🗽Introduction

Telegram USD (tgUSD), developed by Torch Finance, is a stablecoin protocol designed for Telegram and TON users, addressing three core challenges:

1. Negative Cycle in the TON Ecosystem:

   1. The lack of sufficient native yield in TON struggles to attract or retain users, leading to low liquidity and stagnant yield growth, resulting in a negative cycle of "no yield → no users → no liquidity."

   2. As of May 12, 2025, the average APY for USDT on EVAA, TON’s largest lending protocol, was only 3.48% over the past three months, compared to 7.58% for Fluid, a similar protocol on Ethereum—a gap of over twofold (see Low Yield on TON section) .

2. Blockchain Not Integrated into Daily Life:

   1. Blockchain technology has yet to seamlessly integrate into everyday scenarios (e.g., payments or gaming).

   2. For instance, current crypto payments often rely on credit card intermediaries, merely converting crypto to fiat in real-time, following traditional payment processes. This fails to reduce intermediaries or fees and does not leverage blockchain to address real-world pain points (see Limited Real-World Integration section).

3. High Barriers for Telegram Users to Access DeFi:

   1. Participating in core blockchain areas like DeFi poses significant cognitive and operational barriers for users.

   2. As of October 2024, only about 3% of Telegram users engaged with TON-related applications. Complex processes like wallet management, signature authorization, risk assessment, and yield comparison often lead to user drop-off during initial exploration (see High DeFi Barrier section).

Our Mission

The mission of tgUSD goes beyond enabling Telegram users to participate in DeFi—it’s about driving blockchain finance toward true adoption and practicality. Our goals are structured in three phases:

• Breaking the Negative Cycle in TON

  • Utilizes a cross-chain yield aggregation mechanism, allowing users to deposit USDT to mint tgUSD and stake it with a single click, accessing high-yield opportunities from leading DeFi protocols on major blockchains (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Aptos, Sui, etc.).

  • Prioritizes safety with standardized risk assessments by Torch Finance and smart contract audits by QuantStamp, ensuring both stable yields and security.

  • Injects sustainable stablecoin yields and liquidity into the TON ecosystem, fostering growth and stability.

• Enabling Everyday Blockchain Applications

  • Torch Pay (coming soon) transforms tgUSD into a yield-generating savings account. Users can not only earn passive income but also make peer-to-peer transfers, pay bots, or complete merchant checkouts directly within the Telegram ecosystem.

  • Through these everyday use cases, Torch Pay seamlessly integrates blockchain into daily life—gradually introducing users to the world of DeFi.

• Making DeFi Accessible to Every Telegram User

  • Offers a Telegram-style Mini App with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, enabling users to mint, stake, and earn yields effortlessly in a familiar environment.

  • Delivers yields from Torch Finance’s carefully selected, high-quality, multi-chain DeFi strategies, packaged into simple financial products that allow participation with a single click.

  • Supports developers with APIs and SDKs to integrate tgUSD into Telegram applications, driving the development of dApps within the ecosystem.

We believe blockchain finance should not be limited to Web3 users but should seamlessly integrate into everyone’s daily routines. The vision of tgUSD is to enable Telegram users to effortlessly access multi-chain yields on a familiar platform while using those yields for everyday spending and transfers, truly putting "yield in everyone’s pocket."