- The Open Network (TON) released its Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade on Thursday, slashing block times to 400 milliseconds.
- The update enables near-instant finality, speeds up decentralized apps, and is projected to increase annual network inflation to 3.6%.
- TON is integrated with the Telegram messaging app, which provides over 1 billion users with tools for communication and crypto transactions.
On Thursday, The Open Network (TON) launched a major technical upgrade, making its independent layer-1 blockchain up to six times faster for its global user base integrated with Telegram. The release of Catchain 2.0 slashed block times to 400 milliseconds, bringing near-instant settlement to the network, according to TON’s announcement. Payment transactions now finalize in about one second, while trades settle in what the network calls “real time.”
Consequently, decentralized applications built on TON can now operate at speeds comparable to traditional web apps. Faster block times also produce more validator rewards, as the number of blocks added to the chain increases. “More blocks mean more validator rewards, which create stronger staking incentives and bring more TON into the network,” the network stated. Annual inflation is therefore projected to rise six-fold to 3.6% from about 0.6%.
TON was trading up 2.3% to $1.28 on Thursday with a market cap of $3.17 billion, Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov highlighted the app’s resilience, noting its continued use in countries like Iran and Russia despite government bans. Durov said that bans have backfired, leading to mass VPN adoption as users circumvent restrictions, he remarked on X.
The integration allows Telegram users to send crypto payments directly within the messaging app. In February, the in-app wallet introduced self-custodial vaults for earning yield on Bitcoin (BTC), USDt, and Ether (ETH). Earlier this month, the wallet also launched perpetual futures trading directly in the Telegram application through a partnership with perpetual decentralized exchange Lighter.
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