In 2024, TON’s Grant Program supported 57 projects across GameFi, DeFi, and infrastructure, helping builders explore new use cases and expand the utility of blockchain technology within the TON ecosystem.

Let’s dive into the trends, standout projects, and ecosystem milestones that defined 2024.

Grants overview

1. Total projects funded

TON funded 57 projects in 2024, ranging from early-stage builders to hackathon champions. That includes participants from the Spring Accelerator and the Summer hackathon, each bringing something fresh and plugging into actual user behavior.

2. Category distribution

• GameFi: 40%
• DeFi: 25%
• SocialFi: 10%
• Infrastructure: 15%
• Community tools: 5%
• E-commerce: 3%
• Other: 2%

GameFi ran the show this year, scooping up nearly half the grants. DeFi and infrastructure followed, laying firm ground for more complex builds. The rest? Smaller shares, but still key puzzle pieces in the network’s broader expansion.

3. Monthly breakdown

• January–February: The year kicked off with a batch of high-utility projects focused on scalability and security.
• August–October: Grant approvals spiked hard here, making up nearly 40% of the year’s total. GameFi and DeFi builders were on a roll, bringing in users and shipping products fast.
• Year-end: SocialFi and DeFi wrapped up with momentum. These projects pointed to what’s next and hinted at a more layered ecosystem in 2025.

Key categories and insights

1. GameFi

GameFi received the most attention this year, accounting for 40% of all grants.

Lost Dogs

Part digital pet adventure, part NFT flex. Lost Dogs lets players rescue and care for their pixel companions while building on-chain assets. The community’s no joke either: 15M+ players, 100K+ jetton holders, and three successful side projects already under their belt. The next chapter? NFT smart contracts with token locks and built-in vesting.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Fireheadz

Fireheadz, a gaming studio, started with Geo Mapper and The Trading Game, later creating viral hits like The Pixels Battle, Nuke, Fart beetle bot, Banana meter bot, and Duckygram. Duckygram integrated NFT Gifts into its gameplay, attracting 400K users in a month with over $1M in NFT Gifts used.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Hamsterdam

A blockchain-based adventure where players collect, compete, and earn, while running around in a hamster-themed metaverse. Monthly active users hover at 70,000, and the first NFT sale sold out in under 18 minutes.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Cat Gold Miner

Players mine digital treasure while earning on the side. With 170,000 monthly active users and growing, Cat Gold Miner is striking the right balance between fun and rewards.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Elympics

This one’s laying the groundwork for competitive blockchain gaming at scale. It has over 3 million game sessions, 3,000+ community tournaments, 30+ games using its SDK, and a 1,000+ strong dev community. It also helped kick off GameCamp, where standout titles—Melodia, Stretch & Break, and Color Squares—picked up TON Foundation grants.

Grant Proposal | Grant Proposal 2 | Grant Proposal 3 | Telegram Mini App

2. DeFi

25% of TON’s grants went to DeFi, backing teams reshaping how capital moves on-chain, with a few wild experiments along the way.

Torch Finance

Torch didn’t just light up the Curve-TON stableswap contest—it scaled to 25,000+ community members across 50+ groups in two months. They're pushing for sustainable yield mechanics with a TVL jump from $30K to $600K, zero burn rate, and no incentives. Torch recently raised $1.5M from TVM Ventures.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Rainbow Swap

Built to make swaps smoother and cheaper, Rainbow Swap has already hit $28M in trading volume and is holding steady in the green.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Fiva

TON’s first yield tokenization protocol. $28M trading volume, plus strong traction from pre-seed investors. It also nabbed second place at the Ethena Hackathon.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

3. Infrastructure and tools

With 15% of grants dedicated to tools and infrastructure, developers focused on keeping things stable, secure, and easier to build on.

TON Symbolic Analyser

No dev wants to ship broken contracts. This tool runs symbolic execution across all code paths to catch vulnerabilities before launch. Its use ensures reliability and robustness in smart contract development within the TON ecosystem.

Grant Proposal | Website

AdsGram

Helping devs monetize their Telegram Mini Apps via ads. With over 650 mini apps already connected and more than 3 million USDT paid out, AdsGram is proving there's real revenue on the table, if you’ve got a decent app and users who click.

Grant Proposal | Website

CrustBags (Previously TON Bags)

CrustBagsBot is a lightweight, user-friendly Telegram Mini App that enables seamless Web3 file storage directly within Telegram. Supporting both mobile and desktop, users can upload, view, and download their files using decentralized storage powered by Crust Network or TON Storage. With built-in wallet connection and two flexible storage modes, CrustBags makes decentralized file storage easy and accessible for everyone.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

Symbiosis

Symbiosis ranks among the largest cross-chain AMM DEXs, aggregating liquidity from multiple networks. On TON, it's already recorded over 4,000 transactions across 2,000 active addresses, moving $2.9 million in trading volume.

Grant Proposal | Website

Bounty Bay

Bounty Bay is turning heads with 200,000–300,000 daily active users and more than 2 million on-chain addresses. The platform brings an omnichannel market straight to TON wallets, where users can scoop up tokens across chains—no bridges, no headaches. After securing its grant, the project attracted backing from big names like Animoca Ventures, TON Ventures, and Hashkey Global.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

4. Community and SocialFi

TON’s support for creator tools and collaborative systems continues through standout projects like:

TBook

TBook now runs the top incentive system on TON, attracting over three million users who've minted TBook Passports and generated 390,000 WISE Credit Scores. Their vSBT format isn’t just widely used—it’s helping push $130 million in TVL across DeFi apps. With their AI Incentive Layer in the works, TBook is setting the tone for what’s next in scalable reputation mechanics.

