Toncoin jumps 5% as TON activates Catchain 2.0 for faster blocks

Toncoin surged over 5% to around $1.30 after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said the TON network activated Catchain 2.0. The upgrade reportedly boosts block generation speed by ~6x and enables sub-second transaction confirmations, aiming to improve TON performance for payments and consumer use. Durov framed this as the first step in the “Make TON Great Again” plan. The next step targets lower transaction fees; if delivered, fees could drop by about 6x. Validator voting occurred on April 8–9, and Catchain 2.0 went live afterward. While the main-chain block reward remains 1.7 TON, the higher block frequency is expected to raise validator earnings per cycle and increase token issuance (inflation could rise from ~0.6% to ~3.6%). Market support for the upgrade also mattered: Binance and Bithumb reportedly completed wallet maintenance to handle the network change. Beyond infrastructure, the ecosystem added trading and institutional rails. Rakuten Wallet announced spot Toncoin listings from April 15, and partnerships were cited for business access to USDT on TON, plus enterprise wallet infrastructure for Telegram-based financial products. Price action is showing an early recovery attempt: Toncoin closed near $1.2868, and technical levels flagged $1.2620/$1.2509/$1.2477 as the first support cluster. Upside resistance is around $1.3168, with a potential path toward $1.34–$1.36 and then $1.40; a drop below ~$1.21 would suggest TON remains stuck in consolidation.