The Open Network (TON), the blockchain that runs wildly successful messaging app Telegram, may only boast a fraction of the latter’s 950 million user base – but the figure is growing. 

With 52 million wallet addresses currently holding a balance, and viral TON-based game Hamster Kombat having amassed 250 million monthly active users, this is a network on an obvious upward trend. While we’re listing milestones, transactions on the blockchain also recently passed a billion. 

As with other chains, there are a number of web3 wallets catering to users keen to interact with it in some capacity, whether to play games, trade, yield farm, or something else. Perhaps the best known TON-based crypto wallet is Tonkeeper, which has accumulated over 30 million monthly active users since launching three years ago. A noncustodial wallet, Tonkeeper has played a major role in driving the growth of DeFi on TON, acting as a user-friendly gateway that also happens to be stacked with features.

A Focus On Utilities

Tonkeeper’s more than a wallet, though. Its support for gasless transactions, covering subscription payments with Toncoin, staking, and multi-send – the latter of which lets users perform up to 255 transactions in one go – make it a bellwether in TON’s fast-growing DeFi landscape. Much of the wallet’s success stems from its commitment to broadening accessibility through its numerous dApp integrations.

“We want to promote utilities,” states Rostislav Rudakov, Head of Business Development at TonApps, which developed the wallet. After speaking to dApp developer teams, Tonkeeper selects partners on the basis of the benefits their products bring to users, as well as their existing user base and team experience. 

Most dApps Tonkeeper supports fall into two categories – games built for a mass audience (including simple clicker games of which TON has many) and utility apps for power users. Rudakov says the wallet is interested in converting the gaming audience into long-term network users.

Rudakov’s colleague, Tonkeeper’s Head of Business Development Asia Lita Liu, believes TON’s links to Telegram are important when it comes to determining  which projects to support. “With Telegram having a broader audience than crypto, entertainment is particularly important – so a fun game would be a desired product for users. If the game includes economic models that help users generate extra income, it will further aid the product’s growth.

“We aim to list sustainable projects that can continuously provide value or utility to users. The focus is mainly on digital nomad tools, DeFi products, and games; a good product must meet various user needs, such as practicality, playability, or economic benefits. Projects that have been discussed, but aren’t greenlit, will continue to be monitored so that support can be provided at the most appropriate time.”

As for projects that Tonkeeper refuses to support, those “related to gambling, drugs, and other sensitive areas are likely to be avoided,” says Liu. “This is because Telegram does not have age restrictions, so there is a cautious approach towards such sensitive projects.”

At the time of writing, Tonkeeper’s partners include a pair of staking projects, an integrated swap project, six fiat-to-crypto, three crypto-to-crypto, 34 dApps and six external partners. This fact alone means wallet-owners can interact with a large number of protocols directly from the wallet itself.

The Future of TON

Although undoubtedly a broad church, the Tonkeeper wallet does not have a come-one, come-all policy. On the contrary, Rudakov reveals that 70% of candidate projects are not listed due to things like “duplication of functions with already listed applications, lack of TON Connect, payments via Tonkeeper, or profit sharing.” Others are rejected due to their lack of meaningful utility or absence of legal entities.

The growth of Telegram’s mini-game ecosystem has turned heads in the web3 world, thanks to the success of the aforementioned Hamster Kombat, along with projects like Catizen which has 30 million monthly users. Some believe TON will continue down this gaming-centric road, courting the interest of Telegram users with zany blockchain-based clicker games.

“Telegram is a super app with nearly a billion users,” notes Liu. “Due to its features and the user-friendly nature of projects within the wallet, it will attract more non-crypto Telegram users, too.”

Having already established itself as the top TON-based wallet, Tonkeeper plans to continue integrating with the best applications and services available on the network, from payment systems to social platforms. Rudakov believes gamified onboarding will be an important aspect to onboard curious users tempted to start exploring what the blockchain has to offer.

Whether TON succeeds in converting Telegram’s audience, or only a fraction of it, is anyone’s guess. That sounds like a ten-year plan, and an optimistic one. Nevertheless, the popularization of viral games, DeFi hits and user-friendly wallets like Tonkeeper won’t hurt the network’s cause.