Toncoin price today

The Toncoin price (TON) is more familiar to many Iranian users than many other cryptocurrencies, because for a large share of them, their first experience with crypto came through Telegram games and mini-apps. On this page you can see the live Toncoin price in Tether and its candlestick chart, and below you will learn about the eventful history of the TON project, its relationship with Telegram, its technology and supply, the factors that affect its price, and the important point of the "comment" or "memo" when transferring TON.

What is Toncoin?

TON stands for "The Open Network"; a layer-1 blockchain designed for fast transactions and high user volume, whose native currency is called "Toncoin". Toncoin is used to pay transaction fees, for staking and block validation, for payments in apps on this network, and to buy some Telegram-related services.

History: from Telegram to an open-source community

The TON project was originally designed under the name "Telegram Open Network" by the Telegram team; Nikolai Durov was its technical architect, and his brother Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was the project's main backer. In 2018, Telegram raised money from investors in a large private sale of the project's token, which at the time was called "Gram".

In October 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued over this sale, considering it an offering of unregistered securities. The court halted the token distribution, and in 2020 Telegram officially withdrew from the project and returned investors' money. After that, a group of independent developers continued the project's open-source code, its name was changed to "The Open Network", and the "TON Foundation" was formed to support the ecosystem. A few years later, Telegram again supported TON, this time as a partner rather than its creator.

The relationship between TON and Telegram

Its close link with Telegram is TON's biggest difference from its competitors. TON-based wallets are available within Telegram, Telegram usernames and virtual numbers are bought and sold with Toncoin on the "Fragment" auction platform, and Telegram pays channel owners part of the channel advertising revenue in Toncoin. The wave of "tap" games and Telegram mini-apps in 2024 also introduced millions of users to the TON wallet, including a large number of Iranian users.

This same link carries its own specific risk: news about Telegram and its executives has a direct effect on the Toncoin price. A well-known example was Pavel Durov's arrest in France in August 2024, which was accompanied by a sharp drop in the TON price.

Toncoin technology and supply

TON uses a "proof of stake" mechanism and has a multi-chain architecture: a "masterchain" that holds the overall state of the network, and "workchains" and "shardchains" that automatically split during busy periods and merge during quiet ones. This design, called "dynamic sharding", is intended to support a very large volume of users. The token standard on this network is called "Jetton", and Tether also has an official version on TON.

The initial supply of Toncoin was about 5 billion units. New Toncoin is issued at a low rate as a reward to validators, while part of the transaction fees is burned. One of the ongoing debates about TON is the large share of early wallets in the total supply and its degree of concentration.

What factors change the Toncoin price?

• Telegram decisions and news: Any new feature Telegram introduces based on TON, or any legal news about Telegram, is usually reflected in the price.
• Mini-app and game activity: Waves of new users coming in through games and airdrops push up demand, and the end of these waves or the sale of airdropped tokens can create selling pressure.
• Overall market trend: The direction of Bitcoin and global macro conditions affect TON just as they do other altcoins such as Dogecoin ; check the timing of important events in the economic calendar .
• Competition: Other fast blockchains such as Solana compete with TON to attract everyday users and payments.

Transferring TON: don't forget the comment or memo

Exchanges usually have a shared address for Toncoin deposits and identify each user's deposit by a unique "comment" or "memo". If you don't enter this text when sending TON or TON-network Tether to an exchange, the deposit won't be credited to your account, and recovering it is time-consuming or impossible.

• TON addresses come in two modes: "Bounceable" (usually starting with EQ) and "Non-bounceable" (usually starting with UQ). Sending to a wallet that hasn't been activated yet using the wrong mode may cause the transaction to bounce back; newer wallets usually display the right format themselves.
• TON network fees are low, but to move Jettons, including Tether on TON, you need to have a little Toncoin in your wallet.
• The withdrawal and deposit network must be the same; Toncoin also has token versions on other networks.

Security and access for Iranian users

TON's popularity on Telegram has made it a target for fake messages and bots: bots that promise airdrops and ask for your recovery phrase, or links that lure you into signing a transaction to "claim a prize". Never enter your recovery phrase into any bot, and know the difference between a custodial wallet (where the provider holds the key) and a personal wallet. Follow warnings about high-risk platforms in risk warnings .

Iranian users' access to Telegram from inside the country is restricted by filtering, and some foreign wallet services and exchanges also restrict service to residents of Iran under sanctions rules; accounts identified as Iranian may be blocked. Toncoin is traded on Iranian exchanges against Toman and Tether, and its Toman price is roughly equal to TON's dollar price multiplied by Tether's Toman rate; meaning that even when the global price stays flat, changes in the open-market dollar and Tether in Iran can push TON's Toman price up or down. Those who have obtained Toncoin from games and airdrops should check the withdrawal fee and the minimum deposit of the destination exchange before selling, and if they plan to trade with leverage, they should work out their position size and stop loss with the trading calculator . To choose an exchange, see the crypto exchange comparison on Teagle, and follow the prices of other cryptocurrencies in the crypto section .

The information on this page is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell. Prices are obtained from the stated sources and may differ slightly from the rate at the exchange you use.