Following years of rapid growth and sudden setbacks in the cryptocurrency sector, the TON network is seeking to carve a new path with its latest roadmap. The network, once a major player in the tap-to-earn trend and later hit by significant losses, now aims to take the lead in AI-powered payments. The introduction of a new wallet standard, unveiled on April 28, 2026, marks a pivotal moment in TON’s transformation strategy.
New wallet standard and technical details
Developed by the TON team, this new open standard is designed to grant autonomous AI agents their own financial identities directly on the blockchain. Smart contracts tailored to each agent consist of two keys: one belonging to the user, and one to the agent itself. This setup allows the AI agent to independently carry out transactions—such as swaps, paying fees, or interacting with decentralized applications—using only its own operational key, all without accessing the user’s wallet.
Users retain full control over their funds by allocating specific amounts to each agent, and they can update, revoke, or withdraw this access at any point. TON has created dedicated management dashboards that facilitate seamless oversight and adjustment of these permissions for every agent.
Another distinctive feature of the system is that users can create and operate as many individual AI agents as desired, each with its own wallet and balance. This enables parallel management of multiple AI-powered services across the chain, allowing for more sophisticated and independent use cases.
According to the TON technical documentation, the current version is only available as a developer preview and requires extensive security testing before any widespread deployment.
Strategic shift for TON
In 2024, the TON blockchain made headlines after its explosive popularity with the Hamster Kombat game, which quickly rose in the crypto market. However, the project’s HMSTR token lost over 76% of its value just three months after its launch, marking the end of the hype. Not only Hamster Kombat, but similar projects such as Catizen and Tapswap also experienced massive drops in user engagement. During this period, the broader tap-to-earn trend saw a loss of more than 86% of its user base across the sector.
Learning from these experiences, TON is now approaching the gaming sector with greater caution. Instead, the network is steering its ecosystem toward sustained, long-term growth by prioritizing the integration of blockchain with artificial intelligence.
Telegram integration and growth prospects
One of TON’s standout advantages lies in its close integration with the Telegram messaging platform. As Telegram now boasts over 1 billion daily users, developers using TON gain privileged access to a massive tech ecosystem—a unique benefit compared to rival blockchains.
This integration has encouraged TON to fast-track its expansion within the emerging market for agent-driven payment and financial services. Projections by McKinsey suggest that AI agent-based services could reach a global consumer commerce volume of $3 to $5 trillion by 2030, underscoring the scale of the opportunity ahead for the TON ecosystem.
However, experts caution that the new system still requires robust testing for security and long-term viability. With official security audits pending, the agent-specific wallet contracts will need more time before they are ready for widespread public adoption.
According to CryptoAppsy data, the current price of TON is $1.29, sparking market interest in how these new strategic moves might influence token valuations and the broader ecosystem going forward.
