CoinShares Analyzes Open Network (TON) Blockchain

CoinShares International has published a detailed research report on The Open Network (TON), a blockchain technology originally developed by Telegram. The report, "The Open Network (TON): An Institutional Research Note," examines TON's ability to solve distribution issues but questions its capacity for monetization and long-term user retention.

A central question for institutional investors is how the economic activity on the TON network will converge with Telegram's vast user base of one billion monthly active users. Transaction fees generated by the TON network were significant in 2024 but have since decreased substantially following a sixfold fee cut in April 2026, intended to enable micro-transaction use cases. However, the Catchain 2.0 upgrade in April 2026 reduced block production time from approximately 2.5 seconds to 400 milliseconds, increased throughput tenfold, and reduced finality time to about one second.

Telegram's direct operational control over TON, announced on May 4, 2026, clarifies the network's governance models while increasing dependency on a single platform. Post-upgrade, the TON network's staking yield has jumped significantly from approximately 4% to 16.7% annually, making it the highest staking yield among the top 50 cryptocurrencies. The analysis also accounts for future dilutions, stating that the real economic yield is lower than the headline figure.

CoinShares estimates TON's 12-month price target at $3.50. Despite significant growth potential, the investment carries risks, including the continuous release of GRAM tokens onto the market until April 2029, the release of tokens held by a large "whale" in February 2027, and the network's concentration on a single platform and validators.