AMA Session Recap: Bridging Ethena on TON
Speakers: TON, Ethena, TON Space, Tonkeeper, STON.fi, CryptoRank
Summary
Ethena's launch of USDe on TON is a major milestone, leveraging Telegram's vast global distribution to bring a synthetic dollar to a mainstream audience.
USDe is designed for seamless operability across multiple chains. Its availability on TON significantly broadens access to this synthetic asset, allowing users to bridge USDe from other networks like Ethereum to TON, thereby enhancing liquidity and interconnectedness.
Ethena chose TON because of Telegram’s massive user base (1B+ users) and its strong presence in emerging markets. The goal is to make USDe an anti-inflationary tool for the masses. Offers up to 18% APY (8% base + 10% boost from the TON Foundation).
A core focus is simplifying DeFi for mass adoption. Projects are developing intuitive and streamlined interfaces to make access seamless for both new and experienced users. USDe is already integrated into Tonkeeper, STON.fi, TON Space and other products. The TON Foundation is actively expanding DeFi, developing the TON API, and launching educational initiatives.
Intuitive and simplified user interfaces are paramount for user safety in Web3. By reducing complexity and potential points of confusion, they minimize the risk of user errors that could lead to financial losses, thereby providing a more secure environment.
What the USDe integration brings:
DeFi Strategies:
→ LP staking with up to 18% APY
→ APY looping via money markets
→ Farming + point-based rewards from Ethena
→ Simple one-click apps tailored for beginners
Security & UX:
→ Simplified interfaces = fewer user errors
→ Better UX = higher security = increased adoption
What this enables:
→ Frictionless DeFi onboarding for everyday users
→ Real-yield strategies made accessible
→ Cross-chain utility for stable synthetic assets
→ Growth in TVL and user activity on TON
What’s next:
The next phase is mass user onboarding and education. Plan to roll out more initiatives and upcoming announcements focused on simplifying DeFi and accelerating adoption. DYOR and stay tuned.
AMA transcription
CryptoRank:
Hello everyone, thank you for joining this discussion.
Our speakers today:
Tonkeeper – the go-to non-custodial wallet for TON
STON.fi – one of TON’s leading DEXs
TON Space – wallet infra built directly into Telegram
Ethena – the creators of USDe, now live on TON
TON – the blockchain where all that great product are build
For those new to us, CryptoRank is a leading analytical platform in the crypto space. We provide comprehensive, real-time data and insights across thousands of cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and blockchain projects. Our mission is to empower users, from investors and VCs to institutions and drop hunters, with the accurate and actionable information they need to navigate the complex world of digital assets. We offer a wide range of tools, including:
-
Detailed project profiles: Covering everything from tokenomics to team information.
-
Exchange data and analytics: Helping users understand liquidity and trading volumes.
-
Fundraising data: Tracking venture capital and institutional actions and investments.
-
Powerful charting tools: For in-depth technical analysis.
We're incredibly excited to be here today and believe that platforms like TON, along with innovative projects such as those joining us, are truly pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the blockchain space. We're always keen to highlight pioneering ecosystems and are looking forward to a fantastic discussion!
Before we get started, I’d like to ask our participants to let us know about their projects, please let us know about what you do and how you contribute to web3 and DeFi.
Tonkeeper:
Nice to meet you everyone, and I'm happy to see some versatile projects here showing the total expansion of the TON blockchain. At this moment, we think it's the most prominent technology in the decentralized ecosystem because we're providing different options for mass adoption.
For retail users, this is important, especially considering the more than 1 billion active Telegram users. This allows us to say that Tonkeeper works in this scope in different dimensions.
The first dimension is being the provider of the most popular non-custodial wallet on TON. You can download it on your smartphone. We are also available for different platforms like web and browser extensions.
In Tonkeeper, you can buy and sell crypto, trade with it, and explore different apps presented in our embedded browser.
Also, from the perspective of developers, founders, and every project trying to grow on TON, we provide the most popular infrastructure. This is the TON API, which allows builders to minimize their costs during the launch of their own projects.
With this multidirectional approach, we try to achieve the maximum level of synergy across different projects. At this moment, we have more than 50 active partners and more than 1,000 different projects just starting their journey on the TON blockchain.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. One thousand projects is an impressive number, so thank you for giving us the details.
I'd like to move on to STON.fi. Could you please tell us what you do and how you contribute to Web3 and DeFi?
STON.fi:
Hi everyone. We are STON.fi. My name is Andrei. We are building a set of DeFi products for the TON blockchain.
The first is our consumer application. It's used to swap TON-based tokens.
We also offer a set of B2B tools like protocols, SDKs, APIs, and so on. These can be used by other DeFi applications that want to enable swaps directly within their products.
You can think of a game, for example. They have users, and they want those users to be able to swap or trade tokens directly inside the game without needing to go to an external DEX.
They can take our protocol, integrate it, and enable swaps within their application.
Our most recent advancement is the Omniswap protocol. It is a liquidity aggregation protocol that connects different DeFi applications and liquidity providers, specifically those who have liquidity and want access to applications and their users.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. Our next question is for TON Space. I’d like to ask you to introduce yourself, your name, what you do, and how you contribute to Web3.
TON Space:
Hey guys. I'm Egor. I'm Chief Product Officer at Wallets & Telegram.
We're building one of the biggest crypto wallets in the world, natively integrated into Telegram. It offers a very smooth user experience, which very few wallets in the world can match. Users don't have to download anything. They just use their Telegram account.
They can create a self-custodial wallet on TON Space and use all three features available in our ecosystem, like swapping, connecting wallets to apps, and more.
For most of our users, this is their first interaction with crypto. That's why we're extremely focused on very clear user interfaces and strong UX.
