🏆 What are "vanity addresses," and how to get them?

⚫️ Recently, a new, faster generator of "vanity addresses" for smart contracts was introduced in TON. What does this mean?

⚫️ Usually, addresses in TON look like random sets of characters. Wallets and other smart contracts, such as any NFT or Jetton, all have them.

⚫️ Many would like a "prettier address," for example, with their own name. For this, one can link a .ton domain to a wallet (like foundation.ton). But can one influence the address itself? How are they formed?

⚫️ They are calculated from the smart contract's initial code and data, which includes the private key. This is why wallets have different addresses: their code is the same, but each has its own key.

⚫️ This operation cannot be done in reverse, by taking an address and calculating the key from it (otherwise, it would be possible to hack other people's wallets). Therefore, it's impossible to say, "I want this address; I'll calculate now with which key such an address can be created."

⚫️ But you can automatically generate thousands of addresses and search among them for the most suitable one. You can't pre-determine a full address this way, but you can look for ones where several characters fit well. For example, the Notcoin smart contract address ends with "_NOT".

⚫️ For wallets, there is the Vaniton project, and it still works. For other smart contracts, there was previously TON Vanity Contract, and now a new Vanity has appeared. It is claimed that on a computer with an RTX 4090, the new version increases the enumeration speed thousands of times. This means the number of characters that can be matched can be increased. Perhaps Notcoin could have gotten not just NOT, but an entire NOTCOIN in its address this way?

💡 But since Vanity is designed for smart contracts, this is primarily news for project creators. And for a memorable personal wallet, .ton domains may still be a better fit.

@thedailyton

👁 The Open League: What remained after the injection?

⚫️ TOL was remembered not just as a competition, but as a massive cash injection into the TON ecosystem worth tens of millions of dollars. Let's compare what was before it, what appeared during it, and what remains now. We're not talking about metrics or TVL, but about tools — real infrastructure for users.

⚫️ Before the campaign started, the ecosystem could be compared to a desert with a couple of oases. There were a few DEXs and only the beginnings of DeFi — the network lived among a narrow circle of enthusiasts. The Open League became a turning point that was supposed to change this situation.

⚫️ The capital injection launched a chain reaction: attractive APR in liquidity pools and incentives for on-chain activity triggered users to buy TON and immerse themselves in the ecosystem, while hackathons with record prizes attracted hundreds of new teams.

⚫️ This was a time of qualitative leap: from perpetual contracts to options, from basic pools to the long-awaited concentrated liquidity. New protocols began to grow on top of old ones: complex DeFi strategies with auto-reinvestment, memepads. Fortunately, part of this infrastructure has taken root and is still working today.

⚫️ But, alas, at some point the incentives ended, and a sustainable economy never fully formed. Most projects born during that period are now frozen, abandoned, or operating in manual mode. Teams scattered to other ecosystems, and users who came for rewards left with them.

💡 Definitely, more people learned about TON thanks to the League at that time. It's unfortunate that this knowledge was formed as: "TON had life when money was given. Now it's gone." The infrastructural leap turned out to be a one-time event, not a fundamental one, and now we are observing a slow return to the state of "a couple of protocols and 200 people," but with the bitter aftertaste of missed opportunities.

@thedailyton

👁 How to make mining useful?

⚫️ Besides Cocoon, other "decentralized AI with blockchain" projects are developing in the world, such as Gonka and Bittensor. And the question arises: could they give a new lease of life to mining?

⚫️ First, let's recall how it originated. If someone in a blockchain gained a "majority of votes" when recording transactions, they could rewrite data in their favor. But crypto is anonymous, so how to tell apart the "real majority" and "a person with a million fake accounts"?

⚫️ Bitcoin solved this with Proof-of-Work. Miners prove that they performed complex calculations. This way, a simple "fake army" cannot pretend to be a "majority": it would require computational power greater than all other miners combined.

⚫️ The disadvantage is that the calculations there are "meaningless." It's as if we have a powerful computer capable of helping to find new medicine, and we say: "Just multiply random numbers with all your might, burning a lot of electricity for it."

