The Open Network (TON) blockchain has implemented its Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade, slashing block times to 400 milliseconds. This upgrade enables near-instant settlement for payments and trades directly within the Telegram messaging app. The faster block production is projected to increase the network’s annual inflation rate to 3.6%, up from 0.6%, by generating more validator rewards.
The Open Network (TON), an independent layer-1 blockchain integrated with Telegram, said it has reduced block times to 400 milliseconds. Payment transactions now settle in about one second, while trades settle in real time according to its announcement.
Faster block times produce more validator rewards as the number of blocks increases. TON’s annual inflation is projected to increase six-fold to 3.6% from about 0.6% following the update.
“More blocks mean more validator rewards, which create stronger staking incentives and bring more TON into the network,” according to the announcement. The update builds on TON’s Catchain consensus algorithm first proposed in 2020.
TON was trading up 2.3% to $1.28 with a volume of $130.1 million on Thursday. The token’s market capitalization was $3.17 billion at that time.
Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov stated that despite government bans, significant numbers in Iran and Russia still use the application. “The government hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps, but got mass adoption of VPNs instead,” Durov said.
The TON integration enables Telegram users to send crypto payments directly within the application to other users. In February, the in-app crypto wallet introduced self-custodial vaults for earning yield on major assets.
Earlier this month, the wallet launched perpetual futures trading for users directly in Telegram. The integration with perpetual decentralized exchange Lighter supports trading across multiple asset classes.
