What is The Open Network?

The Open Network (TON) is a decentralized, layer-1 blockchain that originated as a project by Telegram but was discontinued by the company in 2020 following regulatory challenges. The current version of TON is a community-led fork of the original Telegram Open Network codebase, developed independently of Telegram. Designed to support fast, scalable transactions and decentralized applications, TON uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and a sharded architecture. Its native token, Toncoin (TON), is used for transaction fees, staking, and governance. While Telegram is no longer formally involved, recent integrations have renewed interest in the project.

What is TON?

Toncoin (TON) is the native utility token of The Open Network, used for a variety of functions within the ecosystem including transaction fees, validator staking, governance participation, and paying for decentralized services like storage and DNS. The token’s economic model is deflationary, with a fixed total supply of approximately 5 billion TON. As of early 2025, the circulating supply is around 2.5 billion TON, with the remainder held in ecosystem reserves or allocated to validator incentives. The token's utility is designed to grow in tandem with network adoption, particularly as more decentralized applications and services launch on the platform.

Risk Statement

Before trading any crypto assets it is important to understand the risks. This overview is a starting point for you to perform your own research prior to investing in a crypto asset. 

No securities regulatory authority or regulator in Canada has evaluated or endorsed the Crypto Contracts or any of the crypto assets made available through the platform. 

Wealthsimple has performed an assessment of whether TON can be supported by Wealthsimple’s platform, including whether TON is a security and/or a derivative and is being offered in compliance with securities and derivatives laws. 

We evaluated TON based on publicly available information, including (but not limited to):

• The creation, governance, usage and design of TON, including the source code, security and roadmap for growth in the developer community and, if applicable, the background of the developer(s) that first created TON;
• The supply, demand, maturity, utility and liquidity of TON;
• Material technical risks associated with TON, including any code defects, security breaches and other threats concerning TON and its supporting blockchain (such as the susceptibility to hacking and impact of forking), or the practices and protocols that apply to them; 
• Legal and regulatory risks associated with TON, including any pending, potential, or prior civil, regulatory, criminal, or enforcement action relating to the issuance, distribution, or use of TON; and
• Statements made by regulators or securities regulatory authorities in Canada and other jurisdiction regarding whether TON, or generally about whether the type of crypto asset, is a security and/or a derivative.

Wealthsimple monitors ongoing developments related to crypto assets available on its platform for significant changes that may affect Wealthsimple’s original assessment of those assets, including Wealthsimple’s assessment of the application of securities and derivatives laws. Any significant changes relating to TON may result in changes to this Crypto Asset Statement and/or Wealthsimple’s ability to support TON.

Like all other crypto assets, there are some general risks to investing in TON. These include short history risk, volatility risk, liquidity risk, demand risk, forking risk, cryptography risk, regulatory risk, concentration risk, electronic trading risk and cyber security risk. Please review the Wealthsimple Crypto Product Risk Disclosure for additional discussion of general risks associated with the crypto assets made available through the platform.

We emphasize that this Crypto Asset Statement is not exhaustive of all risks associated with trading TON. Investors should perform their own assessment to determine the appropriate level of risk for their personal circumstances.

Wealthsimple is offering Crypto Contracts in reliance on a prospectus exemption contained in the exemptive relief decision Re Wealthsimple Investments Inc. dated December 18, 2023 (the Decision). 

The statutory rights of action for damages and rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario), and, if applicable, similar statutory rights under securities legislation of other jurisdictions of Canada, do not apply in respect of this Crypto Asset Statement to the extent a Crypto Contract is distributed under the prospectus relief in the Decision.

Last updated: May 9, 2025