A breakthrough right into the top 10. Toncoin (TON), the cryptocurrency associated with Telegram, has just set an all-time record. Its capitalization exceeds that of Cardano (ADA), to become the 10th largest in the cryptocurrency sector. How to explain this?
Toncoin (TON) up sharply this week
While the cryptocurrency market seems to have entered a consolidation phase, some altcoins are still managing to pull ahead. Such is the case with Toncoin (TON), whose price has risen by 33.5% over the week. By comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by just 4.9% over the same period.
TON price up sharply this week
The TON hit an all-time high yesterday, trading at $7.11. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency has a capitalization of $23.4 billion. That’s enough to overtake Cardano’s ADA, and push the latter out of the top 10. TON is preceded by Dogecoin (DOGE), which currently boasts $27.4 billion in capitalization.
How do you explain this renewed interest in TON?
The history of TON is a winding one. The blockchain on which it exists, the Ton Open Network, was originally maintained by Telegram. But numerous legal setbacks later, the messaging service had been forced to sever ties with its cryptocurrency. Reinstated in 2022, the cryptocurrency is now once again at the heart of Telegram’s development strategy.
Several factors seem to be behind this recent rise. On the one hand, Telegram announced just over a month ago that Telegram channels would now receive 50% of advertising revenue in TON, which led to an initial rise.
In addition, Telegram’s CEO confirmed that several blockchain initiatives were on the menu for the messaging app. The company wants to offer a hub where decentralized wallets, DEX and other means of digital asset management will be available.
A new decentralized identity service under development
This most recent rise, however, seems to have been triggered by an initiative from the TON Society. Two days ago, the developer community announced a “proof of humanity” project, based on palm scans. The initiative, reminiscent of Worldcoin (WLD) of course, is being developed in partnership with HumanCode.
The TON Foundation’s head of growth, Ekin Tuna, confirmed that this project was aimed at attracting new users to Telegram:
“A scalable, private and decentralized identity will help welcome the first billion users to the Web3 ecosystem, in Telegram. “
The move of a major messaging service like Telegram towards blockchain is anything but trivial. And the rise in the price of Toncoin shows that investors intend to support the company’s Web3 initiatives.
