Telegram Rebrands Toncoin as Gram, Causing Massive Surge in Value

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has announced the rebranding of its blockchain network, The Open Network (TON). The token name will now change from Toncoin to GRAM, while the network will retain its name.

Durov shared the development on his Telegram channel and noted that the transition will take around three weeks to be finalized. The move comes amidst Toncoin’s multi-year decline in value.

Durov Says Rebranding Will Make TON Great Again

According to Durov, the rebranding of Toncoin is step 4 in the network’s plan to make TON great again (MTONGA). Durov announced the roadmap earlier this year, noting that he will now be personally involved in reviving the project.

Step One happened in April with the upgrade of TON Blockchain to improve transaction speed and increase the block rate. At the time, Durov said that transactions on the network are now instant, taking sub-second time.

Further improvements happened in late April with the 6x decline in TON fees to 0.00039 TON per transaction. Durov had said at the time that transaction fees would remain fixed regardless of network load, and the end goal is for most transactions to become feeless.

Meanwhile, renaming Toncoin to Gram also means the project is returning to its roots. Gram was the original name of the native token in the 2018 whitepaper.

Telegram had raised $1.7 billion in its initial coin offering at the time, but had to refund investors and open-source the code after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pushed back, calling Gram unregistered securities.

Interestingly, the token rebranding also highlights Telegram’s long-term plan for the TON blockchain. The network already underpins all crypto capabilities on the messaging app, and Telegram now wants to have direct control over its development direction.

Telegram has already become the largest TON validator. It now plans to launch new features, including Bitcoin liquidity bridges and TON Pay upgrades, in the coming weeks.

TON Sees Over 15% Gains in 24 Hours

Meanwhile, the news of the Toncoin rebrand has had a positive impact on its price performance. The token gained over 16% in the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap, bucking the trend as most cryptocurrencies fell alongside Bitcoin.

It is now one of the best-performing digital assets in the past month, rising by over 60% in 30 days. It is also in the green year to date, with a more than 30% gain, trading above $2.

The positive performance over the past few weeks reflects market reaction to Telegram and Durov’s direct involvement. Toncoin (soon to become Gram) had its best performance in 2024 due to Telegram’s integration of the network, which drove usage.

However, the usage, driven mostly by tap-to-earn games on Telegram, has long petered out, forcing TON to plunge as well. Even with its recent gains, the token is still far off from its peak of over $8 reached back in June 2024.