Toncoin jumped roughly 30% this month after Pavel Durov announced Telegram is taking the reins of The Open Network. The token climbed from about $1.35 to $1.80 on May 4, the day Durov said Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as the project's main driving force and become its largest validator. At press time, TON traded at $1.806.
Telegram takes the reins
Durov laid out a clear plan: Telegram will now steer development of TON, the exclusive blockchain behind its Mini App ecosystem. That ecosystem reaches over 950 million monthly active users. TON is the only crypto Telegram accepts for non-fiat payments — things like Telegram Stars, Premium subscriptions, Ads, and Gateway. It also pays Mini App developers and channel owners in Toncoin.
The shift isn't just symbolic. Durov promised a slate of upgrades within two to three weeks, including a new ton.org, fresh developer tools, and performance improvements. The message is that Telegram is back in the driver's seat, seven years after it first conceived the network.
Fees drop to near zero
Fees have been a big part of the story. On April 23, Durov announced TON transaction fees would fall sixfold within a week, to 0.00039 TON per transaction. Then on May 4, he said fees had already dropped six times to nearly zero — and that the next step was Telegram taking the lead. The fee cuts make the network more practical for the millions of Mini App users, who might otherwise balk at even small costs.
The long road back from the SEC
It wasn't always this way. Telegram originally built TON but halted the project in 2020 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued. The company returned over $1.2 billion to investors and paid an $18.5 million penalty. After that, the community kept the network alive under the brand The Open Network. Now, six years later, Telegram is stepping back in — this time with a clear regulatory path and a massive user base already plugged in.
The timing isn't accidental. Telegram has been quietly integrating TON for years, and the Mini App explosion in 2025 proved the blockchain could handle real demand. Durov's May 4 announcement formalized what many in the ecosystem suspected: Telegram never really left.
The two- to three-week window Durov gave for new tools and performance upgrades is the next concrete milestone. If Telegram delivers on that timeline, and the fee structure stays near zero, TON could become the default payment rail for hundreds of millions of users who already use Telegram daily. The big question is whether the community-led development that kept TON alive will mesh smoothly with Telegram's renewed corporate control. That answer should start coming into focus by early June.