⚫️ So the modern blockchains switched to the Proof-of-Stake principle, where instead of mining, validators put up a "stake" as a collateral. TON was distributed by mining at the very beginning, but now it works as PoS.

⚫️ And now in "decentralized AI projects," a lot of distributed computing is needed, but this time for a practical result (for example, translating texts using AI).

⚫️ And the question arises: since heavy calculations are being done with the use of blockchain, isn't it logical to return mining to the crypto world, but now "in a useful way"? It turns out that this goal is stated in the Gonka whitepaper.

⚫️ Cocoon did not state such goals, but... If you get your GPUs to compute a lot, and get crypto for it, and essentially from the creators of this crypto... Doesn't it turn out to be "useful mining" in spirit, even if it's not called that? Initially, it was also possible to get TON for GPU calculations, only "meaningless" ones.

🖊 In the TON developers' chat, this was already being considered. But they added: "The narrative is interesting, but it doesn't look like anyone will use it." Well, as you can see, we do! And in the comments, you can add what you think about this: is the comparison appropriate, and do you generally expect "useful mining" in crypto?

@thedailyton

💡 How to save TON? Opinion 4: transparency

⚫️ Every Friday column #opinion can start with the words "what people complained about in TON this week." In recent days, there has been criticism of the prolonged pause of Meme Republic, the failed announcement from AlphaTON Capital and the approach to hackathons (which we'll cover later in more details).

⚫️ And although these are different stories with different participants, they have something in common. First, a beautiful announcement happens ("We took into account past problems with Memelandia" or "We invested in a promising company"). Then it comes to action, and problems surface. And in the end, people affected don't even know "why it happened and what to expect."

⚫️ This is reminiscent of previous screw-ups like "UAE visas," it damages the ecosystem's reputation and makes people shy away from it. To "save TON" it's needed to take action here. Of course, you can't just "never screw up." But here's what clearly can be done: improving communication when problems arise.

⚫️ People find themselves in an "informational vacuum". Okay, Meme Republic had to be suspended, it happens. But when will it be resumed? Will it be at all? What is happening with it now? If people invested in preparing for the contest, their money depends on it, and they are not given answers. Will people want to continue investing money in such a "vacuum"?

⚫️ Against the background of screw-ups and lack of communication, TON believers (literally a couple of the most resilient remaining) have a particularly hard time: in the absence of positive news from TON and TF, they have to search for/invent them themselves, for which they are systematically ridiculed. TF has forgotten about them, and the community laughs at them — it is natural that almost none are left.

⚫️ Okay, we've complained, but what exactly should be done? You can look at Cloudflare, which sometimes causes half the internet to go down. Of course, it's bad that this happens. But the company at least doesn't keep silent, it promptly signals everything, and then writes a detailed post-mortem, honestly explaining what happened and what has been done to fix it. So users have a sense of transparency instead of a vacuum, they have an understanding of what is happening. And here we would also like that.

🖊 As usual, the opinion is subjective. So feel free to explain in the comments why it is wrong.

@thedailyton

💀 The ghost of the hackathon

⚫️ You previously stated that you'd like to know what is happening in Solana. We report: the Cypherpunk Hackathon has just concluded there. The contest was the 12th from the Solana Foundation and once again set a record for the number of participants: over 9,000 developers and 1,576 final projects across more than 6 different tracks. The results are in, and the winners have been awarded.

⚫️ Against this backdrop, a comparison with TON naturally arises, as a truly powerful resource was dedicated to this area last year. 2024 was memorable for two global hackathons accompanied by a series of offline bootcamps around the world: The Open League Hackathon and Hackers League. The prize pools for each event exceeded $2M, and in both cases, over 1,000 projects were registered.

⚫️ It seemed that momentum was only building — immediately after the winter contest ended, the BTCFi Hackathon was announced, aimed at unlocking the potential of $tgBTC and creating innovations to integrate Bitcoin into the ecosystem. This competition was more niche, so there were far fewer participants. However, the prize pool remained impressive — $1M.

