You’ll learn how to read ecosystem signals (TVL, stablecoins, DEX activity) and why Telegram’s product decisions made TON feel closer for everyday users than other chains.
Quick highlights
- TVL reached $600-650M by mid-2024, with DEXs processing $15-25M daily across STON.fi, DeDust, and smaller venues
- Perpetuals platforms now generate $5-15M daily volume, adding leveraged exposure tools to the swap-focused ecosystem
- Cross-chain infrastructure: LayerZero integration and new stablecoin launches reduced friction for capital entering TON from Ethereum and other chains
- Growth trajectory: TON represents ~0.5% of global DeFi TVL but shows steadier 3x growth compared to incentive-driven boom-bust cycles on competing chains
A quick decoder for the three metrics everyone quotes
- TVL is “how much value is parked in DeFi apps,” not “how much people love the chain.” By mid-2024, TON’s TVL was reported around $600–650M.
- Activated wallets are wallets that actually touched the chain (not just “created in Telegram”). TON Space hit 100M registrations, while total on-chain activated wallets were reported at 34M by Nov 1, 2024.
- DEX volume is better read as “swap volume”: how much value routes through swaps in a day.
- And cross-chain is the “how easily can capital show up here without gymnastics” factor — bridges and stablecoins matter more than slogans.
The 2025 driver: Telegram made the funnel visible
TON in 2025 benefited from something most chains can’t copy: Telegram distribution plus a growing set of TON-native rails people can use without context-switching.
Telegram’s own press page states that in 2025 it passed 1 billion monthly active users. That matters because discovery is the hardest part of DeFi UX.
Now add one more ingredient: Telegram policy decisions that narrowed wallet connectivity inside its Mini Apps ecosystem.
In 2024, Telegram’s TON Space (Telegram’s non-custodial wallet) reached 100M registrations, while total activated on-chain wallets hit 34M (including TON Space + third-party wallets). That’s a clean split between “curious” and “actually used on-chain,” and it’s unusually measurable for crypto.
In early 2025, reporting around Telegram’s Mini Apps ecosystem highlighted a push toward TON Connect as the required wallet connection standard for crypto wallets in that environment. In plain language: if you build “inside Telegram,” the easiest path runs on TON rails.
This is the part most ecosystem writeups miss: it’s not only about “users seeing TON.” It’s about reducing steps. Fewer steps means more first-time swaps actually complete, more users try small amounts, and more wallets become “DeFi-capable” without a separate onboarding funnel.
TVL growth: big jump, then the real question — retention
TON App’s 2025 writeup framed the TVL story as a rise to ~$600–650M by mid-2024. That’s a meaningful step-up in a short window, and the more interesting part is what came after: whether capital sticks when incentives cool down.
This is where TON differs from a lot of DeFi cycles. In incentive-heavy ecosystems, TVL can inflate fast and deflate faster. TON’s “stickiness” depends on:
- stablecoin access and liquidity depth,
- low-friction onboarding from Telegram,
- credible venues for swaps and liquidity provision.
TON DeFi DEX performance and market share breakdown (snapshot table)
Below is a snapshot view (useful for structure, not a timeless truth). CoinGecko’s TON DEX page lists top TON DEXs by 24h volume and market share by volume.
| DEX (TON) | 24h volume (USD) | Share of TON DEX volume |
| STON.fi (V2) | 1,227,464 | 64.3% |
| STON.fi | 244,316 | 19.9% |
| DeDust | 282,548 | 15.8% |
| Megaton Finance | ~0 | ~0% |
Two important notes:
- Market share tables depend on data sources and labeling (v2 vs non-v2 splits are common).
- Volume fluctuates wildly; even older ecosystem reports described TON DEX volume ranging from ~$15M (last 24h) to ~$40M/day at certain times.
Perps volume: the ecosystem broadened
Perpetuals (perps) are basically “price exposure without spot swaps,” and by 2025 they started showing up as a real category on TON, not an exotic side quest.
DefiLlama’s TON chain metrics show perps volume as a distinct stream (example: ~$6.26M in 24h on the day the page was crawled). That’s consistent with the idea that perps became a second pillar next to swaps — still smaller than major chains, but no longer zero.
Cross-chain and stablecoins
The clearest “capital entry” story is infrastructure: make it easy to move assets in, and people… move assets in.
TON’s collaboration with LayerZero was positioned as a way to move tokens across multiple chains and improve liquidity routing across networks. The same writeup calls out stablecoin expansion — take for example Ethena’s USDe on TON.
Comparing TON’s trajectory to major DeFi ecosystems (why it feels different)
This is a pattern table, not a leaderboard.
| Ecosystem pattern | TON (Telegram-led) | Ethereum/L2-led | Solana-led | App-specific chains |
| Primary distribution | Messaging super-app funnel | DeFi-native + dev ecosystem | Consumer speed + UX | Campaign-driven |
| First user action | Wallet → swap → simple DeFi | Wallet → bridge → DeFi | Wallet → swap → DeFi | Depends on app |
| What keeps users | Low-friction UX + stablecoins + liquidity | Depth + composability | Speed + active apps | Incentives or product |
| Risk mode | Retention after hype | Complexity fatigue | Congestion/UX swings | Boom-bust incentives |
Ecosystem reality check
Use this when you see a “TON DeFi is exploding/downgrading” post.
| Signal | What it can mean | What to check next |
| TVL up | More assets parked in contracts | Is it diversified across protocols, or one spike? |
| Stablecoins up | More usable liquidity | Can you swap into stablecoins smoothly? |
| DEX volume up | More swapping and routing | Is it consistent week to week, or one campaign? |
| Perps volume up | More speculative activity | Don’t confuse it with “sticky” users |
| Telegram wallet + TON Connect push | Lower onboarding friction | Are the flows simple inside Mini Apps? |
Wrapping up
TON’s 2025 DeFi growth looks less like a one-time spike and more like distribution finally meeting usable financial infrastructure: wallets that activate, TVL that reached meaningful scale, and a path for stablecoin liquidity to arrive with less friction.