Grant Proposal | Telegram Mini App

For more details, you can browse through the TON Grant Program site.

A closer look at the grants breakdown

Monthly grants approved vs proposals reviewed

There is a clear spike in both proposals reviewed and grants approved around August and October, indicating high activity in those months.

The chart shows a consistent upward trend, indicating growing developer interest and engagement with TON's grant program.

Evolution of grant categories over time

• GameFi remains dominant but fluctuates, indicating funding waves tied to key project milestones.
• DeFi and infrastructure are growing steadily, reflecting TONʼs focus on financial tools and scalable infrastructure.
• A more balanced ecosystem is emerging, with gradual support for SocialFi, community tools, and e-commerce, signaling long-term sustainability efforts.

Category distribution of TON Grants

• GameFi takes up a majority of the grant distribution, making up nearly half (47.4%) of the total grants, followed by DeFi at 18.9%.
• Infrastructure and SocialFi each hold a smaller share, while e-commerce, community tools, and other categories have relatively minimal allocations.

Bounties

2024 proved to be a key year for The Open Network (TON) as the ecosystem widened its influence, promoting creativity and increased participation through the TON Bounty program. Crafted to support developers and contributors, the TON Bounty program facilitated the completion of many significant projects that advanced Web3 in areas such as development tools, security improvements, and community engagement.

This year, the grant process received notable improvements, leading to more effective feedback and smoother communication. Participation climbed, with active developers doubling from 23 to over 105. 260 bounty proposals were received, resulting in 83 successfully completed bounties, underscoring TON’s dedication to nurturing a vibrant and robust ecosystem.

Bounty program overview

1. Total bounties approved

53 bounties approved, driving innovation and ecosystem development.

2. Bounties in progress

Developers and contributors are currently working on 26 active bounties.

3. Successfully completed bounties

50 bounties were successfully finished, rewarding contributors with a total of $150,000.

4. Program growth and participation

The program saw remarkable growth, doubling the number of active developers from 23 to over 105 contributors.

260 bounty proposals were submitted, reflecting the increasing interest and engagement in TONʼs ecosystem.

5. Category breakdown

• Developer tooling: 30 bounties completed, enabling seamless development within the TON ecosystem.
• Education: 17 bounties focused on fostering knowledge sharing and developer onboarding.
• Resources: 3 community-driven initiatives, including TON Wiki, an essential knowledge repository.

Key categories and insights

1. Developer tooling

Developers played a crucial role in enhancing TONʼs technical foundations. Notable contributions include:

• TON Static Analysis via Symbolic Execution: An advanced security tool automating smart contract audits, cutting costs while identifying critical vulnerabilities at the TVM bytecode level with high accuracy. (Issue #489)
• Advanced Misti Tact Detectors: A powerful security solution that enables automatic vulnerability detection, custom rule creation, and continuous code quality enforcement, ensuring robust protection for smart contracts. (Issue #777)
• Dart TonConnect Update: Improved solutions for Dart projects and Flutter-based Telegram Mini Apps. (Issue #436)
• Tonutils – Python SDK for TON: Improved developer workflows that simplify development, making it easier for developers to integrate and manage key features in the TON ecosystem. (Issue #773)
• TONAPI library for Python: Offering comprehensive type descriptions while addressing usability improvements and efficiency. (Issue #375)
• MyTonCtrl Docker Images for TON Nodes: Simplified deployment of TON blockchain nodes. (Issue #444)
• New SDKs and Tooling Implementations: Expanding TONʼs developer ecosystem with improved API integrations.

2. Documentation and resources

Well-documented resources are key to ecosystem sustainability:

• Multilingual localization collaboration system for TON Docs (Issue #717)
• Infrastructure & Documentation Enhancements: Improving TON developer resources. (Issue #890)
• TMA Documentation Overhaul: A translation initiative making TMA documents available in multiple languages to reach a broad audience. (Issue #891)
• TON Wiki: A community-driven initiative to consolidate knowledge and foster long-term engagement. (Issue #431)

Looking ahead: TON Bounty focus areas for 2025

Entering 2025, the TON Bounty Program is poised to expand opportunities for developers, researchers, and community members. Priority areas have been identified to drive long-term progress:

• Security and auditing: Enhancing smart contract security with new automated analysis tools, supporting thorough security research, and strengthening audit frameworks.
• AI and blockchain innovation: Supporting the development of AI-powered blockchain applications, with a special focus on DeFi, serving as a testbed for AI agents and automation in risk assessment, smart contract management, and user experience.
• Education and knowledge sharing: Broadening multilingual documentation, offering advanced developer tutorials, and bolstering community resources, with a dedicated emphasis on refining Tact documentation to meet growing needs.

Additionally, the program will focus on improving existing infrastructure—boosting efficiency, scalability, and the overall experience for developers working across key TON tools and services. With an engaged community and a growing lineup of skilled contributors, the TON Bounty Program is gearing up for another round of impactful builds.

2024’s data shows solid momentum, with approvals and proposal activity fluctuations offering useful signals about where interest and priorities are headed. These takeaways are helping shape the 2025 playbook, with an eye on smarter support and even higher-value output.

Thinking of jumping into a TON Bounty? Now’s your chance

We’re already in 2025, and TON’s grant program isn’t slowing down. It’s keeping the momentum going by backing bold, smart ideas and giving builders what they need to ship. With a growing list of funded projects and an ecosystem that rewards quality and creativity, there’s no better time to dive in, ship something real, and grow along the way.