When we think about our customers, we think about people who use Telegram daily. They are active users but not necessarily experienced with crypto.
If mom understands how to use it, then we are doing a great job. And in most cases, we actually do.
We are one of the first windows into the crypto space for 1 billion Telegram users, and we are happy that this journey starts with the TON ecosystem.
CryptoRank:
Lovely. I'd like to ask the rest of our participants to introduce themselves as well.
TON Blockchain:
Well, GM GM, everybody. My name is Victor. I'm working as a Global Community Lead at TON. We also have the TON Blockchain page here and the TON Community page, which is incredible. Thank you everyone for joining us.
Ethena:
Hey, Connor here from Ethena.
Ethena is a synthetic dollar issuer of USDe. What that means is we take spot Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana as collateral and place hedges on perpetual futures.
We go short on perpetual futures, which offsets the collateral from a P&L perspective. At the end of that, you get a synthetic dollar called USDe.
What's interesting about that is in perpetual futures markets, you tend to get paid for going short. This is called the funding rate. The funding rate averages about 8% to 10% a year historically.
Last year, sUSDe was able to earn 18% APY. sUSDe is the staked version of USDe that receives the protocol rewards.
We just launched the TON version of staked USDe, called tsUSDe, and we're super excited to dig into everything that's involved there.
CryptoRank:
That's amazing. What is TON Infra, and how does it empower builders and users on TON?
TON Blockchain:
First of all, TON is one of the largest blockchains in terms of active users. It is phenomenal that a lot of these things are being made possible today thanks to Telegram and TON innovation.
Thanks to builders, we actually have great products that people use on a daily basis.
In terms of support, there have been several different pillars, including grants, different contests being hosted, and further development of support systems for builders at the earliest stages.
One of the most impactful initiatives launched last year is TON Nest. Builders can apply to join the TON Nest program, where a dedicated team helps them connect to resources they may need, want, or struggle to find. The team also guides them with best practices.
TON Nest has been a great source of support. Going forward, there will be much more development of support programs for the TON ecosystem, especially for new builders entering the scene. That includes helping them get connected to KOLs and some of the largest voices in our ecosystem.
I think there's been a great recap written by Max Brown on this topic regarding the evolution of our support programs on the TON Blockchain. It's also posted on our blog. I will find the TON Nest tweet and pin it to the top so anyone listening — because we have almost 1,000 listeners right now — can check it out.
If you're building on TON and need help or support, feel free to apply and join the TON Nest program. We can't wait to hear what you are building.
That's the short version, but yes, the support system will continue to evolve. A lot has already been done to support builders, including providing audits to projects in the TON ecosystem and in various DeFi sectors.
I think the trend of dedicated support for builders in high-priority sectors will continue and become even more impactful this year. More on that later once things are in place.
CryptoRank:
Amazing. Yeah, TON seems to be making strides not only for users but also for builders. So for all the builders out there, if you think you can leverage TON's technology, please feel free to leave any questions below or get in touch with TON to see how you can make sure you're on the right track.
I’d like to move on to Ethena now.
I see that Ethena has made a significant strategic move by choosing TON. So my question is, what's the core vision behind this decision? How will USDe’s deep integration unleash new possibilities and amplify value across the entire TON ecosystem? And most importantly, why did USDe choose TON in particular? What does launching on TON mean for Ethena, and how will USDe be integrated across the TON ecosystem?
Ethena:
Sure. Yeah, probably a lot to dig into there.
We can start with why it made sense for Ethena to integrate with TON and Telegram. For us, it was a bit of a no-brainer when it comes to TON or Telegram. No one really has the potential distribution that Telegram does. As we’ve said, it has about a billion users, and especially on crypto rails, you're going to struggle to find that level of distribution with any other partner.
Telegram also has a strong presence in emerging economies, in regions like Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where, up until now, Ethena’s presence has been somewhat minimal. We’ve really tried to make an effort to target those regions and offer users access to Ethena’s products.
So if we want to get our product into the hands of a billion users, Telegram is the obvious choice. This also opens up a new funnel for stablecoin demand. We hope this integration helps hundreds of millions of people send, spend, and save USD using Telegram and TON.
That kind of mainstream reach gives Ethena a chance to scale far beyond the typical DeFi demographic. Many protocols today are limited to a narrow group of crypto-native users. Integrating with TON and the partners we have on the call today helps us reach an audience we haven’t been able to access before.
From a user's perspective, especially for TON and Telegram users, this is hopefully a game-changing product. We recently launched tsUSDe on TON, and it comes with a boosted APY. That APY can reach up to 18%.
As I mentioned earlier, sUSDe rewards last year averaged 18%. Today, it’s around 8%, and on top of that, the TON Foundation is applying a boosted APY of up to 10% for eligible users. Combined, that’s potentially an 18% APY on dollars.
That’s a very compelling product, especially considering that billions of people globally are impacted by inflation in their native currencies. Many of them look to the dollar for stability.
If you have a dollar product earning 10% to 18% APY, you suddenly have a powerful tool to fight inflation. Even the US dollar itself has lost around 30% to 33% of its value over the last decade. Many foreign currencies have lost far more.
So we hope this is a fundamentally valuable product for users, one that helps fight inflation and powers a new wave of products built on Telegram.
CryptoRank:
Yeah, that’s wonderful. Given the skyrocketing demand for stablecoins, I think it's over $230 billion now, and the one billion users on Telegram, launching on TON does seem like a no-brainer.
My next question is about USDe specifically. Now that it's live on TON, how did the integration go?
USDe is a big mover with billions in monthly transactions, so this is a significant milestone. Could you walk us through the integration journey, sharing both the successes and any interesting challenges along the way?
