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Despite the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector lagging behind other crypto spaces, The Open Network blockchain is predicted to play a key role in mainstream adoption of decentralized technologies and cryptocurrencies.
The viral success of the TON blockchain is largely due to its connection with the Telegram messaging app. More than 950 million Telegram users can access TON-based blockchain applications directly through the messaging app. This dynamic presents a huge opportunity for DeFi to reach a wide audience.
The Potential of TON and Telegram
According to the GSR report published on October 17, the The Open Network+Telegram ecosystem has the potential to enable DeFi adoption not only in the gaming and social segments, but also by non-crypto audiences. The report stated:
“While the attention around The Open Network has generally focused on gaming and social applications, we believe the TON+Telegram ecosystem presents a huge opportunity for DeFi that needs to expand beyond crypto-specific audiences.”
This forecast is considered a promising sign for the DeFi sector at a time when the DeFi sector has been underperforming compared to memecoins and smart contract platform-based tokens.
DeFi Sector Going Through Tough Times
According to Artemis data, between January 2022 and September 2023, tokens connected to DeFi protocols fell by 72%, while memecoins lost 35% and smart contract-based tokens lost 48%. This weak performance of DeFi raises expectations that new technologies like TON could revitalize the sector.
TON Surpasses Ethereum and L2
Thanks to its increasing adoption rate, TON has surpassed many popular blockchains in terms of active addresses. According to the report, the number of monthly active addresses on the network increased from 100,000 in September 2023 to 9.9 million in September 2024 after Telegram introduced its integrated wallet.
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This increase put TON ahead of Ethereum with 5.5 million active addresses in September 2024. It also ranked ahead of Ethereum layer-2 (L2) networks such as Arbitrum, OP Mainnet, and Polygon PoS. However, the report also noted that Coinbase’s Base blockchain and Solana still have more active users than TON.
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