⚫️ But almost a year later, still nothing has been heard about the results. At the same time, unconfirmed rumors are spreading in the community that critical vulnerabilities were found in $tgBTC and the project risks never seeing the light of day. Whether the community and hackathon participants will see the results remains a question.

⚫️ No major events have been observed in 2025. The only notable one is the hackathon with Ignyte, which started on October 8. This time the prize pool was much more modest, only $30,000. The awards were scheduled for November 29, but there are still no results.

⚫️ It turns out that we have moved from the grand scale of 2024 to a completely opaque system in 2025. If you visit the communities of the two hackathons described above, you will find only a multitude of questions from participants. Some criticize the organizers and urge others never to participate in TON contests again. Alas, the example in the link is not unique.

⚫️ Returning to Solana: thanks to hackathons, renowned projects like StepN, Jito, and Tensor saw the light of day. In TON, Storm Trade, DeDust and EVAA Protocol come to mind immediately — winners of Hack-a-TONx w/ DoraHacks 2023. And these are not just winners, but projects that became drivers in their ecosystems. Their success is the result of systematic work, where the contest was merely a launchpad, not the final chord.

⚫️ Such events only make sense when they create, not imitate. Despite the scale of 2024 mentioned above, it is now difficult to recall prize winners who are at least still in existence. 2025 in TON showed that hackathons often become a ritual without consequences — a noisy event followed by silence, as builders disappointedly leave for other networks. And this trend is frightening.

@thedailyton

⌨️ The Weekly TON: Highlights of the week

⚫️ If you missed our posts last week, you can quickly catch up all at once:

⚫️ A new vanity address generator for smart contracts has appeared, and we explained what that means.

⚫️ In our subjective "how to save TON" series, this time we wrote about what's wrong with communication in problem situations, and how it can be fixed.

⚫️ We recalled the times of The Open League and compared the situation with what we have now after it.

⚫️ We recalled the times of active hackathons, compared them with the present time, and with the current activity in Solana.

📒 And we wondered if "decentralized AI" projects like Cocoon and Gonka could resurrect the concept of mining.

@thedailyton

👁 Your Telegram is no longer yours

⚫️ A wave of sophisticated attacks on Telegram accounts is growing in the community. Attackers use social engineering and technical vulnerabilities to completely hijack accounts. Those who conduct business or interact with cryptocurrencies via the messenger are at increased risk. In the #antiscam section, we retell a recent post by Dr. Awesome Doge.

⚫️ Stage 1: Social engineering disguised as business meetings
It all starts with an attacker posing as an investor, recruiter, or journalist (it all depends on the scammer's imagination, the list can be wider) and offering an urgent video conference on Zoom. You are sent a link to an "installation file," which is actually a Trojan program.

⚫️ Stage 2: Telegram session theft
Malicious software silently copies the /tdata folder from your computer — it stores cryptographic keys for your Telegram session. Having obtained them, the attacker can log into your account from any device, bypassing SMS authentication.

⚫️ Stage 3: Using the 24-hour security rule
In Telegram, new sessions have limited rights for the first 24 hours. Attackers take advantage of this: they terminate your current session, you are forced to log in again — now your session is "new" and limited, while they retain the "old" one with full rights. After 24 hours, they gain full control and the ability to change the mobile number for logging into the account.

⚫️ Stage 4: Permanent access via Auth Key
Even if you change your password or enable two-factor authentication, the stolen Auth Key remains valid. This is a fundamental vulnerability of Telegram — the key is not updated and is not tied to the device.

⚫️ If the account has already been compromised, you should act immediately. Go to Telegram settings and terminate all sessions except the current one. Then enable two-factor authentication with the most reliable password — but remember that this does not invalidate the old Auth Key. A radical but sure step is to change the phone number in the account. This will guaranteed invalidate all previous session keys.