This question is for Victor. Could you walk us through the integration and what was achieved?
TON Blockchain:
First of all, seeing that Ethena is now live on TON is phenomenal progress. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. For us, it's a major step toward developing our DeFi ecosystem.
We’re very happy to have Ethena and USDe, the synthetic dollar, on board. It’s incredible to see how this sector is developing. I can say there’s been a noticeable increase in interest and new people joining.
Before Ethena launched, we were already getting questions about whether we were going to do more in DeFi and real-world asset tokenization, like gold. So this launch is a big deal.
Now, I think what's needed next is more adoption and, importantly, more education on how to use these tools. We need more long-form content that explains not just why it’s important, but how to interact with it in simple terms.
We want to bring new people into this technology, and sometimes the explanations are too complex. This is something we’re definitely working on. The community is doing a tremendous job, but there’s still a lot more to do.
Looking ahead, the progress will continue. We’ll evaluate results over time, like we did with Tether when USDT launched on TON. I expect it will be a similar process going forward with others as well.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. I would like to ask Egor the same question. Ethena launching USDe on TON is a huge milestone. What does that mean for you, and does it change anything for you at your current stage?
TON Space:
Yeah, sure. For us, it's extremely important to provide users with more ways to manage and use their money.
As Connor mentioned earlier, offering such a high APY, both from regular Ethena staking and the boosted APY on top of that, is a great opportunity for our users. We see the numbers growing every day. We’re receiving very positive feedback, and I’m really excited because this is just the first step.
We’re focused on explaining what USDe is and on building more trust. And we actually have one more huge launch coming soon in the TON ecosystem with Ethena, which will dramatically increase all of these numbers.
But yeah, we can't announce this yet. Just a spoiler: something big is coming. So we’re super excited.
CryptoRank:
Absolutely, that's wonderful.
I’d like to ask Connor from Ethena about USDe’s unique characteristics now as a stable synthetic asset. What groundbreaking DeFi strategies and innovative LP incentives are you most excited to see emerge? Could these potentially redefine yield and liquidity provision?
Ethena:
Yeah, I think just to echo what everyone said about the integration so far: it’s still early days.
Personally, I’m very excited to see what kind of DeFi integrations USDe can power. As we mentioned, that underlying APY of 10% to 18% opens the door to some really interesting financial primitives. We’ve already seen some examples.
If you look at Ethena’s success on Ethereum mainnet so far, we’ve already been ingrained across DeFi. In money markets, for example, users are looping the initial APY with 5x or 6x leverage, boosting returns to 20% or even 30%, which is super interesting.
You also see new use cases in liquidity provision. When your LP position is earning 18% on one side of the pair, that’s a very attractive proposition. We’re also seeing potential for things like fixed interest rate swaps and similar instruments.
Basically, when you have this kind of native APY, it becomes the foundation for a lot of interesting DeFi building blocks.
Just to go back to what I said earlier — even simply holding tsUSDe is compelling. With that 18 percent APY, it becomes a very attractive hedge against inflation. But again, it’s early days, and I’m just really excited to see what emerges next.
CryptoRank:
I'd like to ask all of our participants if you have any additional points and opinions as well in that regard.
TON Space:
Yeah, I actually wanted to raise one opinion that I think is very crucial for any ecosystem. It's the importance of having a choice among several DeFi tools such as stablecoins. At the end of the day, it's a matter of diversification of your own assets.
Ethena is currently providing one of the most competitive offerings inside the TON ecosystem, at least from what I’ve seen. There have been a lot of campaigns run by different DeFi protocols, including STON.fi, and I think there’s always something to discover. But people need to do a little more research and reading to understand what’s available.
Overall, having the ability to choose from a selection of stablecoins that can be utilized within the ecosystem for DeFi needs or potential yield generation is a phenomenal development. I absolutely love seeing how this sector is evolving. The DeFi side of the ecosystem feels very united around this, with support from STON.fi, Tonkeeper, TonCode, DeDust, and others.
Everyone is eager to welcome this technology to the TON blockchain, and we are excited to see further development and more education around the topic so that the community can get properly onboarded and take full advantage of the opportunities.
STON.fi:
May I add something, guys? Yeah, I agree with everything that was said. We definitely need to onboard new users, and education is crucial.
You also asked about the integration. I’m not a technical guy, but I know it went smoothly. What’s even better is that we used this opportunity to redefine the entire customer journey.
In our main application, we offer basic DeFi features like swapping, liquidity provision, farming, staking, and so on. But this time, we decided to rethink the entire flow. Typically, users have to switch between tabs: swap a token in one place, go somewhere else to stake it, and then another page to provide liquidity.
That doesn’t work if you want to onboard new users. We need to make it as easy as possible. So, we created a new application, the first time we could test this kind of setup, and in this app, which you can find at ethena.ston.fi, all the steps are done in a single transaction.
The user just trades TON or USDT to get USDe. Then they can stake it and receive tsUSDe. At the same time, they can provide liquidity. There’s no need to perform several separate actions. Everything is streamlined into a single transaction or a single screen where they just click one button.
This is the kind of experience we believe DeFi products should offer: clean, simple, understandable. The integration of Ethena into this new app allowed us to battle test the concept, and the results have been incredible. People love it. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from folks in the industry who say this new approach is amazing. This is how DeFi should work.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. We have a question from the comments for STON.fi. For someone who is hearing about STON.fi for the first time, an individual investor who wants to use USDe, is there a simple process you could walk us through?
STON.fi:
Yeah. So in the case of Ethena and Ethena on TON, I’ve basically just described the journey.
