Author: The Open Platform
Translation: Blockchain in Vernacular
Disclaimer: The tokens, trading platforms and income tools mentioned in this article are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Readers are strongly advised to conduct their own comprehensive research before deciding to interact with, invest in, or participate in any transactions with the tokens or income tools mentioned.
This public article is the result of an internal research report conducted by The Open Platform. We will highlight important developments in various areas of DeFi, announce new projects, and outline the development trajectory of TON's DeFi ecosystem.
1. TON DeFi field
In the first quarter of 2024, the TON DeFi space and the entire cryptocurrency market have Memecoin hype as a central theme, which has in part contributed to a surge in on-chain activity and DeFi metrics, increasing the total locked value (TVL) by 7 times.
Source: TonStat, DeFillama, CoinMarketCap
One of the main highlights of the quarter was a seven-fold increase in total value locked (TVL), mainly driven by increased activity on decentralized exchanges and the market dominance of liquid staking protocol Tonstakers.
Source: DefiLlama. Note that the Total Value Locked (TVL) in the chart includes the value of both “staking” and “liquid staking mining”.
Another important topic was the launch of The Open League. The program rewards users for interacting with the TON project and features a competition with a Toncoin prize pool to reward the best performing TON-based project in each season. A key element of the program is the provision of a liquidity mining pool with enhanced APY. The introduction of the liquidity mining pool, coupled with the surge in Memecoin trading volume, has made the DEX the best performing DeFi space on TON based on TVL performance .
Source: DefiLlama. Note that “borrowing” includes the Evaa protocol, which was only listed on DefiLlama on February 29, 2024.
In the following sections, we will explore in more detail the patterns behind the surge in performance of TON-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
2. DEXs: The Open League meets Memecoin hype
Tokens on the TON blockchain, also known as jettons, saw a significant surge in popularity in the last quarter of 2023, a trend that continues to this day. Memecoin has been largely responsible for the increase in trading activity.
This move preceded the launch of Notcoin, a previously untradable Memecoin that anyone could “mine” by clicking a button in Telegram’s Notcoin mini-app. Within just a few months of its launch, Notcoin attracted 35 million active users. Now listed on multiple DEXs and CEXs, Notcoin has also inspired a number of Meme jettons with similar mechanisms. This massive increase in jettons is one of the main drivers of the surge in trading volume on TON-based DEXs.
The memecoin hype has attracted a lot of attention to two DEXs, DeDust and STON.fi, which list a large portion of these tokens. According to Tonalytica, the total trading volume on TON DEX reached an all-time high of $4.2 million in 90 days. The all-time high was updated in the second quarter and now exceeds $60 million.
Source: Tonalytica.redoubt.online. Accessed on May 17, 2024.
Below is a screenshot of the volume of two DEXs shown by our internal analysis tool. The pattern matches the pattern on the Tonalytica chart very well:
Source: The Open Platform. Accessed on May 17, 2024.
STON.fi and DeDust are the main platforms for boosting liquidity pools provided by The Open League. This has led to a more than 9x increase in the total locked value (TVL) on TON, with the two DEXs making significant contributions in the first three quarters of the program. The third quarter is currently underway, and readers can view the available boosting liquidity pools on STON.fi and DeDust and access The Open League Pools bot.
STON.fi ranked first in the DeFi competition in The Open League's pilot, followed by DeDust. The ranking was based on the change in total locked value (TVL) and protocol fee income during the pilot season. The final ranking can be viewed here.
A theme in the first quarter of 2024 is the launch of Telegram Mini Apps by DeDust and STON.fi. Both DeDust and STON.fi now have their own Mini Apps, which will make the trading experience more diverse, and users can perform transactions in Telegram. This may be particularly convenient for traders who use Telegram-based token research tools and news channels.
Additionally, Storm Trade, currently the main derivatives trading platform on TON, now allows traders to use Toncoin as collateral for futures trading. This update eliminates the need to convert TON to jUSDT for collateralization, simplifies the user onboarding process, and gives Toncoin additional utility in the ecosystem. In addition, as part of The Open League, Storm Trade completed its largest rewards program to date, with a prize pool of approximately $130,000. Rewards will be distributed to top performers in terms of trading volume, PnL ranking, and providing liquidity in designated trading pairs.
3. Liquid Staking pushes TON into the top 20 chains by TVL
Liquid staking remains the dominant area of TVL in TON. According to DefiLlama, taking into account both staking and liquid staking value , TON ranks 17th in TVL rankings as of the time of this report.
Source: DefiLlama
Tonstakers won the Liquid Staking competition in the pilot season of The Open League, followed by bemo and the new Liquid Staking protocol Stakee, and maintained its lead in TVL market dominance. Similar to the DeFi competition, the ranking is based on the change in TVL; another consideration is the number of new users who joined the protocol during the corresponding period.
