TON blockchain's success shows crypto has gone mainstream: Midas CEO

Dennis Dinkelmeyer, CEO of asset tokenization platform Midas, said that 2024 is the year that blockchain goes “mainstream” following the success of The Open Network ( TON -0.69% ) and its integration with the popular messaging app Telegram.

In a Tuesday report shared with The Block, Dinkelmeyer argued that while crypto has grown significantly, it has struggled to achieve mass adoption and sustainable, real-world use cases outside of niche areas. However, following the substantial growth of TON blockchain and its integration into Telegram’s messaging app, that narrative is changing, Dinkelmeyer said.

It’s a view echoed by Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who said earlier this year that “2024 will go down in history as the year when hundreds of millions of people became familiar with blockchain.”

In an episode of The Scoop podcast last week, Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan, Catizen Cofounder Ricky Wong, and Miles, a core member of Tomarket, also outlined how TON's Telegram distribution strategy is bringing millions of new users onchain.

Looking at the numbers, since Telegram launched its native crypto wallet, TON Space, in September 2023, the ecosystem has grown to more than 11 million monthly active addresses, according to TonStat .

TON monthly active wallets. Image: TonStat .

As a result, it’s approaching the same levels as Ethereum by that metric, per The Block’s data dashboard.

According to a recent report from Bitget, TON's daily transaction volume has also grown twelvefold from 100,000 to 1.2 million over the past year. Bitget said its TVL currently stands at $350 million, up 1,800% in less than six months, driven by DEX trading volume growth.

Additionally, Tether’s USDT on TON became the fastest-growing stablecoin in history, Dinkelmeyer claims, nearing a $1 billion circulating supply in just four months.

Midas is a Berlin-based startup backed by high-profile investors, including Coinbase Ventures, GSR and BlockTower Capital. Midas recently raised $8.75 million to develop its platform, which includes products like mTBILL, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasury bills.

In March, it launched mBASIS , a dollar-denominated ERC-20 token designed to deliver yield through a delta-neutral basis trading strategy, taking on competitors like Ethena. Midas has also launched a Telegram app, reaching 1 million users in four months, Dinkelmeyer claimed.

Beyond the Telegram clicker game hype

Undoubtedly, the buzz surrounding Telegram clicker games like Notcoin, Hamster Kombat and Catizen have been a significant source of demand, with the promise of TON-based token allocations for the games’ participants. Indeed, Hamster Kombat’s airdrop of 131 million HMSTR tokens last week marked one of the largest airdrops on TON in something of a test for a blockchain that has faced outage issues in the past. 

Capitalizing on the games' explosive growth, Telegram also introduced a mini-app store and an in-app browser with support for web3 pages in July. However, there remain concerns about the sustainability of such clicker games in the long term, with projects now looking at new ways to evolve .

Beyond the tap-to-earn game hype, Dinkelmeyer still expects TON’s ecosystem to grow substantially due to three key advantages: Telegram’s large user base, better user experience and low transaction fees.

Telegram claims to have more than 900 million active users, surpassing the reach of popular crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance and more traditional payment solutions. Though it faces challenges in terms of compliance and preventing criminal misuse of the platform, Dinkelmeyer said Telegram provides a substantial base for connected TON blockchain apps to tap into and drive blockchain adoption at scale. 

Monthly active users on Telegram vs. alternative payment solutions. Image: Midas.

Dinkelmeyer argues that one of the biggest barriers to blockchain adoption has been complex UX, with users having to deal with seed phrases, gas fees and confusing transactions, preventing mainstream users from making on-chain transactions for day-to-day money transfers.

In contrast, the Midas CEO argues Telegram’s integration makes this process much simpler, operating like a traditional web2 application that users are more comfortable with.

Finally, TON’s combination of low transaction fees and fast speeds creates the foundation for TON to become a primary settlement layer for peer-to-peer payments and other financial services within the Telegram ecosystem, in Dinkelmeyer’s view.

Average transaction fees to send native tokens. Image: Midas.

“Over time, I believe Telegram is increasingly steering to become a global superApp, similar to WeChat, with TON serving as the decentralized settlement layer for financial transactions,” Dinkelmeyer said. “This marks a significant step toward fulfilling the original vision of blockchain—a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, with millions of users globally.”