You go to the application and there you’ll see a form that looks like what you’d usually find on a DEX, a decentralized exchange. You connect your wallet, and then you have a token. In our case, you need to have TON (Toncoin) or USDT.
As a user, you can swap TON or USDT for USDe. Then you can choose to stake some of your USDe and receive tsUSDe. You can also choose to provide liquidity to the pool. Like any DeFi marketplace or DEX, there are trading pools. Users provide liquidity into these pools and get a portion of the trading fees. So, quite often, users want to do that.
In our application, you can do all this. I can't say it's just a single step, because yes, you need to connect your wallet, choose an amount, then decide how much to stake and how much to use for liquidity provision. But then, you click a single button, and you’re done.
When you stake USDe, you get tsUSDe, and its value increases over time. You can also provide liquidity and earn additional yield on that. Plus, there's a rewards mechanism from Ethena. Ethena has a points system, and those points can be used to claim another token that can be traded.
So, in this case, a user interacts with three use cases through a very simple interface: swapping, staking, and liquidity provision. All you need to do is go to the application, connect your wallet, and follow the interface. It’s very easy and understandable.
TON Blockchain:
I also wanted to say one thing. A lot of people have been talking about this and saying that they see the Ethena application as a kind of one-click savings app. I think that kind of simplification is one of the most crucial elements here.
For anyone who wants to learn more about Ethena and its launch on TON, there are a couple of posts already published. You can go through them after the session if you want more details on how to use the app.
STON.fi:
Yeah. And you know, I’ve been thinking, quite often we are onboarding new users, and those users want to get some yield. But they also want to avoid risks, or at least avoid excessive risks.
In this case, it's a very good use case because it shows that you can basically just hold your tokens, swap them for a liquid staking token, and earn yield. Of course, it won’t be huge rewards, but probably for these users it’s still a good yield. And at the same time, it’s not that risky, which is very good for onboarding new users.
CryptoRank:
Yes, absolutely. And any yield is a good yield, right?
STON.fi:
Yes. When we consider the best parts of this solution compared to other chains, we can highlight several features.
As I mentioned previously at STON.fi, it's very important that we can offer a truly seamless experience with a minimal number of user actions. This creates the best user experience in the entire crypto industry, not just on TON.
If you open the Ethena app via STON.fi, you can do everything, swapping, liquidity provision, and staking, in one click. That’s from the user experience point of view.
From the economic side, TON blockchain has extremely low transaction fees. This allows us to bring this financial and DeFi solution to retail users. Even with just 100 or 200 USD, you can test how it works and get involved in DeFi in a very smooth way.
Ethena:
fah, and I also think that when we talk about safety or security, we often focus only on the technical side of things. I guess the question was about technical stuff, and I’m not fully qualified to speak on that. But when I think about crypto adoption and bringing in users who aren't that familiar with this space, I believe we need to offer the best user interfaces possible.
This is also a kind of safety. Complicated interfaces create room for user error. A user can make a small mistake and end up losing funds. So in order to avoid that and make the system safer, we need better, more intuitive interfaces.
By "our users," I don’t just mean STON.fi. I mean users of TON, Ethena, and the whole crypto industry. Better UI ultimately means better safety.
CryptoRank:
Yeah, thank you very much. Another question from the community, and I think it ties into what you’ve all been discussing.
Now that USDe is live and supported across the TON ecosystem, what is the actual user experience like today? How seamless and intuitive is it for someone to acquire, use, and transact with USDe in their daily activity on TON?
TON Space:
I can speak for TON Space. We’ve made it extremely seamless.
Of course, when a new token launches in the TON ecosystem, nobody has it at the start. But we focused on how users convert from USDT, for example.
In our case, when a user opens TON Space wallet and goes to USDe from the main page, they see the token pinned, even if they don’t own any yet. Then they have three options to get USDe.
First, they can swap from USDT without any fees. The user still pays the gas fee for the transaction, but on the TON Space and STON.fi side, we removed all swap fees. The exchange rate is very close to 1:1, 100 USDT gives you 100 USDe, with no hidden losses.
Second, they can bridge the token from other networks like Ethereum. That part is a bit trickier for users who are not very crypto-savvy, but we provide the functionality. It's only a few clicks. No wallet connection, no signing, it’s all done natively inside TON Space.
So overall, just a few simple actions, and you get your USDe. It’s as easy as doing anything else in daily life.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. Here's the last question from Rain about lending and trading.
What specific DeFi use cases, like lending, trading, or liquidity provision, are enabled by USDe and tsUSDe on TON? And which platforms are most prominent?
STON.fi:
In our case, there’s no lending involved, at least not on our side. Maybe others can speak to that. But for us, the main use cases are swapping, liquidity provision, and staking.
As for the comparison with other platforms, like DeDust, which is another swapping app on the TON blockchain, I wouldn’t make direct comparisons. I believe that any project building in our space is doing something valuable. Whether it's blockchain, crypto, or any ecosystem, we're all working toward the same goal, crypto adoption.
And the DeDust team is doing a great job, as is everyone who’s building something here. But I can share some figures, no opinions, just stats.
Currently, about 50% of all trading volume on the TON blockchain goes through STON.fi. And 76% of all traders on TON use STON.fi.
CryptoRank:
This is really great. And a big shout-out to you guys for building such an incredible product. You're definitely making our lives as users much easier. Thank you.
The Bottom Line
USDe launch on TON marks a meaningful expansion of DeFi into a wider, more mainstream user base. With deep integration into Telegram’s ecosystem, simplified interfaces, and real-yield opportunities of up to 18% APY, the collaboration between Ethena and TON shows a clear intent: to make stable, cross-chain financial tools usable by anyone.