Stakee (Stakee Bot) is a new liquid staking protocol on TON. Stakee combines simplicity, reliability, and high APY, attracting Toncoin holders who seek enhanced returns with minimal fees. The platform ensures secure and transparent transactions by running on official smart contracts developed by the TON Foundation.
In addition, TON Whales launched a new liquid staking pool, Whale Liquid. The protocol allows Toncoin holders to earn wsTON and redeem it on DeDust and TON on the borrowing protocol. The project is currently in the testing phase with a total stake of 848K Toncoin (over $5 million).
4. Borrowing: EVAA protocol is officially launched on TON
The Evaa protocol has been launched on the TON mainnet. As of this report, the total supply of Evaa is $26.1 million and the total borrowing amount is $12.03 million.
As part of The Open League, EVAA Protocol held a supply and borrowing event. The event provides users with a unique opportunity to borrow tokens such as TON, stTON, tsTON, jUSDC, and jUSDT, which can be operated through EvaaAppBot or app.evaa.finance. Participants can receive interest rewards from weekly airdrops, supply and borrowing activities, as well as EVAA XP points, which can be used to redeem EVAA DAOToken in the future.
Although the campaign has officially ended, reward pools with attractive APY can still be found in the app:
Source: https://app.evaa.finance/market. Accessed on: 17/05/24
Similarly, DAOLama held a Farm season and launched Reward Points (RPs), an internal token designed to incentivize users through in-app activities. Each loan earns RPs, which can be exchanged for LLAMA. The promotion period ended on March 30, and users can now trade the token on STON.fi and DeDust.
5. RedStone is the first Oracle solution on TON
Oracles are crucial in blockchain technology because they act as a bridge connecting the blockchain to the outside world. They provide a reliable way to input external data into the blockchain, such as tokens or stock prices. This ability is essential to enable smart contracts (self-executing contracts that have terms written directly into the code) to interact and respond to external events.
RedStone becomes the first oracle available on TON, marking an important step forward in the data integrity of TON’s DeFi- based infrastructure.
RedStone’s Toncoin price feed aggregates data from 11 external sources
RedStone emphasized that due to the asynchronous and fully decentralized nature of TON, more complex inter-contract messaging is required compared to direct contract interactions on other blockchains, which requires a significant shift in integration methods. Looking ahead, RedStone aims to enhance TON's DeFi ecosystem by introducing a new relay system to enable continuous price updates, providing smart contract templates for easier integration, and providing advanced data sources to meet the growing needs of TON-based DeFi .
6. Future Outlook
Jettons on the TON blockchain are carving out a unique market space, representing a diverse range of digital assets that go beyond traditional utility. While some of these Jettons may not yet have clearly defined real-world applications, they still occupy an important position in the overall ecosystem.
The surge in interest in these diverse assets can be the starting point of a larger process: the growing need for DeFi infrastructure that meets the capital efficiency requirements of token holders. We can already see this through the success of incentive campaigns in The Open League.
To be honest, ever since I discovered TON in 2022, I never believed in it. Never. I used to think, “It’s just another ghost chain.” But as you can see, it is not. The first time I interacted with TON was at the end of 2022, when I was in double digits (yes, double digits) in crypto and won a giveaway.
The admin of the Telegram channel PMed me, “Hey, can I send you your prize on a Telegram wallet?” I was like, “What? Telegram wallet?” He patiently explained everything and sent me the prize. It was $10, by the way. So I sent it to an exchange thanks to the low fees on TON.
When I started writing posts and learning all-around content creation, I delved into marketing strategies. For some reason, I didn’t like TON’s marketing strategy at the time. 6 months later, I still don’t completely like their marketing strategy. However, based on the numbers we see for TVL and TON’s price, it is indeed effective despite my opinion.
I started hearing about TON from regular people who had no involvement in cryptocurrencies at all. TON is cheap, accessible, and easy to understand. That’s why regular people are heavily involved in Notcoin mining. According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of writing this article, TON is ranked 9th in “Cryptocurrency Price by Market Cap Today”.
Although there are still many areas that need improvement, such as marketing (hello, Const), TON will receive more and more attention in the future. The number of active users, TVL, and TON market capitalization are amazing, and I really did not expect this virtuous cycle.
As the DeFi landscape on TON becomes more complex, the need for reliable and secure oracle services will grow. RedStone’s efforts in this area indicate TON’s trend in data integrity. We can expect oracle solutions to further penetrate the ecosystem in the near future.
Link to this article: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/06/5216.html
Source: https://topco.medium.com/the-state-of-ton-defi-q1-2024-4ce06c34617b
