentioned in the article is subject to change as exchanges list and delist assets. Please refer to official exchange announcements.