AMA Session Recap: Bridging Ethena on TON
Speakers: TON, Ethena, TON Space, Tonkeeper, STON.fi, CryptoRank
Summary
Ethena's launch of USDe on TON is a major milestone, leveraging Telegram's vast global distribution to bring a synthetic dollar to a mainstream audience.
USDe is designed for seamless operability across multiple chains. Its availability on TON significantly broadens access to this synthetic asset, allowing users to bridge USDe from other networks like Ethereum to TON, thereby enhancing liquidity and interconnectedness.
Ethena chose TON because of Telegram’s massive user base (1B+ users) and its strong presence in emerging markets. The goal is to make USDe an anti-inflationary tool for the masses. Offers up to 18% APY (8% base + 10% boost from the TON Foundation).
A core focus is simplifying DeFi for mass adoption. Projects are developing intuitive and streamlined interfaces to make access seamless for both new and experienced users. USDe is already integrated into Tonkeeper, STON.fi, TON Space and other products. The TON Foundation is actively expanding DeFi, developing the TON API, and launching educational initiatives.
Intuitive and simplified user interfaces are paramount for user safety in Web3. By reducing complexity and potential points of confusion, they minimize the risk of user errors that could lead to financial losses, thereby providing a more secure environment.
What the USDe integration brings:
DeFi Strategies:
→ LP staking with up to 18% APY
→ APY looping via money markets
→ Farming + point-based rewards from Ethena
→ Simple one-click apps tailored for beginners
Security & UX:
→ Simplified interfaces = fewer user errors
→ Better UX = higher security = increased adoption
What this enables:
→ Frictionless DeFi onboarding for everyday users
→ Real-yield strategies made accessible
→ Cross-chain utility for stable synthetic assets
→ Growth in TVL and user activity on TON
What’s next:
The next phase is mass user onboarding and education. Plan to roll out more initiatives and upcoming announcements focused on simplifying DeFi and accelerating adoption. DYOR and stay tuned.
AMA transcription
CryptoRank:
Hello everyone, thank you for joining this discussion.
Our speakers today:
Tonkeeper – the go-to non-custodial wallet for TON
STON.fi – one of TON’s leading DEXs
TON Space – wallet infra built directly into Telegram
Ethena – the creators of USDe, now live on TON
TON – the blockchain where all that great product are build
For those new to us, CryptoRank is a leading analytical platform in the crypto space. We provide comprehensive, real-time data and insights across thousands of cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and blockchain projects. Our mission is to empower users, from investors and VCs to institutions and drop hunters, with the accurate and actionable information they need to navigate the complex world of digital assets. We offer a wide range of tools, including:
-
Detailed project profiles: Covering everything from tokenomics to team information.
-
Exchange data and analytics: Helping users understand liquidity and trading volumes.
-
Fundraising data: Tracking venture capital and institutional actions and investments.
-
Powerful charting tools: For in-depth technical analysis.
We're incredibly excited to be here today and believe that platforms like TON, along with innovative projects such as those joining us, are truly pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the blockchain space. We're always keen to highlight pioneering ecosystems and are looking forward to a fantastic discussion!
Before we get started, I’d like to ask our participants to let us know about their projects, please let us know about what you do and how you contribute to web3 and DeFi.
Tonkeeper:
Nice to meet you everyone, and I'm happy to see some versatile projects here showing the total expansion of the TON blockchain. At this moment, we think it's the most prominent technology in the decentralized ecosystem because we're providing different options for mass adoption.
For retail users, this is important, especially considering the more than 1 billion active Telegram users. This allows us to say that Tonkeeper works in this scope in different dimensions.
The first dimension is being the provider of the most popular non-custodial wallet on TON. You can download it on your smartphone. We are also available for different platforms like web and browser extensions.
In Tonkeeper, you can buy and sell crypto, trade with it, and explore different apps presented in our embedded browser.
Also, from the perspective of developers, founders, and every project trying to grow on TON, we provide the most popular infrastructure. This is the TON API, which allows builders to minimize their costs during the launch of their own projects.
With this multidirectional approach, we try to achieve the maximum level of synergy across different projects. At this moment, we have more than 50 active partners and more than 1,000 different projects just starting their journey on the TON blockchain.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. One thousand projects is an impressive number, so thank you for giving us the details.
I'd like to move on to STON.fi. Could you please tell us what you do and how you contribute to Web3 and DeFi?
STON.fi:
Hi everyone. We are STON.fi. My name is Andrei. We are building a set of DeFi products for the TON blockchain.
The first is our consumer application. It's used to swap TON-based tokens.
We also offer a set of B2B tools like protocols, SDKs, APIs, and so on. These can be used by other DeFi applications that want to enable swaps directly within their products.
You can think of a game, for example. They have users, and they want those users to be able to swap or trade tokens directly inside the game without needing to go to an external DEX.
They can take our protocol, integrate it, and enable swaps within their application.
Our most recent advancement is the Omniswap protocol. It is a liquidity aggregation protocol that connects different DeFi applications and liquidity providers, specifically those who have liquidity and want access to applications and their users.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. Our next question is for TON Space. I’d like to ask you to introduce yourself, your name, what you do, and how you contribute to Web3.
TON Space:
Hey guys. I'm Egor. I'm Chief Product Officer at Wallets & Telegram.
We're building one of the biggest crypto wallets in the world, natively integrated into Telegram. It offers a very smooth user experience, which very few wallets in the world can match. Users don't have to download anything. They just use their Telegram account.
They can create a self-custodial wallet on TON Space and use all three features available in our ecosystem, like swapping, connecting wallets to apps, and more.
For most of our users, this is their first interaction with crypto. That's why we're extremely focused on very clear user interfaces and strong UX.
