The Open Network (TON) has continued to establish itself as an attractive venue for both web3 developers and users this year. Among other developments, the blockchain recently heralded the launch of a trustless bridge enabling bitcoiners to engage with TON’s various DeFi dApps. Prior to that, it revealed a new EVM-compatible Layer-2 that makes use of Polygon’s Chain Development Kit.

Piece by piece, the TON ecosystem is accruing the kind of bells and whistles it needs to compete with leading chains like Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain. Aided by the aforementioned developments, as well as the launch of USDT on TON in April, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in the network has surged by 27.6% in the last month, outstripping the growth of all other chains ranked above it by this metric per DeFiLlama.

TON’s shardchain infrastructure means it’s well-equipped to support a flourishing DeFi landscape. Not only are the barriers to entry low (all you need is Telegram) but it boasts a ready-made global user base thanks to the messaging app’s popularity: 900 million and counting.

Last year, TON set a new benchmark for throughput when it achieved 107,715 transactions per second – over 40,000 more than payment network Visa. In fact, the TON team says it can handle millions of transactions per second providing there are enough validator nodes in the network.

A One-stop shop for TON interaction

At present, the most popular gateway to all that TON has to offer – including viral mini-game Catizen which has 25 million players – is Tonkeeper, a noncustodial crypto wallet with a builtin browser.

The premier choice for various web3 projects including games and NFTs, this open-source Telegram-compatible wallet currently has over 30 million monthly active users, who appreciate the fact they can source and use their favorite dApps without exiting the wallet.

Founded in 2021, Tonkeeper’s self-funded team Ton Apps Group has been responsible for many prominent ecosystem innovations, among them the open-source TON Connect toolkit and W5 wallet standard, the off-chain Tonkeeper Battery account for gasless transactions, and gasless USDT, which helps users enjoy the network without having to actually buy Toncoin.

Ton Apps Group is also the brains behind Notcoin, a viral Telegram-based crypto project that combines elements of gamification, social interaction and digital scarcity. As well as the largest developer platform on TON, TonAPI, which is used by the likes of OKX.

A wide range of dApps from (games, services, utilities) are available directly via Tonkeeper’s builtin browser extension which, coupled with the user-friendly nature of the wallet, makes it something of a one-stop shop for those seeking to build or access decentralized applications on TON. The latter cohort includes both blockchain newbies and experienced users craving more advanced features such as staking.

TON-based liquid staking protocol Tonstakers, meanwhile, has referred to Tonkeeper as “The ultimate all-in-one app for those who value convenience and safety: browse, stake, farm,” citing the fact that users can “manage all their needs in one place.”

In a surprise to some, Tonkeeper became the most downloaded Finance app in the U.S. Google Play Store last month, surpassing not just other web3 apps like Binance and Coinbase but also household names like PayPal, Venmo and Cash App.

With the Open Network currently sitting just outside the top 10 blockchains by TVL, and its developer ecosystem having witnessed significant growth in recent months, the Telegram-backed network is well-placed to continue moving up the rankings. As for Tonkeeper, it continues to offer devs and users a friction-free entrypoint to all things TON.