⚫️ Finally, we note that the basis of protection is digital hygiene. Never download software from suspicious sources, especially from chats with strangers. Develop a habit of checking active sessions at least once a week. And for confidential conversations, try to use only secret chats — they are not stored on servers and are protected by end-to-end encryption.

@thedailyton

👁 Transferring USDT via AirDrop?

⚫️ The other day, we came across a tweet from The Aenthropy Company with a curious video showing two smartphones on a table, and USDT being transferred between them using AirDrop. Everything looks simple, with nice animation — making it suitable for everyday situations like "if you pay for both of us at the cafe, I'll send you USDT."

⚫️ For now, this is not yet a released product, but a demonstration of a future feature; the tweet doesn't even specify "which blockchain is used." But we clarified and learned that TON will be supported.

⚫️ We will draw final conclusions only after this becomes available to everyone and we personally try to transfer USDT to TON this way. But even now, it's interesting to note a couple of points:

⚫️ Firstly, in these challenging times for TON, there are people who continue to build new things. If you want some good news, here it is.

⚫️And secondly, it's interesting that the product's idea is to make everything radically simple for the mass user. The idea is that they shouldn't have to think much about concepts like "blockchain," but simply think "I'll send money to a friend" and hold up their phone.

🚀 Simple approaches in TON have been attempted from the very beginning: for example, Wallet had the idea of "sending TON to Telegram contacts custodially." But Wallet eventually evolved into two different wallets in one, and often requires thought. Here, non-custodial use is declared — it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

@thedailyton

👁 Should we expect a "Santa rally"?

⚫️ There are a number of "signs" about when to expect cryptocurrency growth. And now, before the holidays, you can see mentions of a "Santa rally". What is it, and is it worth paying attention to at all?

⚫️ Back in 1972, the idea was first voiced that the holiday period is a time of stock price growth, and this was called the "Santa rally". Later, when cryptocurrencies appeared, the same idea began to be applied to them.

⚫️ How could this effect be explained? Various possible factors are named - for example, "people receive annual bonuses and want to invest." There is no exact explanation.

⚫️ But are there any facts behind this at all, or is it just fiction? With regard to the stock market, there is more historical data, and it has been calculated before. It turned out that stock market falls during this period do happen sometimes, but growth occurs more often than the statistical average - in 79% of cases. And on average, the change in the S&P 500 index was +1.3%.

⚫️It turns out that there is some statistical justification, but...

· Firstly, there are no guarantees. It is recalled that October was also called "Uptober" because of the traditional growth of Bitcoin, but this year it fell in October.

· Secondly, there are no super-profits. If there is growth, but by a fraction of a percent, then you won't get rich on this without huge leverage (and leverage is dangerous, since there are also falls).

· Thirdly, even if the market grows, your specific assets may fall. TON knows how to ignore trends and fall proudly while others are growing!

💡 The conclusion is this: although the concept did not arise out of thin air, it does not mean at all "you now need to put all your savings in a long with a large leverage." Rather, it should be perceived as just one of a million different factors influencing at the same time.

@thedailyton

👁 Trust, but verify

⚫️ News of an exploit in the Trust Wallet browser extension has swept through the community. The official version v2.68, published in the Chrome Web Store on December 24, contained malicious logic embedded in the code. At the time of writing, losses have exceeded $7M.

⚫️ It’s worth remembering that Trust Wallet is the official non-custodial wallet of Binance and a legacy of CZ. And although the team has already announced full compensation for the affected users, the incident itself has shown that even products proven over the years are not secure if their update release process can be compromised.

📒 Here it’s worth going back to basics and recalling the fundamental principles of cryptocurrency storage. They are often more important than trust in any specific brand:

If you store significant funds, it is most reliable to do so in hardware wallets. Ledger, Trezor, SafePal — these devices support the TON network and are designed so that the keys never leave their isolated chip.

Browser wallets are more convenient to use, but they should be considered "hot" wallets for everyday expenses, not for long-term storage of significant amounts.

Not all updates are the same. When it comes to security-related updates, it is advisable to install them immediately. But if we are talking about new features, you can first give the community time to test it. In the case of Trust Wallet, it was the fresh version that turned out to be malicious.