When we think about our customers, we think about people who use Telegram daily. They are active users but not necessarily experienced with crypto.
If mom understands how to use it, then we are doing a great job. And in most cases, we actually do.
We are one of the first windows into the crypto space for 1 billion Telegram users, and we are happy that this journey starts with the TON ecosystem.
CryptoRank:
Lovely. I'd like to ask the rest of our participants to introduce themselves as well.
TON Blockchain:
Well, GM GM, everybody. My name is Victor. I'm working as a Global Community Lead at TON. We also have the TON Blockchain page here and the TON Community page, which is incredible. Thank you everyone for joining us.
Ethena:
Hey, Connor here from Ethena.
Ethena is a synthetic dollar issuer of USDe. What that means is we take spot Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana as collateral and place hedges on perpetual futures.
We go short on perpetual futures, which offsets the collateral from a P&L perspective. At the end of that, you get a synthetic dollar called USDe.
What's interesting about that is in perpetual futures markets, you tend to get paid for going short. This is called the funding rate. The funding rate averages about 8% to 10% a year historically.
Last year, sUSDe was able to earn 18% APY. sUSDe is the staked version of USDe that receives the protocol rewards.
We just launched the TON version of staked USDe, called tsUSDe, and we're super excited to dig into everything that's involved there.
CryptoRank:
That's amazing. What is TON Infra, and how does it empower builders and users on TON?
TON Blockchain:
First of all, TON is one of the largest blockchains in terms of active users. It is phenomenal that a lot of these things are being made possible today thanks to Telegram and TON innovation.
Thanks to builders, we actually have great products that people use on a daily basis.
In terms of support, there have been several different pillars, including grants, different contests being hosted, and further development of support systems for builders at the earliest stages.
One of the most impactful initiatives launched last year is TON Nest. Builders can apply to join the TON Nest program, where a dedicated team helps them connect to resources they may need, want, or struggle to find. The team also guides them with best practices.
TON Nest has been a great source of support. Going forward, there will be much more development of support programs for the TON ecosystem, especially for new builders entering the scene. That includes helping them get connected to KOLs and some of the largest voices in our ecosystem.
I think there's been a great recap written by Max Brown on this topic regarding the evolution of our support programs on the TON Blockchain. It's also posted on our blog. I will find the TON Nest tweet and pin it to the top so anyone listening — because we have almost 1,000 listeners right now — can check it out.
If you're building on TON and need help or support, feel free to apply and join the TON Nest program. We can't wait to hear what you are building.
That's the short version, but yes, the support system will continue to evolve. A lot has already been done to support builders, including providing audits to projects in the TON ecosystem and in various DeFi sectors.
I think the trend of dedicated support for builders in high-priority sectors will continue and become even more impactful this year. More on that later once things are in place.
CryptoRank:
Amazing. Yeah, TON seems to be making strides not only for users but also for builders. So for all the builders out there, if you think you can leverage TON's technology, please feel free to leave any questions below or get in touch with TON to see how you can make sure you're on the right track.
I’d like to move on to Ethena now.
I see that Ethena has made a significant strategic move by choosing TON. So my question is, what's the core vision behind this decision? How will USDe’s deep integration unleash new possibilities and amplify value across the entire TON ecosystem? And most importantly, why did USDe choose TON in particular? What does launching on TON mean for Ethena, and how will USDe be integrated across the TON ecosystem?
Ethena:
Sure. Yeah, probably a lot to dig into there.
We can start with why it made sense for Ethena to integrate with TON and Telegram. For us, it was a bit of a no-brainer when it comes to TON or Telegram. No one really has the potential distribution that Telegram does. As we’ve said, it has about a billion users, and especially on crypto rails, you're going to struggle to find that level of distribution with any other partner.
Telegram also has a strong presence in emerging economies, in regions like Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where, up until now, Ethena’s presence has been somewhat minimal. We’ve really tried to make an effort to target those regions and offer users access to Ethena’s products.
So if we want to get our product into the hands of a billion users, Telegram is the obvious choice. This also opens up a new funnel for stablecoin demand. We hope this integration helps hundreds of millions of people send, spend, and save USD using Telegram and TON.
That kind of mainstream reach gives Ethena a chance to scale far beyond the typical DeFi demographic. Many protocols today are limited to a narrow group of crypto-native users. Integrating with TON and the partners we have on the call today helps us reach an audience we haven’t been able to access before.
From a user's perspective, especially for TON and Telegram users, this is hopefully a game-changing product. We recently launched tsUSDe on TON, and it comes with a boosted APY. That APY can reach up to 18%.
As I mentioned earlier, sUSDe rewards last year averaged 18%. Today, it’s around 8%, and on top of that, the TON Foundation is applying a boosted APY of up to 10% for eligible users. Combined, that’s potentially an 18% APY on dollars.
That’s a very compelling product, especially considering that billions of people globally are impacted by inflation in their native currencies. Many of them look to the dollar for stability.
If you have a dollar product earning 10% to 18% APY, you suddenly have a powerful tool to fight inflation. Even the US dollar itself has lost around 30% to 33% of its value over the last decade. Many foreign currencies have lost far more.
So we hope this is a fundamentally valuable product for users, one that helps fight inflation and powers a new wave of products built on Telegram.
CryptoRank:
Yeah, that’s wonderful. Given the skyrocketing demand for stablecoins, I think it's over $230 billion now, and the one billion users on Telegram, launching on TON does seem like a no-brainer.
My next question is about USDe specifically. Now that it's live on TON, how did the integration go?
USDe is a big mover with billions in monthly transactions, so this is a significant milestone. Could you walk us through the integration journey, sharing both the successes and any interesting challenges along the way?
