Written and originally published on February 12th, 2025.

The Open Network

The Open Network (TON), the native web3 ecosystem for Telegram, has seen explosive growth over the last 12 months, with nearly 140 million users today. With Telegram’s reach and TON’s deep integration, the network is positioned to onboard the next billion users into crypto.

Yesterday, LayerZero announced its deployment to TON, bringing the ecosystem fully omnichain. Developers can now build applications that seamlessly connect to over 20+ chains, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, Base, Aptos, and more.

Stargate is supporting the Legacy Mesh on TON from today, allowing users to bridge directly to TON from Stargate’s frontend: https://tinyurl.com/TONonStargate.

Stargate & LayerZero’s Expansion to TON

Expanding to TON unlocks a new era of connectivity and liquidity within the ecosystem. With omnichain messaging now live, developers can build cross-chain applications that tap into a rapidly growing user base. But liquidity is just as important as messaging — users need efficient, seamless access to capital across networks.

That’s where Stargate comes in. By enabling deep liquidity transfers across TON and other leading blockchains, Stargate ensures that users and developers can move assets frictionlessly, making TON a true hub for DeFi innovation.

Supported teams in the first instance include USDT0 and Ethena.

Stargate’s Role in Omnichain DeFi

Since 2022, Stargate has been designed to be the liquidity hub for all of omnichain DeFi. Stargate pioneered the first fully composable cross-chain liquidity layer, allowing seamless asset transfers without fragmentation, and has grown to become much more. As expansion continues, the focus remains the same: empowering developers with deep, unified liquidity and unlocking new possibilities for cross-chain applications.

The addition of TON marks another step forward in that mission. With its vast user base and Telegram-native distribution, TON has the potential to onboard millions into DeFi. And with Stargate providing the liquidity rails, those users can move assets seamlessly across chains — creating a more interconnected, frictionless future for DeFi.