The Open Network Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the development of TON Blockchain, today announced the launch of Tolk 1.0, a powerful new programming language that redefines how developers build smart contracts on TON.

Tolk represents a major step forward for the network, offering a modern, streamlined development experience while building on the proven foundations of FunC, the original language used to power smart contracts on TON since its inception. With Tolk, developers gain a more expressive, accessible, and cost-efficient way to build, paving the way for faster development and broader adoption.

The new standard for smart contracts on TON

Tolk is now the primary language for writing smart contracts on TON Blockchain. Specifically designed for TON’s asynchronous actor model, Tolk delivers a modern syntax and clean structure while preserving the deep control and performance TON developers rely on.

Smart contracts written in Tolk benefit from significant gas optimization — using up to 40% less gas compared to equivalent FunC contracts. The result is not just faster development, but cheaper and more scalable deployments by design.

“This is a turning point for TON developers,” said Anatoly Makosov, Core Developer at TON Core. “With Tolk, writing smart contracts is now as intuitive and expressive as working with today’s leading programming languages. It delivers the clarity and power developers expect without sacrificing the performance, control, or efficiency needed to scale on-chain. We're especially proud to have introduced powerful new language features while boosting stability and even lowering gas costs.”

Whether you're a newcomer building your first dApp or an advanced team deploying high-throughput applications, Tolk significantly reduces the barrier to entry and simplifies the development journey.

Unlocking the next wave of ecosystem growth

The launch of Tolk 1.0 is a major milestone in TON’s commitment to a seamless, world-class developer experience. By eliminating long-standing bottlenecks and modernizing the smart contract workflow, Tolk is poised to accelerate ecosystem growth, drive adoption, and unlock development of new use cases across DeFi, gaming, social, and beyond.

Full tooling is available at launch, including migration support for existing FunC contracts and integrations with popular IDEs.