This question is for Victor. Could you walk us through the integration and what was achieved?
TON Blockchain:
First of all, seeing that Ethena is now live on TON is phenomenal progress. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. For us, it's a major step toward developing our DeFi ecosystem.
We’re very happy to have Ethena and USDe, the synthetic dollar, on board. It’s incredible to see how this sector is developing. I can say there’s been a noticeable increase in interest and new people joining.
Before Ethena launched, we were already getting questions about whether we were going to do more in DeFi and real-world asset tokenization, like gold. So this launch is a big deal.
Now, I think what's needed next is more adoption and, importantly, more education on how to use these tools. We need more long-form content that explains not just why it’s important, but how to interact with it in simple terms.
We want to bring new people into this technology, and sometimes the explanations are too complex. This is something we’re definitely working on. The community is doing a tremendous job, but there’s still a lot more to do.
Looking ahead, the progress will continue. We’ll evaluate results over time, like we did with Tether when USDT launched on TON. I expect it will be a similar process going forward with others as well.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. I would like to ask Egor the same question. Ethena launching USDe on TON is a huge milestone. What does that mean for you, and does it change anything for you at your current stage?
TON Space:
Yeah, sure. For us, it's extremely important to provide users with more ways to manage and use their money.
As Connor mentioned earlier, offering such a high APY, both from regular Ethena staking and the boosted APY on top of that, is a great opportunity for our users. We see the numbers growing every day. We’re receiving very positive feedback, and I’m really excited because this is just the first step.
We’re focused on explaining what USDe is and on building more trust. And we actually have one more huge launch coming soon in the TON ecosystem with Ethena, which will dramatically increase all of these numbers.
But yeah, we can't announce this yet. Just a spoiler: something big is coming. So we’re super excited.
CryptoRank:
Absolutely, that's wonderful.
I’d like to ask Connor from Ethena about USDe’s unique characteristics now as a stable synthetic asset. What groundbreaking DeFi strategies and innovative LP incentives are you most excited to see emerge? Could these potentially redefine yield and liquidity provision?
Ethena:
Yeah, I think just to echo what everyone said about the integration so far: it’s still early days.
Personally, I’m very excited to see what kind of DeFi integrations USDe can power. As we mentioned, that underlying APY of 10% to 18% opens the door to some really interesting financial primitives. We’ve already seen some examples.
If you look at Ethena’s success on Ethereum mainnet so far, we’ve already been ingrained across DeFi. In money markets, for example, users are looping the initial APY with 5x or 6x leverage, boosting returns to 20% or even 30%, which is super interesting.
You also see new use cases in liquidity provision. When your LP position is earning 18% on one side of the pair, that’s a very attractive proposition. We’re also seeing potential for things like fixed interest rate swaps and similar instruments.
Basically, when you have this kind of native APY, it becomes the foundation for a lot of interesting DeFi building blocks.
Just to go back to what I said earlier — even simply holding tsUSDe is compelling. With that 18 percent APY, it becomes a very attractive hedge against inflation. But again, it’s early days, and I’m just really excited to see what emerges next.
CryptoRank:
I'd like to ask all of our participants if you have any additional points and opinions as well in that regard.
TON Space:
Yeah, I actually wanted to raise one opinion that I think is very crucial for any ecosystem. It's the importance of having a choice among several DeFi tools such as stablecoins. At the end of the day, it's a matter of diversification of your own assets.
Ethena is currently providing one of the most competitive offerings inside the TON ecosystem, at least from what I’ve seen. There have been a lot of campaigns run by different DeFi protocols, including STON.fi, and I think there’s always something to discover. But people need to do a little more research and reading to understand what’s available.
Overall, having the ability to choose from a selection of stablecoins that can be utilized within the ecosystem for DeFi needs or potential yield generation is a phenomenal development. I absolutely love seeing how this sector is evolving. The DeFi side of the ecosystem feels very united around this, with support from STON.fi, Tonkeeper, TonCode, DeDust, and others.
Everyone is eager to welcome this technology to the TON blockchain, and we are excited to see further development and more education around the topic so that the community can get properly onboarded and take full advantage of the opportunities.
STON.fi:
May I add something, guys? Yeah, I agree with everything that was said. We definitely need to onboard new users, and education is crucial.
You also asked about the integration. I’m not a technical guy, but I know it went smoothly. What’s even better is that we used this opportunity to redefine the entire customer journey.
In our main application, we offer basic DeFi features like swapping, liquidity provision, farming, staking, and so on. But this time, we decided to rethink the entire flow. Typically, users have to switch between tabs: swap a token in one place, go somewhere else to stake it, and then another page to provide liquidity.
That doesn’t work if you want to onboard new users. We need to make it as easy as possible. So, we created a new application, the first time we could test this kind of setup, and in this app, which you can find at ethena.ston.fi, all the steps are done in a single transaction.
The user just trades TON or USDT to get USDe. Then they can stake it and receive tsUSDe. At the same time, they can provide liquidity. There’s no need to perform several separate actions. Everything is streamlined into a single transaction or a single screen where they just click one button.
This is the kind of experience we believe DeFi products should offer: clean, simple, understandable. The integration of Ethena into this new app allowed us to battle test the concept, and the results have been incredible. People love it. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from folks in the industry who say this new approach is amazing. This is how DeFi should work.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. We have a question from the comments for STON.fi. For someone who is hearing about STON.fi for the first time, an individual investor who wants to use USDe, is there a simple process you could walk us through?
STON.fi:
Yeah. So in the case of Ethena and Ethena on TON, I’ve basically just described the journey.