By the way, Tonstakers and Safepal are currently holding a New Year's event where one can win a hardware wallet. For a stake of more than 500 TON, users are guaranteed to receive a Safepal X1 as a gift. A good reason to think about switching to a more secure solution and treat yourself for the holidays.

@thedailyton

💡 How to save TON? Opinion 5: USP

⚫️ In our Friday #opinion column, here's another subjective piece on what could help TON in its current difficult situation.

⚫️ TON seems to be grasping at everything it sees in other blockchains, yet succeeding at nothing:

"Solana is successful because of memecoins, let's hold meme contests!"
(Result: Solana is a distant dream, the meme contest is stalled)

"Ethereum is successful because of DeFi, let's make 2025 the year of DeFi!"
(Result: by the end of the year, there's less DeFi in TON than at the start)

"Crypto is growing in the US, let's expand there!"
(Result: ordinary Americans don't care about TON)

⚫️ This approach immediately gives TON a disadvantage. If you decide "memecoins took off in Solana, let's go there!", you don't become a leader; you enter a field where a leader has already emerged and is difficult to displace.

⚫️ This is somewhat reminiscent of meme-trading itself. If you hear "everyone is buying this token, let's get it!", it might mean it's already too late to buy. The real winners are those who spotted a promising asset before anyone else. Those who jumped on the hype, at best, eat the leftovers; at worst, they become the meal.

⚫️ What would help TON the most is not copying others, but offering people interesting things that don't yet exist on other blockchains. As they say in marketing, a "USP" — a unique selling proposition that clearly distinguishes you from competitors.

⚫️ After all, the only time TON was massively noticeable was with "tap-to-earn" games. That is, precisely what wasn't really being done on Solana and Ethereum. Could there be something similar, but not a one-off?

🖊 This doesn't mean that all meme contests should be stopped (we're still waiting for the resumption of Meme Republic). It might be better with them than without. They are just not enough.

@thedailyton

⌨️ The Weekly TON: Highlights of the week

⚫️ As usual on Mondays, we recall our posts from last week:

⚫️ We described a recent attack scheme on Telegram accounts.

⚫️ We got interested in the demonstration of the 'Transferring USDT via AirDrop' feature.

⚫️ We looked into whether the expectations that 'Santa raises cryptocurrency rates' are justified.

⚫️ In light of the theft of millions of dollars from the Trust Wallet browser extension, we recalled how to store funds securely.

📒 And finally, we shared another opinion on how to save TON: this time with the help of a 'unique selling proposition'.

@thedailyton

👁 T(R)ON?

⚫️ In previous posts, we have already compared TON with the radically different Hyperliquid and the disastrous ICP. The similarity with the latter prompted us to develop the topic further. Which other blockchain does TON resemble the most? The first one that comes to mind is TRON.

⚫️ Both networks bet on simplicity and low fees. TRON has captured the stablecoin market: billions of USDT pass through it. TON, apparently, is following a somewhat similar path, through aggressive marketing of Wallet and increasing stablecoins on the network (we are still waiting for USDC). But here remains the main danger: one can become a convenient tool for transfers and payments, but not an ecosystem.

⚫️ Also, both blockchains have a similar centralized development model. Both TON and TRON move not so much through organic community growth, but top-down through funds and close ties with a single leader. In TRON it is Justin Sun and the Tron Foundation, in TON — the TON Foundation and the informal influence of Pavel Durov. Key decisions, grants, and the vector of development are determined by a narrow group, rather than by market or decentralized voting.

⚫️ The DeFi deficit we have mentioned more than once is also a common feature of the two blockchains. Despite loud promises, complex financial products have not become a strong point of either TRON or TON. Liquidity is spread thin, composite protocols are absent, and yield strategies are limited to basic pools. Experienced users often prefer networks with deeper markets.

