TL;DR
The TON blockchain is closely related to messaging app Telegram, and it has been experiencing rapid growth this year across multiple metrics, leading to price increases for the TON token. This expansion has included a boost in popularity for Telegram-based games, and there are several TON/Telegram projects that incorporate NFTs, including the likes of Market Makers, TON Punks, Gatto Game, Soko Inu, and TON Diamonds.
When it comes to NFTs, there are many different blockchain ecosystems to explore. Ethereum, Solana and more recently, Bitcoin Ordinals, have all grabbed attention at various times, but how about TON NFTs? TON is closely connected with messaging app Telegram, and has seen huge growth this year, while also hitting the headlines due to the arrest and subsequent release of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, so let’s check in on all those developments, and then look at how to trade NFTs on TON.
TON Network Is Growing
As TON is connected to Telegram, it has a huge potential user base to draw from, and on-chain data shows that it has been a standout performer this year. A look at the charts for this year-to-date shows major increases in daily transactions, TVL, and in the stablecoin market cap, with that latter metric rising recently to almost $670 million.
At the same time, the TON token price has soared by around 165% over the last year, and that comes despite having declined by around 30% from a new ATH that was set in June 2024, taking it to a current market cap of around $14.5 billion.
What Happened to Pavel Durov?
For context when discussing TON we should recap events around Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram. As mentioned, Telegram and TON are linked, and last month Telegram CEO Durov was arrested in France on preliminary charges related to criminal user activity on Telegram and the company’s policy of not releasing user data to the authorities.
Durov was subsequently released, and Telegram has since changed its policy on sharing data with the authorities–as in, it shares more data–in order to deter criminal activity (and there is plenty of debate around the ethics of that, which we won’t go into here).
You can notice on the TON price chart that it dipped in August when Durov was arrested, but has been recovering since then.
TON Wallet and NFT Marketplaces
To trade TON NFTs you’ll need a TON wallet, and a straightforward choice is Tonkeeper. This is a hot wallet that can be downloaded for mobile or as a browser extension, so after installing you can generate a new wallet. As always when creating wallets, be very careful to write down and safely store the secret recovery phrase, making sure you don’t lose that or reveal it to anyone else.
Of course, you’re also going to need some TON–the network token–in your wallet, but you can buy that on exchanges including Binance, Bybit and KuCoin, and transfer it across.
That done, you’re also going to need an NFT marketplace where you can buy and sell. While established platforms such as Magic Eden and OpenSea are multichain, they don’t support TON, so the place to go is a specialized TON NFT marketplace called Getgems. When you first visit you’ll be prompted to connect up your TON wallet, so go ahead and do that, and you’re ready to trade.
Additionally, there is also a marketplace called TON Diamonds, which is more focused on NFTs in the art and design niche, and also has its own NFT, which is mentioned below.
Top TON NFT collections
As in all NFT ecosystems, it’s difficult on first glance to know which of the many collections have potential, but here are some prominent TON NFT collections that have been gaining attention and establishing communities.
Market Makers
This 5,555 PFP collection was created by TON perps DEX Storm Trade, which lets you trade a wide range of assets (not only crypto) with leverage, either in a web app or directly from Telegram. Storm Trade is launching a token called STORM, and Market Makers NFT holders will receive whitelist spots to buy an allocation of the token at its TGE (token generation event), along with other benefits on the Storm Trade platform, including reduced fees and entry into trading competitions.
Relatedly, tokens in general can be a good alternative way to gain exposure to NFT markets, something covered earlier in NFT Coins: 7 Top Tokens.
TON Punks
You might have noticed that every chain that has an NFT ecosystem always has a CryptoPunks-inspired collection, and TON is no exception. TON Punks contains 5,149 items, and in this case, the project is linked to a P2E Telegram game and has its own token called PUNK, so it’s aiming for utility as well as pixel art PFPs.
Gatto Game
This is a P2E game in the Telegram app that is based around raising Tamagotchi-style pets called Gattomons. Rewards can be earned, and the unique pets are stored as NFTs that can then be bought and sold. That means there are a lot of Gatto Game NFTs, with the supply currently at 131,000, but sales have remained consistent over the past month.
And if you want to learn more about Web3 gaming across other chains, then take a look at The Top Web3 Gaming Companies to Watch.
Soko Legendary Vikings
These 113 Legendary Vikings NFTs–which show animated viking dogs–are part of the Soko Inu project, which is a Telegram-based ecosystem based around the SOKO token, and incorporating various games and activities to earn that token. The NFTs provide benefits within the ecosystem, including access to an upcoming game called Ragnarok.
TON Diamonds
These items, of which there are 10,000, are related to the above-mentioned marketplace of the same name. TON Diamonds holders can accumulate a project token called GLINT, get early access to new NFT releases, join an exclusive private community, and can trade on the TON Diamonds platform without paying any fees.
