Grants and Bounties Report Q4 2023

In Q4 2023, TON Foundation played a pivotal role in advancing TON Ecosystem, directing funds towards promising Web3 Telegram Mini Apps, GameFi, DeFi, infrastructure and beyond. This report offers a detailed examination of the financial assistance provided to promising projects and the accomplishments highlighted by the completion of various bounties, emphasizing TON Foundation’s commitment to supporting the ecosystem’s journey towards mass adoption.

Grants

TON Foundation is proud to announce the final list of grant recipients for Q4 2023!

This round saw a dynamic mix of projects from GameFi, Telegram Mini Apps, DeFi, infrastructure, and beyond, drawing 243 submissions requesting approximately $1 million in funding. After a rigorous selection process, 228 proposals were reviewed, and 18 exceptional projects were chosen, receiving a total of about $350K in rewards.

The recipient teams, with their strong, relevant expertise, offered innovative solutions that addressed key challenges within the TON Ecosystem. They also presented effective go-to-market plans, crucial for grant success and product development.

In the GameFi segment, FireHeadz received a grant to develop hybrid-casual games on Telegram using TON Blockchain, aiming to create simple, viral Web3 games for mass adoption through Telegram’s user base. FireHeadz has already successfully launched two Telegram Mini App games: GeoMapper and The Pixels.

PlayWallet has introduced a solution allowing users to top up gaming platforms like Steam with cryptocurrency through a new Telegram Mini App; the team aims to onboard half a million users in the coming months.

TonJump marks a notable advancement within the ecosystem by introducing the first Web3 user-generated content game on Telegram. It provides a platform for users to craft and share their customizable game maps, blending NFTs and TON into a platformer game.

In the realm of DeFi, DeDust.io has secured funding to develop a Mini App version of its DEX, effectively narrowing the gap between TON’s DeFi services and Telegram users.

Kit42 introduces a feature-rich mini app to Telegram, offering analysis and management tools for contacts, messages, and channels, alongside account cleanup features. This tool aims to streamline Telegram use and support user transition into Web3.

TON Raffles has been funded to propel the development of a comprehensive Web3 project platform, enabling NFT minting and sales through a Mini App. In a similar vein, DAOLama is at the forefront of NFT and Web3 project support with its protocol for NFT lending and renting, receiving grant support for its Mini App development. The team has recently launched a new product, allowing you to buy NFTs for half their market price.

Xircus has received a grant for its platform that simplifies the creation and deployment of Web3 applications on TON, greatly easing the development process for creators and fostering innovation within the TON Ecosystem by removing common blockchain development barriers. This tool is becoming essential as interest in the TON Ecosystem grows, promising to increase developer engagement.

Tonano, the first inscription protocol on TON, also received a grant from TON Foundation. This support aims to bolster community engagement and assist the protocol’s relaunch.

These latest grants highlight our commitment to supporting the wider TON Ecosystem, by showcasing a diverse range of projects: DeDust brings DeFi to Telegram users, TonJump and FireHeadz drive viral gaming experiences, PlayWallet simplifies gamer transactions, Ton Raffles upgrades Web3 project infrastructure, DAOLama fosters the NFT landscape on TON, Xircus enhances the developer experience, Kit42 broadens Telegram’s functionality, and Tonano pioneers with its innovative inscription use case.

Additionally, a total of 8 other innovative projects received TON grants.

Congratulations to the Q4 2023 grant recipients! Your initiatives showcase the immense potential of TON Blockchain and are crucial steps towards Web3 mass adoption and digital decentralization. We are excited to see your progress, proud to back your efforts, and are looking forward to the positive impact you will have on our community.

Bounties

Q4 2023 was also a significant period for bounties, overall, 27 bounty tasks were completed, offering around $50K in rewards, and 44 tasks approved, receiving approximately $60K in rewards. A total of 77 proposals were processed.

Here is a list of the most outstanding finished bounties for the quarter:

Developer Tools

• Implemented native python bindings for TON, awarding $12,000 to a recipient in Russia.
• Created a C# library for TON Connect 2.0 and conducted a review, awarding $2100 to a recipient in Russia.
• Developed a Ruby SDK for TON, with $5000 awarded to a recipient in Ukraine.
• Added Tact highlight and grammar support for the VIM editor, awarding $1500 to a recipient in Russia.
• Launched a crypto donate service, providing $2000 to a recipient in Russia.
• Implemented a smart contract for scalable airdrops on TON Blockchain, with $1500 awarded to a recipient in Russia.
• Implemented ADNL over UDP and DHT in Python, with $4000 awarded to a recipient in Russia.
• Implemented ADNL over TCP in C#, with $2250 awarded to a recipient in Russia.
• Created a Tact lexer for pygments, awarding $400 to a recipient in Russia.
• Established an NFT fractionalization standard, with $1200 awarded to a recipient in Russia.

Infrastructure

• Designed a general blockchain stats page, with a $5000 reward to a recipient in Russia.
• Created pages with detailed stats for each blockchain entity, rewarding $3000 to a recipient in Russia.

Education

• Showcased TON Connect and Telegram bot on Python, rewarding $410 to a recipient in Russia.
• Updated the Tact language syntax for prism.js, rewarding $300 to a recipient in Russia.
• Completed a TON tutorial speedrun, awarding $4350 to a recipient in Russia.

There have also been 44 total bounty approvals for Q4 2023.

The bounties in progress as of February, 2024:

• Create a tutorial on how to interact with TON’s main contracts
• Integrate Blueprint into VS Code as an extension
• Develop a Web UI for the Highload Wallet Standard
• Launch a new Highload Wallet
• Release a Swift SDK for TON to facilitate iOS and macOS application development
• Use Tonpy with lite-client, func, and merkle
• Develop TonAPI SDK for Rust
• Create a TONAPI library for Python
• Implement a Sandbox UML plugin
• Make a series of improvements to Tact Language
• Develop a C# Ton Client over Lite Client

The full list is available here.

To see all the open bounties available for applications, please visit TON Society and execute a bounty task that suits you.

Our Grants and Bounties Reports showcase the TON Foundation’s commitment to supporting the TON Ecosystem. We outline the distribution of grants to a diverse range of projects as well as detail the completion and approval of various bounties. Through these initiatives, TON Foundation acknowledges existing contributions and seeks to encourage ongoing development within the TON Ecosystem.