EXCLUSIVE: Bitget Wallet COO On Emergence Of TON As 'Beacon' Of Mass Crypto Adoption

Amid the rise of blockchain and the cryptocurrency's continuing push for wider adoption, a layer-1 blockchain is taking the industry by storm: The Open Network (TON). With an enthusiastic community behind it and increasing interest from investors and users, the network is expected to grow further, especially as its partners remain bullish of the future, including Bitget Wallet.

Alvin Kan, the Chief Operating Officer of leading non-custodial multi-chain crypto wallet Bitget Wallet, shared with International Business Times his insights on why the Web3 sector has become very bullish of TON and how integrating with the network has helped drive activity among Bitget Wallet users.

What drives the bullishness around TON?

There are various other layer-1 blockchains across the vast Web3 space, but certain aspects of TON set it apart from the rest, Kan said. "TON has emerged as a beacon of mass adoption potential, addressing this critical gap in the crypto world," he said.

Unlike the narrative around other blockchains wherein there are often repetitive cycles of development followed by post-airdrop inactivity, TON boasts of robust on-chain activity and a thriving ecosystem that make it a standout choice in a market already saturated with similar offerings.

Aside from a thriving community, Telegram-based click-to-earn mini-apps also help drive interest on TON, Kan said. Apps such as Hamster Kombat and Catizen have propelled high levels of user interaction, as exhibited when TON reached over 5.6 million monthly active wallets at its peak.

How did TON achieve such success?

A huge chunk of the network's success is built around its effective use of Telegram's vast social traffic. Partnered with an innovative operational strategy, TON was able to extend its reach and enhanced its value both within and beyond its ecosystem, Kan said.

Integrating with Telegram helped users effortlessly access and utilize TON-based decentralized apps (dApps), while also allowing TON to benefit from a built-in audience of millions of users. This is a significant edge compared to other blockchain projects that need to build their user bases from scratch, Kan noted.

How has TON integration helped Bitget Wallet?

Kan said Bitget Wallet has seen "a remarkable surge in activity" since integrating with TON. This month alone, daily transactions on the TON mainnet via Bitget Wallet spiked by more than 25x compared to June, he revealed.

The integration allowed users to add TON with a single click and gave them the flexibility to manage their assets and perform on-chain transactions. TON is the most active mainnet on the wallet, even surpassing some of the most-established blockchains such as Polygon, BNB Chain, Base, and Arbitrum.

The wallet has particularly excelled in Southeast Asia, Nigeria and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region, as driven by strong TON engagement, most especially among Telegram gamers. Data from data.ai showed that Bitget Wallet's Nigeria user base ballooned by a staggering 233% in June and also topped finance charts on the Nigerian App Store.

How does Bitget Wallet see TON's growth, especially in on-chain gaming?

Interest on GameFi has significantly increased in recent months, and the environment TON has created for Web3 gamers is expected to help propel the booming subsector further.

Bitget Wallet is very optimistic about TON's trajectory on on-chain gaming in the next five years. "TON's advanced features, such as dynamic sharding and efficient consensus mechanisms, are tailored to handle the high transaction volumes essential for gaming applications. Its interoperability with other blockchains will further enrich the gaming experience by seamlessly integrating diverse ecosystems," Kan said.

The TON Foundation has been proactively working to attract and support game developers through funding. Kan expects "the integration of GameFi elements, underpinned by TON's robust infrastructure, to likely foster complex in-game economies and drive growth."

How have recent security issues been addressed?

Last month, Yu Xian, the founder of blockchain security firm SlowMist, warned that "there are more and more phishing activities in the TON ecosystem." He said the ecosystem "is to free" and allows phishing actors to implement "deceptive methods to lure away users' TON wallets in batches," as per a Google translation.

Kan said Bitget Wallet has responded to the matter by implementing a multi-layered security approach that includes two-factor authentication (2FA) for all user accounts. It also conducts regular security audits and penetration tests to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities.

He reiterated that Bitget Wallet prioritizes user education via phishing awareness campaigns and provides users with regular updates on security practices. It also provides alerts on new phishing strategies used by scammers to target TON users.

What are the further prospects for TON integration?

Bitget Wallet kicked off deep research into the TON ecosystem a few months ago, Kan revealed. It also invested in and incubated some TON-based initiatives, collaborated with more than 50 prominent TON projects, and provided users with a gas-fee experience for transactions and on-chain transfers, establishing a $1 million prize pool.

The wallet introduced the industry's first multi-party computation (MPC) wallet that supports the TON mainnet. Looking ahead, Bitget Wallet is looking to enhance trading capabilities for TON mainnet tokens, allowing sending of TON assets via a link, and provide a broader range of dApps, Kan said.

"We want to go full in on this because there are not many communities that are so excited about mass onboarding," he added.