TON blockchain moved to a faster confirmation model after the release of its Catchain 2.0 upgrade, with the network saying transactions can now settle in about one second.
The rollout also drew public support from Telegram founder Pavel Durov, while Toncoin posted a modest price gain after the announcement.
Catchain 2.0 cuts block times on TON
The Open Network (TON) said Thursday that its Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade reduced block times to 400 milliseconds.
Before the update, transactions on the layer-1 blockchain took about 10 seconds to settle. TON said payment transactions now settle in about one second, while trades settle in real time.
According to the network, the faster performance will allow decentralized applications to respond at speeds closer to traditional apps.
Moreover, TON added that sub-second finality on mainnet will begin on April 10, although parts of its announcement also described the upgrade as already running. That wording placed the focus on the network’s transition to faster settlement rather than a distant release timeline.
Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov also commented on the upgrade through his messaging platform.
“The TON blockchain just got upgraded and is now 10× faster,” Pavel stated on X. “Block rate increased 6× … Transactions are now instant, subsecond.”
Durov later described the update as part of a broader development plan for the network. He wrote, “This was step 1 of 7 to Make TON Great Again (MTONGA).” He added that the next step would focus on lowering transaction fees further.
TON targets real-time payments inside Telegram
TON remains closely tied to Telegram, even though the blockchain operates as an independent network. Its main role is to support transactions and mini-app activity inside Telegram’s wider ecosystem.
The latest upgrade is meant to support applications at scale across a platform linked to more than a billion users.
In addition, fast settlement is needed for features such as message-like payments, low-latency trading, and more responsive mini apps. TON stated that functions like these were harder to achieve when confirmation times were closer to 10 seconds. With the new setup, the blockchain is positioning itself as infrastructure for in-app payments and real-time digital services.
The payment angle has grown in recent months. In February, Telegram’s in-app crypto wallet added self-custodial vaults that allow users to earn yield on Bitcoin, Tether’s USDt, and Ether.
Earlier this month, the wallet also launched perpetual futures trading inside the Telegram app through an integration with decentralized exchange Lighter.
TON has also expanded its push into mini-app payments. On February 9, the TON Foundation launched Ton Pay, a payments software development kit built for Telegram mini apps.
The tool allows developers and merchants to accept crypto payments without forcing users to leave the Telegram app. That move placed payment infrastructure at the center of TON’s broader strategy before the Catchain 2.0 release.
Validator rewards and inflation move higher
TON said faster block production will also affect the network’s economics. More blocks mean validators can earn more rewards because the chain processes block creation more often. This creates stronger staking incentives and brings more Toncoin into network activity.
The network projected that annual inflation will rise to 3.6 percent from about 0.6 percent after the update. TON described inflation as the continuing minting and burning of Toncoin within its ecosystem. That change means validator rewards may increase, but token issuance will also rise as the network adjusts to the new pace of block generation.
Additionally, Catchain 2.0 release builds on its original Catchain consensus model first proposed in 2020. The new version is designed to support near-instant settlement on a blockchain network connected to one of the world’s largest messaging platforms.
The update also comes as TON continues to develop tools for both consumer and business use inside Telegram. A faster chain can support not only retail transfers, but also app-based payments, embedded trading, and merchant flows.
TON price reacted after the upgrade news
Toncoin posted a modest gain after the announcement. CoinGecko data showed TON trading up about 2 percent at around $1.28 on Thursday. Trading volume rose more than 46 percent to about $139 million, while the token’s market capitalization stood at roughly $3.17 billion.
The market reaction remained measured, but it showed that traders responded to the upgrade news. The move in price came alongside a visible increase in activity across TON-related discussion and network tracking.
TON Explorer data also showed a spike in transactions per second following the Catchain 2.0 release.
The price move followed a period of wider product expansion around Telegram’s crypto tools. The launch of self-custodial vaults, perpetual futures access, and mini-app payment rails had already placed more attention on TON’s role inside Telegram. The latest upgrade added a fresh technical catalyst to that setup.
Furthermore, Durov has also continued to frame Telegram as an alternative platform for communication and crypto transfers in markets facing state restrictions.
In an X post on April 4, He said users in countries such as Iran and Russia have kept using Telegram despite bans, often through virtual private networks.
That message kept attention on Telegram’s global reach as TON pushes deeper into in-app payments and blockchain-based services.