Holders of TON, the cryptocurrency that undergirds the Telegram-linked blockchain network, The Open Network, will soon be able to earn staking rewards via a new service—one promising “institutional-grade” security, along with ease of use and lower barriers to entry.
P2P.org, a non-custodial staking provider, today announced a collaboration with Ton Whales, a core TON development team, to offer a new staking solution targeted at exchanges and custodians.
The service, accessible as a widget via all TON Connect-compatible wallets, will allow any address holding at least 10 TON (less than $30 worth) to participate in staking the cryptocurrency for 4.7% APY. It will automatically distribute staked funds across TON network validators, removing the need on the part of intermediaries for manual setup.
By combining ease of use and institutional-grade security, the organizations involved feel confident that it will attract interest from top institutional adopters seeking to tap into financial rewards currently available to Telegram’s one billion users worldwide.
“Our goal is straightforward: help intermediaries generate sustainable yield for their users with minimal integration effort and zero custody risk,” said P2P.org Chief Revenue Officer Alex Lotkev. “This is precisely the kind of bridge between traditional finance and DeFi that the market has been waiting for.”
TON is the native token of The Open Network, which recently secured an exclusivity deal as the only blockchain that can be integrated within Telegram apps.
The network was originally developed in-house at Telegram until the messaging app dumped the project in 2020, amid regulatory scrutiny. But after years of external development, Telegram has increasingly embraced TON via a number of integrations that began in late 2023.
Users of the popular messaging platform can earn TON-based tokens through games and other apps, and can use the token to buy goods and services within the Telegram ecosystem.
Over 156 million wallets are currently active on the TON network, according to TonStat. They have collectively staked over $2 billion worth of the cryptocurrency to earn rewards.
P2P.org and Ton Whales say they are developing a tool to allow early-stage investors to stake locked tokens, allowing rewards to be earned sooner. Ton Whales also plans to launch a TON staking-linked bank card this year, which will allow users to accumulate staked sums of the cryptocurrency as rewards for purchases.
Over the last year, Telegram’s embrace of TON has served as a major avenue for crypto-backed apps to find mainstream user bases in the hundreds of millions. The ecosystem has also suffered fatigue, however, with many TON-backed apps and games struggling to find a way to preserve enthusiasm after financial incentives dissipate.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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