TON's ecosystem reached new frontiers in October 2025, bridging decentralized AI, traditional finance, and Web3 through groundbreaking infrastructure announcements. Pavel Durov's unveiling of COCOON — a privacy-focused AI compute network — positioned TON as the backbone for next-generation AI applications, while tokenized U.S. stocks became tradeable directly in Telegram Wallet, bringing traditional equities to 1B+ users.

Missed last month's update? Catch up on September 2025 here.

📊 October in Numbers

Sources: TON Builders Portal, Dune Analytics, DeFi Analytics

🌟 Top Highlights in October

🤖 COCOON: Privacy-Focused AI Network Coming to TON

Pavel Durov revealed COCOON (Confidential Compute Open Network), launching in November as TON's entry into decentralized AI infrastructure. The network creates a three-sided marketplace where GPU owners mine TON by contributing computing power, developers access secure inference without centralized data centers, and users experience AI services with complete privacy.

👉 Watch announcement | Apply: @cocoon

📈 Traditional Finance Meets Telegram: Tokenized Stocks Launch

U.S. companies' tokenized stocks became tradeable directly in Telegram Wallet - from Amazon, Netflix, and Coca-Cola to Nvidia, Tesla, and ETFs like S&P 500. Users can now trade fractional shares of major companies using the same interface where they message friends, removing traditional barriers like brokerage accounts.

👉 Learn more

🏦 Institutional Recognition Grows with Bitstamp Listing

Bitstamp added Toncoin to its platform, providing institutional investors, family offices, and funds with access through one of crypto's most regulated exchanges. This follows recent milestones including Coinbase Ventures becoming a Toncoin holder and Gemini's U.S. listing.

👉 Read announcement

🏎️ Luxury Meets Web3: Lamborghini Launches on TON

Lamborghini entered Telegram's digital IP ecosystem with an exclusive sticker collection on TON — the luxury automotive brand's first Web3 consumer activation. When a brand synonymous with exclusivity chooses TON, it signals to other premium brands that the infrastructure and market are mature.

👉 View collection

🔗 Chainlink Makes TON a Cross-Chain Token

TON adopted Chainlink CCIP as its canonical cross-chain infrastructure, making Toncoin a Cross-Chain Token (CCT) transferable across leading blockchains with enterprise-grade security through decentralized oracle networks.

👉 Read announcement

💰 USDT Earn: 3.49% Yields Without Complexity

TON Wallet integrated direct USDT yield generation through Affluent's protocol, enabling users to earn 3.49% returns simply by holding USDT. No swapping, staking, or manual management required - this "set it and forget it" approach makes DeFi accessible to mainstream users.

📈 DeFi Momentum Accelerates

Blum's Trading Revolution

Blum launched a unified Trading Epoch earning system, adding 288,765 new Perps accounts in the first month with 28 new trading pairs including $ASTER, $HYPE, $PUMP, and $DOGS. The platform burned 746.8K $BLUM in October (29.95M total, 3% of supply) while introducing up to 25% USDT rewards through an upgraded referral system.

👉 Start trading

STON.fi Dominates TON DEX Market

STON.fi ranked #1 TON dApp on DappRadar with 94K+ unique wallets and $56.7M in 30-day transaction volume. The platform launched TON's first DAO with public testing now live, enabling $STON token holders to participate in protocol governance.

👉 View ranking | DAO announcement | Watch interview

TONCO Delivers Record 225% APR

TONCO's TON/USDT pool achieved a 30-day average APR of 225%, a fully organic yield from trading fees. The platform released a listing cabinet for projects to launch and manage pools autonomously.

👉 View metrics | Listing cabinet

🎮 Gaming & Entertainment Growth

Zargates launched GamersFest Season 2 with a $15,000 prize pool, demonstrating operational maturity through consistent seasonal events. TON Battleground partnered with DOGS House, uniting 700K gamers with TON's 3M+ community members. Caps Game saw its first $CG collection sell out in 2 hours, achieving 4,000 weekly marketplace transactions, 2,000 TON weekly trading volume, and 10,000+ daily games launched.

👉 Join competition

🎨 NFT & Digital Collectibles

TON Shows Resilience in Market Cooldown

NFT trading across major blockchains cooled in October, yet TON maintained relatively stable performance. Comparing first vs. second half of October: Ethereum volumes dropped 64.5% ($15.5M → $5.5M daily), Base fell 39.3% ($3.74M → $2.27M daily), while TON on-chain declined only 6.9% ($832K → $774K daily). This relative stability demonstrates stronger holder conviction.

Telegram Gifts Surge to 1.96M Holders

Telegram Gifts maintained strong growth with 462,795 unique on-chain wallets (+11.7% MoM) and 1,961,558 unique holders on + off-chain (+18% MoM), establishing themselves as the core collectible layer of Telegram's digital identity.

Record-Breaking Sales Continue

Major secondary-market moments underscored continued collector appetite: Plush Pepe #2658 sold for 107,207 TON ($230,000) on October 25th, while Telegram Username @devil sold for 555,555 TON ($1.25 million) on October 28th.

Cricket Comes to TON via SIXR Legends

GetGems launched Freemint for SIXR Legends - exclusive 666-supply collectible featuring cricket icons Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, and Eoin Morgan. This marks cricket's first major TON entry, potentially connecting with the sport's 2.5B+ global audience.

👉 Halloween events | SIXR Legends | Telegram Premium

🛠️ Builder & Developer Growth

217 new projects registered on TON Builders Portal with 124 Ecosystem Support Program requests submitted and 91 projects receiving official marketing support. Average response time remained under 3.5 days. TON Foundation launched a dedicated guides section featuring the complete 4-part TON Marketing Series and Telegram App Standards guide, addressing common failure points where teams have strong technical execution but poor go-to-market strategies.

TON Hubs onboarded 115 projects and 228 developers through regional events, with notable activations including Shanghai Blockchain Week (303 registered + 400+ total attendees at TON Demo Day), The Open Hack regional hackathon in Southeast Asia, and partnerships with 42berlin.de for ongoing education series.

👉 Apply for support | All guides | Hackathon

💳 Payments & Real-World Utility

Users can now buy gift cards from over 5,000 brands through CryptoRefills, top up phones with all major operators, get eSIMs, and book flights and hotels directly with TON and USDT. Finassets payment gateway added USDT on TON support for business invoicing, payment links, and API integrations. EMCD Wallet launched as a Telegram mini-app for storing, transferring, and exchanging crypto directly within Telegram.

👉 Start using | Finassets | EMCD Wallet

🔮 Looking Ahead

October demonstrated TON's strategic positioning at the convergence of multiple technology waves: decentralized AI through COCOON, traditional finance integration through tokenized stocks, and mainstream consumer access through Telegram's 1B+ users.

The ecosystem balanced innovation with stability, introducing groundbreaking infrastructure like Chainlink's canonical cross-chain integration while maintaining resilient market performance during broader industry cooldowns. With institutional backing growing, developer tools maturing, and real-world utilities expanding, TON continues building practical applications that make Web3 accessible to everyday users.

Next milestone: November's COCOON launch and continued evolution toward widespread Web3 adoption.

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TON | TON Builders Portal

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