- Telegram replaces TON Foundation as the network’s largest validator.
- TON price jumps 28% with a 52% surge in volume and a 72% gain over 30 days.
- TON processed 1.5B transactions in Q1 2026, while April recorded 67M.
Telegram has moved to take control of The Open Network’s validator set. CEO Pavel Durov confirmed that the company will replace the TON Foundation as the main force behind the chain and become its largest validator.
The market reacted fast as the TON price jumped, volume expanded, and short-term momentum flipped. At press time, TON trades near $2.18 after a 28% rise in 24 hours. According to CoinMarketCap data, trading volume rose by 52% during the same window. Over 30 days, the token is up 72%.
Validator Shift and Control Structure
A validator secures the network, confirms transactions, and keeps the network uptime stable. Telegram now takes that role at scale, which means direct control over validation, staking rewards, and part of the governance flow.
Durov argued this does not weaken decentralization. His take is that a strong central player can attract other large validators, which balances power instead of concentrating it.
At the same time, more TON locks into staking as validators compete for yields above 20% APR. This marks a clear change from the earlier model.
Since 2021, the Switzerland-based TON Foundation has handled coordination after Telegram exited the original project in 2020 due to US regulatory pressure. Now Telegram steps back in, but with full operational weight.
Price and Demand Loop
Telegram has 950 million monthly users. Its ad system already uses TON. Advertisers buy ads in TON, and channel owners receive 50% of the revenue in TON. This creates a cycle that includes buy pressure from ads, then redistribution back into the network.
Telegram plans to further expand its Stars system by Q3 2026. More user activity inside the app routes through TON. Meanwhile, network data shows that TON processed 1.5 billion transactions in Q1 2026.
Monthly data also shows 67 million transactions in April. At peak periods, daily volume even moved above Solana levels.
Tech Push and Fee Compression
The validator modification comes with aggressive upgrades. Transaction fees fell sixfold to around $0.0005. Block time dropped from about 2.5 seconds to 400 milliseconds after the Catchain 2.0 upgrade on April 9.
Further updates are due within two to three weeks. These include a new ton.org site, better developer tools, and performance upgrades. Durov placed this move as step three in a seven-step roadmap called “Make TON Great Again.”
Related: Pavel Durov Cuts TON Transaction Fees Sixfold, Promises Feeless Transactions
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