Consensus 2025: Telegram and TON’s Vision for DeFi

🚀 How Telegram and TON Are Revolutionizing DeFi Access

At Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong, the folks at the TON Foundation shared some big ideas on how Telegram and TON Blockchain are changing the game for DeFi. Steve Yun, board member of the TON Foundation, and Jack Booth, co-founder of TON Society, outlined their vision: social interaction is the future of decentralized finance. Sounds cool, right?

📱 Social Integration: The Secret Sauce for DeFi

Steve Yun made it crystal clear—Telegram + TON Blockchain is on a mission to smash two huge barriers to DeFi:

1. Limited distribution channels
2. Complicated user experiences

Their goal? Make DeFi mobile-first and easy-peasy to use, so everyone can get in on the action. Yun’s vision? DeFi should feel as chill as texting your friends. And the next step? Social trading. Yup, it’s as fun as it sounds.

🔄 Social Trading: Copy-Trade Like a Pro

Yun pointed out that the top trading bots on Telegram already bring in around $2 billion a year. But imagine this: copy-trading built right into Telegram. You could copy the strategies of trusted influencers or even your friends, all with one click. Easy access = more people joining the DeFi world without getting overwhelmed.

🌍 Mainstream Adoption: Less Tech, More Impact

Jack Booth chimed in, saying that for crypto to go mainstream, we need to move away from all the tech talk and focus on real-life benefits. People don’t care about the blockchain’s inner workings—they just want stuff that actually works for them. For instance, USDt on TON Blockchain quickly blew past some fintech giants in transaction volume. Crypto for everyday use? It’s happening.

🧠 TON’s Whitepaper: The Brain Behind the Magic

The TON Blockchain is powered by a tech-heavy whitepaper written by Nikolai Durov (yep, Pavel’s brother). It’s packed with details on how TON works. But don’t worry if you’re not a tech geek—most people won’t dive that deep. Here’s the takeaway: TON isn’t just for storing wallet balances. It can store and execute code via smart contracts, opening up endless possibilities for decentralized apps (dApps). Just be ready to pay some fees for storage and execution.

🕹️ TON’s Smart Contracts: More Than Just Wallets

While TON can do a lot, most developers use it for specific blockchain functions while using traditional coding for the rest of the app. For example, a Telegram game could use smart contracts just for NFTs, while the rest of the game runs like normal.

🗄️ TON Storage: Decentralized File Hosting

TON’s whitepaper also mentions TON Storage, a decentralized file hosting system. Cool, right? But it's still in the works and hasn’t gained mass adoption... yet.

🔮 The Future of DeFi: Trust and Social Connections

The big takeaway from Yun and Booth is that DeFi’s future could be all about social trust and easy-to-use platforms. By integrating blockchain tools into platforms like Telegram, TON aims to make it easier for everyone to get into financial products without the usual confusion.

With TON’s tech foundation and the massive Telegram user base, TON could become a game-changer in bringing DeFi to the mainstream.

💡 TL;DR

• Telegram + TON are making DeFi more accessible through social connections.
• Social trading could be the next big thing, letting you copy strategies from trusted sources.
• USDt on TON proves that crypto is already making waves in mainstream finance.
• TON’s smart contracts are a huge deal for building decentralized apps.
• TON Storage is coming soon, and it could change the way we store files online.