Toncoin Briefly Overtakes Dogecoin Amid 8% Rally

Toncoin (TON) is enjoying another bullish moment as the price of the token surged 8.4% overnight.

At the time of this writing, TON is changing hands at $2.61, a level last seen in February 2022, as the latest price action also saw the asset’s market cap soar over $10.5 billion and briefly reclaim the 10th spot in the rankings at the expense of Dogecoin (DOGE).

TON, a blockchain system based on the proof-of-stake model, originated as Gram, a cryptocurrency created by the popular messaging app Telegram as the native token of the Telegram Open Network. However, due to a lawsuit from the SEC alleging that Telegram's $1.7 billion ICO in 2018 violated securities regulations, the project was abandoned.

Subsequently, the TON Foundation assumed control of the project, enabling users to make commission-free crypto transfers to fellow Telegram users. The Open Network also offers additional features, such as TON Storage and TON Proxy, which functions as a decentralized VPN service.

According to data from CoinGecko, TON is also up 24.5% over the week, and as much as 22% in the past 30 days.

TON’s bullish moment

TON climbed to the top 10 in September on the back of news that TON Space, a self-custodial digital wallet, had launched on Telegram, allowing users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies directly via the messaging app.

The token's rally last week came after the TON Foundation announced it performed a live performance test of the TON blockchain “to achieve the highest transaction speed for a blockchain in the world,” claiming to bypass all Layer-1 blockchains and centralized payment networks such as PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard.

According to the TON Foundation, which took over the project after it was abandoned by Telegram following an SEC ruling, the TON testnet was launched on 256 validators, achieving a speed of 104,715 transactions per second (TPS) under heavy load. The data generated by this test has also been verified by The Open Network’s security partner, Web3 smart contract auditor CertiK.

CertiK’s audit additionally showed the TON blockchain reaching an average of 78,134TPS.

To put it into perspective, established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have faced persistent challenges related to transaction speed. Bitcoin’s transaction rate ranges from 5 to 7 TPS, while Ethereum performs slightly better at 15 TPS. Even Solana (SOL), which is often referred to as one of the fastest blockchains, has reportedly reached 50,000 TPS during testing, but is currently handling an average of 4,000 TPS.

Adding to the momentum, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) last week recognized TON, along with Ripple's XRP, for use within its special economic zone, allowing more than 4,000 financial institutions and companies to use these two digital assets for transactions and services.

In the most recent development, Telegram founder Pavel Durov earlier this week announced plans to give away 10,000 premium subscriptions to random subscribers to his channel. According to Durov, he purchased the subscriptions for $200,000 worth of Toncoin.

Edited by Liam Kelly. Updated on November 9 to reflect the origins and current stewardship of Toncoin.