DuckChain, the pioneer that first introduced the ISO concept, has launched its mainnet, opening a portal connecting the Web2 and Web3 worlds.
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DuckChain, the pioneer that first introduced the ISO concept, has launched its mainnet, opening a portal connecting the Web2 and Web3 worlds.
With the launch of DuckChain's mainnet, it is expected to accelerate Telegram's evolution into a super app ecosystem and open a gateway connecting the Web2 and Web3 worlds.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Soda
Last year, Georgios Konstantopoulos, CTO of the prominent crypto investment firm Paradigm, criticized on Twitter the poor and fragmented user experience of the existing Chain+Asset model—an issue that resonated deeply with many in the crypto community.
In reality, the account model native to cryptocurrency has become a barrier to Web3’s mass adoption. This means that even executing a simple transaction often requires a series of cumbersome steps. For instance, when I want to conduct a transaction on a new Layer2 or Layer1 network, I not only need to generate an account and securely store its private key or seed phrase, but also purchase specific gas assets via a centralized exchange (CEX) or bridge them from another chain—just to begin investing or trading within a new ecosystem.
Clearly, achieving a single intent can trigger multiple complex on-chain operations. For traditional investors accustomed to “plug-and-play” experiences, this presents a significant hurdle. In the early stages of Web3 development, most products were designed around a “user-thinks” paradigm, where users are not only initiators of intent but also responsible for its execution. The good news is that Web3 builders are increasingly proposing “think-for-the-user” solutions aimed at drastically lowering the barrier to accessing and using Web3 infrastructure.
DuckChain is one such innovator. As the first consumer-focused Layer built on TON, it pioneered the concept of Initial Star Offering (ISO), enabling users to convert Telegram Stars into on-chain Star assets and participate in various on-chain interactions—bridging the usability gap between Web2 and Web3 systems.
Moreover, this solution introduces unique asset issuance and user interaction models to the Telegram ecosystem, offering innovative pathways for mass adoption among Telegram users. Beyond that, DuckChain is leveraging technological innovations to help Telegram capture liquidity value from EVM ecosystems and Bitcoin networks, laying the foundation for large-scale migration of Web2 and Web3 developers into the TON ecosystem.
The market has shown strong recognition of DuckChain’s vision and potential. During its testnet phase, DuckChain’s MiniApp achieved over 2 million daily active users, surpassed 29 million total transactions, attracted more than $2 million in deposits from Web2 users, had over 1 million paying users, and secured support from over 20 partners including Arbitrum and OKX.
With the launch of DuckChain’s mainnet, it is poised to accelerate Telegram’s evolution into a super app and open a portal connecting the Web2 and Web3 worlds.
The ISO Solution: Bringing Telegram Stars On-Chain for Unified Gas Experience
DuckChain is the first Layer solution on The Open Network (TON) built using the Arbitrum Orbit stack. It defines itself as a consumer layer, aiming to support widespread on-chain use cases and bring nearly one billion Telegram users from off-chain into the on-chain world.
Currently, most blockchain base layers use their own governance tokens as gas assets. Therefore, exploring different on-chain ecosystems typically requires pre-acquiring specific gas tokens. This lack of standardized gas mechanisms discourages user engagement across diverse chains.
To improve the on-chain transaction experience by abstracting away complexity, DuckChain starts with reimagining the gas mechanism—offering users a unified gas experience.
DuckChain’s ISO solution enables seamless conversion of “Telegram Stars” into on-chain Star assets, which can then be used as a universal gas fee. On DuckChain’s new mainnet, users can engage in on-chain activities using multiple assets—including TON, Jetton, BTC, ETH, USDT, and even Telegram Stars. DuckChain also plans to soon support account abstraction and even chain abstraction to further enhance user experience.
In fact, “Telegram Stars” is a newly introduced native utility token on Telegram, designed to simplify payments for digital goods and services within the platform. Users can pay directly within Telegram MiniApps, while developers can convert Stars into Toncoin (TON). Holding “Telegram Stars” allows broad exploration of the Telegram ecosystem.
For users, “Telegram Stars” can be easily purchased via familiar payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay—without relying on third-party platforms. This aligns perfectly with Web2 user behavior and has been widely adopted by hundreds of millions of Telegram users. Even non-holders of Telegram Stars can enter the DuckChain ecosystem in just two simple steps.
Therefore, powered by ISO, both Web2 and Web3 users can seamlessly access the on-chain world, significantly improving transaction efficiency and experience. This lays the groundwork for bringing the vast Telegram user base on-chain. Likewise, ISO introduces a novel asset issuance model to the Telegram ecosystem, setting the stage for early growth in DeFi and broader ecosystem development.
DuckChain: Empowering Telegram to Become a Super App
Telegram’s ambition to build a Web3 super app has become increasingly evident through its deep integration with the TON network and the recent rollout of MiniApp functionality.
