Key Highlights
- Catchain 2.0 upgrade on TON blockchain reduces block production time to 400 milliseconds
- Price of Toncoin increased by more than 5%, reaching approximately $1.30 after upgrade deployment
- Telegram’s Pavel Durov announced this as phase one of a seven-part “Make TON Great Again” initiative
- Network inflation expected to climb from 0.6% to 3.6% annually due to accelerated block generation
- Japanese exchange Rakuten Wallet scheduled to list TON for spot trading starting April 15
The price of Toncoin experienced a surge exceeding 5%, reaching approximately $1.30, following the deployment of the Catchain 2.0 consensus mechanism upgrade on the TON blockchain. Telegram’s co-founder Pavel Durov shared the announcement, representing a significant transformation in the network’s transaction processing capabilities.
Prior to implementing this upgrade, the TON network required approximately 10 seconds for transaction finalization. Following Catchain 2.0’s activation, block generation time has plummeted to just 400 milliseconds. Payment processing now completes in about one second, while decentralized applications should achieve performance levels comparable to centralized alternatives.
Validator consensus voting occurred on April 8 and 9, 2026. Following successful completion of the voting procedure, Catchain 2.0 became operational across the network. Leading exchanges Binance and Bithumb conducted wallet maintenance procedures this week to accommodate the protocol changes.
The primary chain’s block reward remains unchanged at 1.7 TON. Nevertheless, the dramatically increased block production frequency means validators will generate substantially higher rewards within each cycle. Network inflation is forecast to increase from approximately 0.6% annually to 3.6% as a direct consequence.
Durov characterized this development as the initial phase of a seven-stage strategic plan. The subsequent phase focuses on transaction fee reduction, potentially decreasing costs by approximately six-fold compared to current levels.
Network Growth and Partnerships
TON’s development extends well beyond the technical upgrade. Rakuten Wallet revealed plans to introduce Toncoin spot trading beginning April 15, 2026, providing Japanese retail traders access through a fully regulated exchange platform.
The TON Foundation has also established a collaboration with SCRYPT to deliver Swiss-regulated USDT functionality on TON for commercial enterprises. Meanwhile, Fireblocks and Dynamic launched enterprise-grade wallet infrastructure specifically engineered for Telegram-integrated financial services.
Future milestones on the development timeline include the TON Teleport Bridge for Bitcoin interoperability and TON Pay 2.0, both scheduled for release in mid-2026.
Technical Price Analysis
Toncoin concluded trading near $1.2868 on the upgrade deployment date. The price action pushed above all three Alligator indicator trend lines, positioned near $1.2620, $1.2509, and $1.2477. The MACD histogram shifted into positive territory, with the MACD line breaking above its signal counterpart.
The immediate resistance zone to monitor stands around $1.3168. A successful break above this level could establish a pathway toward $1.34 to $1.36, with potential extension to $1.40. Downside support is located near the $1.25 to $1.26 range.
Trading volume expanded by more than 35%, reaching $130.1 million. Toncoin’s total market capitalization registered at $3.17 billion at the time of analysis.
Blockchain analytics platform Santiment observed that the top 100 Toncoin whale wallets have acquired an additional 189,730 TON tokens throughout the past three months, despite the asset losing approximately two-thirds of its market valuation since reaching its August 2025 peak.
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