⚫️ And if we talk about differences, the main one is, of course, Telegram. TRON does not have its own popular messenger. And this has always been called an advantage of TON, but... if in the end the price of TON falls, while TRON grows, did this not turn out to be a disadvantage in 2025? While Durov is focused on the messenger, Justin has all the activity on-chain. As a result, Telegram gifts only distracted people from TON, whereas nothing similar happened in TRON.

@thedailyton

🎄The Daily TON wishes readers a happy New Year!

⚫️ As they say, "the past year was not easy." In the TON ecosystem, this was felt keenly.

⚫️ It was supposed to be the "year of DeFi," but how did it turn out? Some events did take place: for example, Ethena came to TON and projects like Affluent appeared. However, a number of smaller projects closed down, and metrics like TVL and the price dropped.

⚫️ And in reality, 2025 turned out to be more of a "year of gifts." There were successes there, and some invested successfully. But this barely helped TON, happening mostly off-chain.

⚫️ What to expect in 2026? At the very least, Cocoon should become fully operational. Also, Durov stated that the Telegram team would become more actively involved in TON, and in 2026 we should expect announcements related to this. Perhaps as early as spring at Token2049 or Gateway?

🚀 It is hard to make predictions here. So we won't say with confidence "this will be the year of AI in TON." Let's put it this way instead: we wish for this to be the year of something that will help TON come alive!

@thedailyton

👁 Happy New Block!

⚫️ Exactly 17 years ago, on January 3, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block in the Bitcoin network — the so-called Genesis Block. This day symbolizes the birth of decentralized currencies and digital sovereignty.

⚫️ But this is not the only holiday the crypto community celebrates today. January 3 is also Proof of Keys Day. The initiative was launched in 2019 by Trace Mayer as an annual campaign to remind everyone of one of the main principles of cryptocurrencies: Not your keys, not your coins.

⚫️ The essence is simple: on this day, users are encouraged to withdraw their BTC or other crypto assets from centralized exchanges to their personal, non-custodial wallets, the private keys of which are fully under their control. It's a kind of ritual for users and a stress test for exchanges — a mass check that they really hold the claimed funds and are not using them in hidden operations.

⚫️ Proof of Keys Day is more than just prevention. Today, when even market leaders can block accounts or fall victim to hackers, this practice turns from a symbolic tradition into the simplest way to hedge CEX risks.

⚫️ Today, celebrating a double holiday, it is worth thinking not only about the past but also about the future. Satoshi's idea was to create a tool for sovereignty, not for speculation on exchanges. And every wallet with your keys is that very "stable system" everyone talks about.

⭐️ Shall we celebrate together?

@thedailyton

🪙 Blockchains in 2026

⚫️ Every year the crypto world changes: blockchains appear, disappear, and evolve. Therefore, as we enter 2026, let's cast our eyes over the entire current landscape. What will TON have to compete with this year? We can divide successful blockchains into "waves" that arose approximately every 5 years:

⚫️ "The original one," Bitcoin (2009), is technically outdated but remains the king of liquidity. Without full-fledged smart contracts, it cannot offer modern DeFi, but gigantic sums are stored in it. This is "digital gold," where many place money for the long term, rather than moving it around five times a day.

⚫️ In 2015, Ethereum was the first to add smart contracts, allowing new products to be created "around" the blockchain, and remains the main one in this to this day. But due to scaling problems, it is usually used with L2 solutions, which are too confusing for the mass user.

⚫️Therefore, by 2020, new blockchains like TON tried to fix the problems. The goal was to make it easy and convenient, with fast transactions and low fees. Among such projects, the greatest popularity so far has come to Solana, largely thanks to memecoins.

⚫️ And later, closer to our time, even newer ones appeared: SUI, Aptos... In 2025, Circle (the creator of USDC) and Stripe also announced their own blockchains. Since all such projects were created after Solana and TON, they had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and offer new technical solutions.

⚫️ What's next? No one knows the future for sure, but projects like the payment protocol x402, which helps AI agents transfer funds, are developing now. Perhaps the next big wave will be related to the intersection of crypto and AI.

