Toncoin Renamed Gram

Toncoin's price jumped 15% after Pavel Durov announced the token would be renamed Gram, restoring its original identity from Telegram's 2018 whitepaper [1]. The governance vote to approve the rename cleared with 81.22% support, and the change will take effect on June 15, with full consistency across exchanges and ecosystem projects expected by June 22. The rename is the fourth step in Durov's seven-part "Make TON Great Again" roadmap, which aims to make The Open Network the payment and interaction layer for Telegram's billion-user platform.

The original Gram project was halted by the SEC in 2020, and the community rebuilt the network under the name The Open Network, with the currency renamed Toncoin in 2021 [2]. Durov's rebrand returns the token to its intended identity, with the underlying blockchain retaining the TON name. Holders will not need to swap, bridge, or claim anything, as balances, smart contracts, NFTs, staking, and decentralized finance positions will carry over automatically. The rename is seen as a statement that the vision deferred in 2020 is now operational, with Durov advancing the ecosystem on multiple fronts ahead of June 22.

The Gram rebrand is part of a deliberate strategy to sharpen the crypto identity of Telegram's ecosystem, while the launch of a native Apple Watch app extends the platform into consumer hardware [1]. The two moves frame a broader plan to make TON a central part of Telegram's billion-user platform, with near-zero fees and near-instant settlement. The remaining three steps of the MTONGA roadmap remain undisclosed, but analysts have identified potential upcoming milestones, including TON Pay 2.0 and TON Teleport [2].

The rename has also raised concerns about centralization, with Telegram's role as the network's dominant validator drawing commentary from analysts [2]. However, the company has responded by expanding the validator set to over 400 nodes across six continents, framing this as evidence the network retains structural decentralization. For investors, the more immediate risk is on the supply side, with the TON Believers Fund releasing approximately 36.6 million tokens monthly through October 2028, providing persistent selling pressure. The real stake now is whether Durov's vision for Gram can overcome these challenges and deliver on its promise of a decentralized payment and interaction layer for Telegram's massive user base.