TON: NOT Right Now

The Bull Case

Telegram’s Distribution

The TON blockchain shot to the top of the crypto market cap leaderboard in 2024 on the back of its renewed partnership with widely popular messaging app Telegram. The market’s excitement is underscored by one of the most powerful forces in technology markets: distribution.

The power of distribution should not be dismissed. Companies that control distribution can control what content, products, and services reach the end consumer, and can use existing relationships as a wedge into new markets. Distribution is why Teams bested Slack even though Slack is a better product with a multi-year head start. It’s how Microsoft was able to use its on-prem relationships to build its presence in the cloud and chip away at AWS’ market share. Google was able to leverage Gmail and Google Search to push the adoption of G-Suite (now Google Workspace). Apple was able to almost instantly put Apple Pay in the hands of its installed user base, adding billions to revenue less than 24 months after launch.

On the surface, Telegram’s distribution as a wildly popular messaging app is almost unmatched in technology markets. Telegram touts 900 million monthly active users across the globe, making it one of the most widely used social apps on the planet according to data compiled by Statista. Most importantly, the app’s popularity is growing rapidly in both personal and professional settings globally, with the company targeting 1.5 billion MAUs by 2028.

Telegram is using its powerful distribution to put TONcoin and the greater TON ecosystem into the hands of its users. The messenger app has embedded a TON wallet which is prominently displayed in the Menu and Attachment Menu sections of the Telegram app for most non-US Telegram users. The wallet can also easily be called in messaging by simply type “‘@wallet”, giving Telegram users numerous avenues to onboard from fiat to TONcoin or USDT and use apps on the TON blockchain.