⚫️ And TON is required to compete with all this at once. While "oldies" like Bitcoin have reputation, "youngsters" like SUI use fresh solutions, and AI threatens to change the whole world. How can TON answer this in 2026? Transaction finalization time is planned to be reduced to a second, the AI project Cocoon is only beginning to be actively applied in Telegram, and Durov also promised new announcements this year. How much all this will help — we'll see.

⌨️ We skimmed the surface, but it's interesting to figure it out in more detail: for example, what are the features of SUI, will it be difficult for TON to compete with them? Therefore, we will introduce the hashtag #blockchains to develop the topic later.

@thedailyton

👁 State of AI in 2026

⚫️ Recently, Telegram launched AI summarization of posts. And also improved capabilities for AI bots. All in all, the year has just begun, and there is already more AI around than before!

⚫️ To understand "what awaits in 2026", let's cast a glance over the entire AI landscape, just like we did yesterday with blockchains. Where have things arrived, what is expected next, and how might this affect TON? In 2025, a number of important shifts occurred:

⚫️ Open LLM models have evolved. In the familiar ChatGPT, people access GPT models running on OpenAI servers. But over the last year, a whole series of strong models have been released in China that can be run on one's own hardware (DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen, and so on). Cocoon runs precisely such open models; one of them is summarizing Telegram posts. So their development helps Telegram.

⚫️ Programming is changing in real time. In early 2025, the word "vibecoding" was coined, and back then it was all about "fooling around". But by the end of the year, some programmers began to seriously talk about no longer writing code manually with the Opus 4.5 model. This doesn't mean "people aren't needed", the model requires competent supervision. You can't simply say "make a crypto project" and release it without looking at the code — what if its smart contract loses all the money? But an experienced programmer can now do more than before.

⚫️ Image and video generation made a leap with the release of Nano Banana and Veo 3. Partly this led to a pile of AI slop on social media. But it also solves practical tasks for people: what if you started a crypto project, don't have money for a designer yet, but already need at least a temporary version of a logo?

⚫️ Experiments like "let AI trade crypto" have emerged. So far, AI agents have mostly blown the budget (just like humans). But this is only the beginning of the journey, and we should expect new steps in 2026.

⚫️ What conclusions can be drawn here for TON? 2026 seems to bring the most potential for the builders. New niches for crypto projects are emerging, as well as tools for their creation, and it has become possible to do more alone — all this will clearly have an effect.

⚫️ So that means 2026 is the best year in history to create a crypto project? Or will everyone now make a project, and in the end, there will be no one to use them? Write your predictions, we'll compare them with reality in a year.

🖊 Just like with the blockchain overview, the topic can't be fitted into one post, so with the hashtag #AI we'll look at something in more detail. In the meantime, confess: did you read the post "for real", or did you click on summarization?

@thedailyton

🔥 EVM vs non-EVM

⚫️ Let's expand on the topic "#blockchains in 2026". If you have interacted with DeFi, you have probably heard the terms "EVM-compatible" or "non-EVM" blockchain. This is not just technical jargon, but a fundamental division that determines which applications can run on the network and who will develop them.

⚫️ EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) is the Ethereum virtual machine that has become the standard in the crypto world. Blockchains like Polygon, BSC, and Avalanche are EVM-compatible. This means that any smart contract or dApp written for Ethereum can be ported to such networks with almost no changes. The main advantage is compatibility and a huge ecosystem: developers, tools, and users are already there.

⚫️ Non-EVM blockchains are networks with their own unique architecture. Bitcoin stands apart without smart contracts. Solana, SUI, TON, and others have created their own virtual machines and programming languages. Their goal is not compatibility, but performance, low transaction costs, or specific specialization. They often offer higher speeds and lower fees, but sacrifice the aforementioned EVM compatibility and require developers to learn new tools.

⚫️ Speaking of TON, it is a vivid example of a non-EVM blockchain with its own virtual machine (TVM) and its own programming languages like Tolk. This allowed it to achieve high scalability, which Ethereum struggles with. However, at the same time, this creates a barrier to entry for developers from the Ethereum ecosystem who are used to the Solidity language, EVM tools, and the synchronous model.

