How to Begin with TON
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The rapid ascent of TON in recent months has been impossible to ignore.
With its seamless integration into Telegram and a steady climb in value—hitting new all-time highs last week even as the broader market tumbled—the Open Network ecosystem is swiftly gaining momentum.
Although TON is primarily recognized for its extensive gaming ecosystem, featuring numerous tokens and titles, the network provides a wide array of opportunities, including liquid staking, lending, and trading.
Earn Tokens by Playing Games on Telegram
Gaming has emerged as a highlight for TON, starting with Notcoin and now expanding with titles like CatizenAI and Hamster Kombat.
CatizenAI is a popular play-to-earn game on Telegram where players become the mayor of a virtual cat city. This game merges city-building with cryptoeconomics, allowing players to earn Catizen coins by developing their city, completing tasks, and participating in airdrop campaigns. Its unique approach and strategic gameplay have fueled its rapid growth, boasting over 15 million users and more than 3.5 million daily active users, over half of whom are paying customers.
In Hamster Kombat, players take on the role of the hamster CEO of a budding crypto exchange. Players tap a golden coin to earn coins, which can then be used to upgrade their exchange, leading to more earnings. This simple yet engaging gameplay, coupled with real crypto rewards, has attracted a user base of 150 million players. With a token airdrop planned for July, Hamster Kombat is following the successful path of Notcoin, which saw its token value surge.
Earn Extra Rewards by Liquid-Staking Your TON
Similar to other PoS ecosystems, liquid staking with Tonstakers or Bemo Finance enables you to use your TON for additional rewards.
Tonstakers allows TON holders to pool their funds for blockchain validation. These participants, known as Nominators, stake their TON in a pool, contributing to the network’s security and performance, and earning rewards. By voting in a pool, stakers exercise their validation rights.
The main source of rewards in the Tonstakers protocol is validation rewards. Additionally, at the pool level, rewards also come from interest payments made by validators who borrow funds from nominators for staking. In return for staking Toncoin through Tonstakers, participants receive a liquid staking receipt token called Jetton Pool.
Bemo is another non-custodial liquid staking protocol on TON. It allows users to stake their TON tokens and receive stTON tokens in return, which can be freely used in DeFi and increase in value as staking rewards are earned.
stTON eliminates the need to unstake or wait through cooldown periods since they can be transferred, traded, or used in DeFi anytime. Moreover, you can boost your yield by using stTON tokens for liquidity provision on TON DEXs or lending protocols, earning additional returns beyond staking rewards.
Lend via Money Market Platforms
Lending platforms on TON provide additional opportunities to leverage your assets and generate profit.
Evaa Protocol, a lending platform on the TON network, allows users to lend and borrow assets such as TON, stTON, tsTON, and USDT directly from Telegram. With double-digit interest rates for TON and USDT, the platform offers a competitive option for participating in DeFi and earning higher yields on your TON than staking. The protocol also features an XP points program, which can later be exchanged for the EVAA token upon its launch.
DAOLama specializes in NFT lending for TON, supporting over 35 collections. Users can select an NFT to rent out in exchange for TON, create a proposal, and receive TON based on the proposal’s terms once confirmed. Additionally, DAOLama’s marketplace includes a Buy Now, Pay Later feature for NFTs, allowing you to purchase NFTs like Anonymous Telegram Numbers for 41 TON instead of 113 TON.
Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency Derivatives
For those interested in derivatives trading, TON supports platforms that enable trading crypto assets with up to 50x leverage.
Moreover, Storm Trade provides earning opportunities through tournaments and liquidity provision. In daily tournaments, users compete for Storm Trade NFTs, which whitelist them for the exchange’s token at launch. By contributing liquidity to their vaults, users can act as counterparties to traders on the platform and earn 70% of protocol fees. All these activities can be managed directly from Telegram, making trading convenient and mobile.
Conclusion
From offering token-earning games like Catizen and Hamster Kombat to providing liquid staking options with Tonstakers and Bemo Finance, the network caters to a diverse user base. You can swap tokens on decentralized exchanges like STON.fi and DeDust, lend assets through Evaa Protocol and DAOLama TON, and trade derivatives on Storm Trade with up to 50x leverage.
With its comprehensive ecosystem and rapid growth, the blockchain is well-positioned to attract and engage both new and existing users. Its seamless integration with Telegram enhances its accessibility, making it a versatile and promising blockchain for all.