You go to the application and there you’ll see a form that looks like what you’d usually find on a DEX, a decentralized exchange. You connect your wallet, and then you have a token. In our case, you need to have TON (Toncoin) or USDT.
As a user, you can swap TON or USDT for USDe. Then you can choose to stake some of your USDe and receive tsUSDe. You can also choose to provide liquidity to the pool. Like any DeFi marketplace or DEX, there are trading pools. Users provide liquidity into these pools and get a portion of the trading fees. So, quite often, users want to do that.
In our application, you can do all this. I can't say it's just a single step, because yes, you need to connect your wallet, choose an amount, then decide how much to stake and how much to use for liquidity provision. But then, you click a single button, and you’re done.
When you stake USDe, you get tsUSDe, and its value increases over time. You can also provide liquidity and earn additional yield on that. Plus, there's a rewards mechanism from Ethena. Ethena has a points system, and those points can be used to claim another token that can be traded.
So, in this case, a user interacts with three use cases through a very simple interface: swapping, staking, and liquidity provision. All you need to do is go to the application, connect your wallet, and follow the interface. It’s very easy and understandable.
TON Blockchain:
I also wanted to say one thing. A lot of people have been talking about this and saying that they see the Ethena application as a kind of one-click savings app. I think that kind of simplification is one of the most crucial elements here.
For anyone who wants to learn more about Ethena and its launch on TON, there are a couple of posts already published. You can go through them after the session if you want more details on how to use the app.
STON.fi:
Yeah. And you know, I’ve been thinking, quite often we are onboarding new users, and those users want to get some yield. But they also want to avoid risks, or at least avoid excessive risks.
In this case, it's a very good use case because it shows that you can basically just hold your tokens, swap them for a liquid staking token, and earn yield. Of course, it won’t be huge rewards, but probably for these users it’s still a good yield. And at the same time, it’s not that risky, which is very good for onboarding new users.
CryptoRank:
Yes, absolutely. And any yield is a good yield, right?
STON.fi:
Yes. When we consider the best parts of this solution compared to other chains, we can highlight several features.
As I mentioned previously at STON.fi, it's very important that we can offer a truly seamless experience with a minimal number of user actions. This creates the best user experience in the entire crypto industry, not just on TON.
If you open the Ethena app via STON.fi, you can do everything, swapping, liquidity provision, and staking, in one click. That’s from the user experience point of view.
From the economic side, TON blockchain has extremely low transaction fees. This allows us to bring this financial and DeFi solution to retail users. Even with just 100 or 200 USD, you can test how it works and get involved in DeFi in a very smooth way.
Ethena:
fah, and I also think that when we talk about safety or security, we often focus only on the technical side of things. I guess the question was about technical stuff, and I’m not fully qualified to speak on that. But when I think about crypto adoption and bringing in users who aren't that familiar with this space, I believe we need to offer the best user interfaces possible.
This is also a kind of safety. Complicated interfaces create room for user error. A user can make a small mistake and end up losing funds. So in order to avoid that and make the system safer, we need better, more intuitive interfaces.
By "our users," I don’t just mean STON.fi. I mean users of TON, Ethena, and the whole crypto industry. Better UI ultimately means better safety.
CryptoRank:
Yeah, thank you very much. Another question from the community, and I think it ties into what you’ve all been discussing.
Now that USDe is live and supported across the TON ecosystem, what is the actual user experience like today? How seamless and intuitive is it for someone to acquire, use, and transact with USDe in their daily activity on TON?
TON Space:
I can speak for TON Space. We’ve made it extremely seamless.
Of course, when a new token launches in the TON ecosystem, nobody has it at the start. But we focused on how users convert from USDT, for example.
In our case, when a user opens TON Space wallet and goes to USDe from the main page, they see the token pinned, even if they don’t own any yet. Then they have three options to get USDe.
First, they can swap from USDT without any fees. The user still pays the gas fee for the transaction, but on the TON Space and STON.fi side, we removed all swap fees. The exchange rate is very close to 1:1, 100 USDT gives you 100 USDe, with no hidden losses.
Second, they can bridge the token from other networks like Ethereum. That part is a bit trickier for users who are not very crypto-savvy, but we provide the functionality. It's only a few clicks. No wallet connection, no signing, it’s all done natively inside TON Space.
So overall, just a few simple actions, and you get your USDe. It’s as easy as doing anything else in daily life.
CryptoRank:
Thank you very much. Here's the last question from Rain about lending and trading.
What specific DeFi use cases, like lending, trading, or liquidity provision, are enabled by USDe and tsUSDe on TON? And which platforms are most prominent?
STON.fi:
In our case, there’s no lending involved, at least not on our side. Maybe others can speak to that. But for us, the main use cases are swapping, liquidity provision, and staking.
As for the comparison with other platforms, like DeDust, which is another swapping app on the TON blockchain, I wouldn’t make direct comparisons. I believe that any project building in our space is doing something valuable. Whether it's blockchain, crypto, or any ecosystem, we're all working toward the same goal, crypto adoption.
And the DeDust team is doing a great job, as is everyone who’s building something here. But I can share some figures, no opinions, just stats.
Currently, about 50% of all trading volume on the TON blockchain goes through STON.fi. And 76% of all traders on TON use STON.fi.
CryptoRank:
This is really great. And a big shout-out to you guys for building such an incredible product. You're definitely making our lives as users much easier. Thank you.
The Bottom Line
USDe launch on TON marks a meaningful expansion of DeFi into a wider, more mainstream user base. With deep integration into Telegram’s ecosystem, simplified interfaces, and real-yield opportunities of up to 18% APY, the collaboration between Ethena and TON shows a clear intent: to make stable, cross-chain financial tools usable by anyone.