⚫️ Such a division of blockchains comes from natural evolution. EVM dominates as a universal platform with maximum compatibility. Non-EVM blockchains experiment on the periphery, creating solutions for specific tasks: be it mass payments in TON or high-frequency trades on Solana.

💡 And the future will most likely be hybrid: multi-chain bridges and compatibility layers are gradually erasing boundaries, allowing users not to think about choosing a virtual machine.

@thedailyton

💀 Evolution of the Threat

⚫️ Recently, the crypto community was alarmed once again: Ledger reported a new leak of customer data through a payment processing partner — the company Global-e. Names, shipping addresses, emails, phone numbers, and order details were compromised.

⚫️ This is the third major incident for Ledger: in 2020, data of millions of users leaked through Shopify; in 2023, there was the Ledger Connect Kit hack resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the first case, although no one was physically harmed, a wave of phishing attacks on the victims began immediately, as expected.

⚫️ But today, the problem has escalated beyond digital fraud. Crypto veterans warn of a real physical threat: leaks (including old ones) allow attackers to use AI to find wealthy holders, monitor their social networks, and plan attacks in real life.

⚫️ 2025 has become a record year for "wrench attacks" — violent robberies and kidnappings for crypto: dozens of cases in Europe, the USA, and Asia with losses of millions of dollars.

⚫️ In just the last two months, kidnappings in France, torture in Austria, robberies with grenades in Russia, and cases in Hong Kong and Thailand have been recorded. With the rise in crypto prices, such attacks have doubled compared to the previous year. Criminals know that transactions are irreversible, and data on hardware wallet purchases reveal potentially "fat" targets.

⚫️ Ledger reassures that crypto is safe if the seed phrase is not revealed. But personal data is a door to the real world. Now many in the community advise buying devices locally for cash and trying to minimize one's online footprint. Which we advise you to do as well.

👁 A hardware wallet protects your assets, but not you.

@thedailyton

👁 Will an upturn come?

⚫️ Over the holidays, Anatoliy Makosov (TON Core) published a post stating that the crypto world moves in cycles of downturns and upturns. TON is currently in a downturn, but it’s not the first one. This appears to be a response to pessimistic posts from others. The message is: yes, there is a downturn, but it’s a natural phenomenon, and things will get better later, just as they have in the past.

⚫️ And in our Friday #opinion column, we’d like to discuss: how accurate is this position? Is everyone worrying for nothing? Do we just need to tighten our belts and work while waiting for the next bull run? Or is this an attempt to put a brave face on a bad situation? Interestingly, the answer isn't just one or the other. It’s useful to keep a few things in mind at once:

⚫️ On the one hand, cycles do exist. TON, Bitcoin, and Solana have all experienced significant crashes, only to grow back stronger than before. We’ve written about this ourselves. Therefore, those who immediately scream "all is lost" in Telegram channels at the first sign of a downturn look like Chicken Littles. It’s better to consider cyclicality, as Anatoliy advises.

⚫️ However, there is another side not addressed in his post. First, the existence of cycles doesn't guarantee that "every fall will inevitably be followed by growth." For example, how many blockchains failed to survive a crypto winter? The rest of the crypto world recovered, but they didn't. So, while hysterics about "all is lost" aren't helpful, assuming "TON is guaranteed to be fine" isn't wise either.

⚫️ Second, even if we assume "TON will definitely bloom later," that doesn't offer much comfort to many people in the ecosystem right now. Last year, we already saw a number of unprofitable TON projects shut down. Will the words "everything will bloom later" console a project founder who can't hold out until then and has to leave TON to build somewhere else? In a way, that’s even more frustrating.

💡 In general, we are against extremes and overly confident forecasts. Will the current downturn in TON be followed by new growth? Possibly, so don't rush to bury it. But no one can give guarantees, and you still have to survive long enough to see that growth.

@thedailyton