Toncoin (TON) will revert to its original name, Gram, after Telegram founder Pavel Durov moved to reclaim the token's identity from before its 2020 regulatory defeat.
Key Points:
- Durov plans to rename Toncoin to Gram over about three weeks, with no token swap.
- TON jumped more than 15% on the news before easing back near $2.07.
- The name revives an identity the SEC effectively erased with its 2020 crackdown.
Toncoin Rebrand Lifts TON Price
Durov posted the plan on Jun. 1, telling followers the project was returning to its roots while opening a new chapter. The blockchain keeps the TON name, and only the currency takes on the Gram label. The switch will run about three weeks and requires no token swap.
The token climbed more than 15% on the announcement, briefly topping $2.25 before easing near $2.07 by Tuesday morning, paring some of the initial spike. The Open Network opened a community vote, where close to 80% of ballots backed a rename that leaves balances, addresses, staking and DeFi positions untouched.
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Durov's Make TON Great Again Plan
Durov has cast the rebrand as the fourth step in a seven-part plan he calls Make TON Great Again. Earlier moves this year included a Catchain upgrade for sub-second finality, sharply lower network fees, and Telegram's arrival as TON's largest validator in May.
That takeover handed the messaging app a role once held by the TON Foundation, with a Telegram-linked wallet staking millions of tokens.
The endgame is a Web3 super app inside Telegram for its roughly one billion users, folding payments, mini-apps, digital ownership and AI agents into one place. Supporters add that splitting the Gram currency from the TON network brings the naming clarity used by other major chains.
Gram's SEC History And Price Slump
The Gram name carries heavy baggage.
Regulators blocked the original token sale in 2019, and a federal court halted the roughly $1.7 billion offering the next year, ending one of crypto's biggest fundraising bids. The agency called it an unregistered securities sale that drew an emergency action.
Telegram then walked away, settled with regulators, returned $1.2 billion to investors and paid an $18.5 million penalty. Community developers revived the open-source code as Toncoin under the TON Foundation soon after, and the network grew on its own for years.
TON has run hot since spring, posting a monthly gain near 60% as Telegram tightened its grip and traders piled in. Even after the latest pop, the token trades about 75% below its June 2024 peak of $8.25.
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