
Pavel Durov confirmed this week that Telegram is replacing the TON Foundation as the primary operational force behind the TON blockchain, marking a significant structural shift for one of crypto’s most closely watched Layer 1 networks.
“Fees in TON have dropped 6x, to nearly zero,” Durov wrote on X. “Next step: Telegram replaces the TON Foundation. Focus shifts to tech superiority.”
Toncoin rose on the news as markets digested what the change means for the network’s direction and governance.
TON’s transaction fee is now approximately 0.00039 TON, roughly half a tenth of a cent, fixed regardless of how busy the network gets. That fixed element is as important as the size of the cut itself. Unpredictable fees are one of the main reasons developers and users avoid blockchain applications for everyday payments.
Here is how TON now compares to its main rivals:
TON and Solana are now in a category of their own on cost. The difference is that TON comes with direct distribution through a messaging app used by nearly one billion people.
Telegram is not just supporting TON, it’s taking over its core operations. This includes becoming the largest validator, staking around 2.2 million TON, and directly strengthening network security.
Whether replacing it with direct Telegram control accelerates development or introduces new dependencies is a debate the community has already started. Durov’s answer, implicitly, is that the speed and focus that comes with unified control outweighs the governance trade-off.
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