Indeed, a mature Web3 ecosystem requires massive user traffic, robust liquidity, and a thriving application landscape.
However, the current state of the Telegram ecosystem faces several challenges:
- The vast majority of its nearly one billion users remain off-chain
- Its $300 million TVL is concentrated mainly in TON and stablecoins, indicating shallow liquidity
- Complex development frameworks hinder developer adoption on TON
Regarding the first issue, as discussed earlier, DuckChain’s ISO solution provides the foundational layer for bringing users on-chain.
For the latter two issues, DuckChain is also delivering solutions.
A Key Hub for Liquidity Capture in the TON Ecosystem
Currently, TVL on EVM-compatible chains stands at around $80 billion, while the total DeFi market TVL is approximately $100 billion—suggesting that EVM-compatible chains control about 80% of on-chain liquidity. In this market cycle, Bitcoin’s market cap has reached $1.8 trillion, with only about 240,000 BTC (around 1.2% of total circulating supply) currently utilized in various applications. As BTCFi expands, it will unlock vast new liquidity for the crypto market. For the relatively illiquid TON ecosystem, establishing strong interoperability with external markets to attract liquidity is crucial.
As the first TON consumer layer built on the Arbitrum Orbit stack, DuckChain maintains seamless compatibility with the TON ecosystem while also ensuring strong interoperability with any EVM-compatible environment. Additionally, DuckChain is actively integrating with the Bitcoin mainnet, multiple BTC Layer2 solutions, and the Babylon ecosystem. Thus, DuckChain is emerging as a vital hub for value and liquidity exchange between TON, EVM, and BTCFi ecosystems.
On the newly launched DuckChain mainnet, thanks to advanced chain and liquidity abstraction solutions, users can use TON as native gas while also paying fees in multiple other tokens.
Furthermore, DuckChain is becoming a key hub for yield generation for TON users. When users bridge TON to DuckChain or other EVM networks via DuckChain, the locked TON is staked within PoS protocols to earn yield.
This setup generates annual returns and significantly boosts TON’s liquidity, enabling free capital movement between TON and DuckChain. During DuckChain’s official token generation event (TGE), users will receive airdropped tokens proportional to the amount and duration of their cross-chain TON bridging—effectively earning interest. These yields will be added to liquidity pools, further strengthening the ecosystem.
Through these enhancements, DuckChain not only strengthens TON’s cross-chain interoperability but also provides long-term support for liquidity accumulation within the TON ecosystem.
Providing Modular Tools: Accelerating Early Growth of TON’s Application Ecosystem
MiniApps are Telegram’s killer feature for expanding its ecosystem and building a super app. Through MiniApps, users can seamlessly interact with dApps—whether making payments or using other features—without leaving the Telegram interface. This lowers the entry barrier for Web3 applications, making them lighter and more aligned with Web2 user habits.
However, the biggest bottleneck to vibrant MiniApp growth lies in TON’s developer experience. TON uses a virtual machine called TVM (TON Virtual Machine), which primarily supports FunC and TVM assembly languages—unfamiliar to most developers. These differ significantly from Ethereum’s EVM and Solidity. Moreover, TON employs a multi-threaded blockchain architecture allowing parallel execution across shards. While this improves performance, it adds complexity: developers must manage data and logic coordination across multiple shards—a far greater challenge than traditional single-chain architectures. Thus, both Web2 and Web3 developers face notable hurdles when building on TON’s base layer.
To address this, DuckChain has partnered closely with Arbitrum to provide developers with a familiar EVM-compatible development environment. By integrating EVM frameworks with TON, developers can now build, deploy, and even migrate applications on TON much more easily. This not only lays the foundation for dApp prosperity on TON but also enables these apps to reach Telegram’s massive user base through MiniApp gateways.
Additionally, DuckChain offers developers and ecosystem projects modular tools such as staking, marketplace, bonding curves, and DID (Decentralized Identity) systems—allowing easy integration of advanced functionalities. Coupled with open-source community support, these tools foster richer on-chain activity and empower applications to thrive within the Telegram ecosystem. To date, DuckChain has attracted nearly 50 ecosystem projects to join the TON ecosystem.
Overall, DuckChain not only supports bringing hundreds of millions of Telegram users on-chain but also imports external liquidity into TON and lowers development barriers—providing strong momentum for Telegram’s transformation into a Web3 super app ecosystem.
From a Web2 perspective, MiniApps are already a proven and widely adopted application format. In Web3, they hold immense potential as the gateway for mass-scale migration from Web2 to Web3. With the launch of DuckChain’s mainnet, the portal connecting Web2 and Web3 worlds is now opening.
Post-mainnet, the DuckChain ecosystem will serve as a critical catalyst and value hub for Telegram’s growth. As the Telegram ecosystem continues to flourish, DuckChain is set to become a new convergence point for attention, liquidity, and user traffic in the Web3 market—and emerge as the first consumer-grade Layer unicorn.
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