Telegram Replaces TON Foundation as Network’s Driving Force, Token Surges 23%

Pavel Durov announced Telegram will take direct control of TON’s operations and become its largest validator, sending Toncoin to a four-month high on a 324% spike in trading volume.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced on Sunday that the messaging platform will replace the TON Foundation as the primary operator of The Open Network and become the blockchain’s largest validator. Toncoin surged more than 23% in 24 hours to a four-month high, with trading volume jumping 324% to $309 million.

The move marks the most significant governance change for TON since Telegram abandoned the project in 2020 after settling with the SEC over its original $1.7 billion GRAM token sale. Since then, the network has been developed by an independent community, with the Swiss-based TON Foundation acting as the main coordinator.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

Under the new structure, Telegram will take direct responsibility for product direction, protocol upgrades, and validator participation. The company has staked approximately 2.2 million TON, worth roughly $2.88 million, to secure the chain. Durov said transaction fees have already dropped sixfold to near zero, and that a new ton.org website, upgraded developer tools, and further performance improvements will roll out within two to three weeks.

The timing follows several recent infrastructure upgrades. Catchain 2.0, activated on April 9, reduced block generation time from about 2.5 seconds to roughly 400 milliseconds. A new fixed base fee of approximately $0.0005 per transaction took effect on May 1, designed to support micropayments and high-frequency activity inside Telegram’s ecosystem of Mini Apps and in-app payments.

The consolidation raises centralization questions. Telegram’s nearly 1 billion monthly active users give the network unmatched distribution, but concentrating validator authority and technical leadership in a single corporate entity is a departure from the decentralized model the foundation was designed to represent. The next major governance test is a June 2026 validator vote on inflation, after Catchain 2.0’s faster block production pushed projected annual issuance from roughly 0.6% to 3.6%. When asked on social media whether “glory days lie ahead,” Durov responded: “Inevitable.”