Low Yield on TON
Growth and Limitations of USDT Activity on TON
Since the launch of native USDT on TON in April 2024, the TON Foundation has introduced several incentive programs:
11 million TON in early-stage rewards
An additional 5 million TON announced in September 2024 to boost stablecoin trading on DEXs
These incentives temporarily boosted activity:
Over 50,000 wallets participated in daily USDT transfers during the peak from September to October 2024.
However, once the incentives ended:
User activity dropped sharply
The number of wallets fell by over 50% from peak levels
This highlights that USDT activity on TON remains heavily reliant on external incentives, lacking sustainable yield mechanisms or practical use cases.
Competitive Disadvantage in Native Yield
TON’s yield offerings are significantly lower than those on other blockchains, making it hard to retain users long-term. Between Feb 12 and May 12, 2025, the average APY for USDT on major lending protocols was:
TON
EVAA
3.48%
-
Ethereum
Fluid
7.58%
2.18x
Ethereum
Morpho
4.90%
1.41x
Aptos
Aries
8.99%
2.58x
SUI
NAVI
6.26%
1.80x
In addition, TON’s DeFi total value locked (TVL) is currently around $167 million, a sharp contrast to Sui, which launched in a similar timeframe and has reached nearly $2 billion in TVL.
TON’s stablecoin market cap is also relatively modest at $100 million, compared to:
Ethereum: $12.2 billion
Tron: $7 billion
Solana: $1.2 billion
These figures highlight that while TON currently lags behind in DeFi scale, it still holds substantial room for growth in the stablecoin sector. To unlock this potential, TON must overcome a compounding cycle: low yield → low user engagement → low liquidity.
However, with Telegram’s massive user base and native integration potential, TON presents asymmetric upside—especially once the current yield limitations are addressed.
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