Telegram Founder: TON fees drop to $0.0005, moving toward zero fees

Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted on the X platform on April 23 to announce that TON network transaction fees will be lowered by 6 times within one week, down to 0.00039 TON per transaction (about $0.0005), with a fixed fee rate that is not affected by network congestion. Durov also said that after the fee reduction, most transactions will further move toward a fully free, zero-fee model.

Key takeaways from Durov’s April 23 announcement

According to a post published by Pavel Durov on X on April 23, the specific plan for adjusting TON network transaction fees is as follows:

Near-term plan: Reduce to 0.00039 TON per transaction (about $0.0005) within one week, with a fixed fee rate that is not affected by network load

Long-term plan: Most transactions move toward being completely free (Zero commission)

In the post, Durov directly quoted: “Within one week, TON fees will drop 6x, to only 0.00039 TON per transaction (about $0.0005), and will not be affected by network load. Soon after, most transactions will be completely free. Zero commission. MTONGA!”

MTONGA Seven-Step Upgrade Plan Progress

According to Durov’s announcement, the above fee adjustment is part of the “MTONGA” (Make TON Great Again) seven-step upgrade plan.

Step 1 (completed): According to official TON records, the Catchain 2.0 consensus mechanism upgrade was completed from April 9 to April 10. The block production time was shortened from about 2.4 seconds to about 400 milliseconds—an improvement of about 6 times—and sub-second transaction confirmations were achieved.

Step 2 (expected to take effect by end of April): That is, the 6x fee reduction adjustment described in Durov’s announcement.

According to Durov’s announcement, the specific timeline for Steps 3 through 7 has not yet been publicly disclosed. The goal is to further improve network scalability and provide infrastructure support for high-frequency micropayments, AI agents, and DeFi application scenarios.

TON Tokenomics Framework

Under TON’s current mechanism, 50% of network transaction fees are used to burn (a deflationary mechanism), and the remaining 50% are allocated to validators as network maintenance incentives. With faster block production speeds and a significant reduction in transaction fees, the current validator incentive model framework will face adjustments. Durov’s April 23 announcement did not provide details on the specific changes to the validator incentive model.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the specific timeline for TON fees to drop by 6x?

According to Pavel Durov’s April 23 announcement on X, TON fees will officially fall to 0.00039 TON per transaction (about $0.0005) within one week after the announcement is published. The fee rate will be fixed and unaffected by network load; it is expected to take effect officially by the end of April 2026.

What performance metrics were achieved after the TON Catchain 2.0 upgrade?

According to official TON records, the Catchain 2.0 consensus mechanism upgrade completed from April 9 to April 10 will shorten block production time from about 2.4 seconds to about 400 milliseconds—an improvement of about 6 times—and achieve sub-second transaction confirmations.

After TON transaction fees move toward a zero-fee rate, will the current 50% burn mechanism be adjusted?

Based on TON’s current tokenomics, 50% of transaction fees are used to burn, and the remaining 50% are allocated to validators. Durov’s April 23 announcement did not provide a specific proposal for how the token incentive model would be adjusted after transaction fees move toward a zero-fee rate.