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Correction:The headline originally stated that TON and Polygon had teamed up to create anEthereum L2. This has been corrected.

The TON Application Chain (TAC) and Polygon Labs are set to bring Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality to the TON ecosystem.

In a July 9 announcement, the TON Application Chain and Polygon announced that the TON L2 had integrated Polygon CDK and the interoperability protocol Agglayer to bring EVM-compatible decentralized applications (DApps) to TAC.

It aims to increase the range of applications available to the TON networksusers, including decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and identity solutions.

TAC CEOPavel Altukhov told Cointelegraph that EVM compatibility breaks down barriers to using the TON Network and expects there to be substantial interest in DeFi and GameFi applications following the integration.

Additionally, he noted the recent integration of USDT on TON as well as the rise of Tap-to-Earn applications that came along with a project called Notcoin.

"The expansion of the mini apps ecosystem has driven the growth of 5.8 million monthly active on-chain wallets on Telegram. TAC's integration is expected to amplify this demand further," he added.

By utilizing applications like Wallet in Telegram, the EVM-compatible integration will see Ethereum developers granted access to a large number of users on Telegram, allowing them to implement more real-world crypto applications. Some of the potential use cases cited by the team include DeFi applications, gaming and decentralized identity solutions.

In a July 6 post to X, Messari noted that the number of daily active addresses on the TON network had surpassed Ethereum during the month of June.

TACs founding team includes Curve founder Michael Egerov and the team behind The Open Protocol (TOP), which offers crypto wallet functionality from within the Telegram app.

Moving forward, Altukhov said TAC was looking to raise an additional $5 million in an external funding round.

The statement describes TAC as a layer-2 network built on TON designed to bring EVM-based decentralized applications to TON and Telegram users.

Despite the recent success of the TON ecosystem which has been bolstered by a significant uptick in trading activity of new tokens on the network there has also been a rise in phishing attacks on the blockchain.

Related: Binance integrates USDT on TON, opens transactions

On June 24, SlowMist founder Yu Xian warned the Telegram ecosystem was too free, with phishing links spread through the platforms message groups, airdrops and other deceptive methods.

Although the Telegram messenger typically requires phone numbers to be tied to an account, Xian explained that phishing risks were higher for users with anonymous numbers.

Users of this nature do not have accounts linked to SIM cards, and as such, their accounts can be lost if they are phished by bad actors on the platform.

As of April, Telegram has an estimated 196 million daily active users and 800 million monthly active users,according to BankMyCell.

Update (July 9 at 11:37 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from TAC CEOPavel Altukhov.

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TON Application Chain and Polygon team up to launch new TON L2 - Cointelegraph

Tron founder Justin Sun has revealed that his team is building a gasless stablecoin solution to make peer-to-peer transfers free for all.

Sun hopes to integrate the stablecoin solution on the Tron blockchainin the fourth quarter, followed by Ethereum and other Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible public chains soon after.

Transfers can be made without paying any gas tokens, with the fees being entirely covered by the stablecoins themselves, Sun explained in a July 6 X post.

However, he didnt explain how the mechanism would work.

Sun believes the gas-free stablecoins could be a game-changer for companies looking to offer stablecoin services:

Tron currently leads the peer-to-peer stablecoin transfer market and is consistently processing two to three times the volume of second-placed Ethereum, blockchain analytics firm Artemis highlighted in a June 27 X post.

Tron is home to more than $50 billion of Tethers (USDT) $112 billion in value issued across multiple blockchains, DefiLlama data shows.

Related: Stablecoins to make up 10% of money in the next decade or so: Circle CEO

Trons solution could compete with PayPals PYUSD,which allows certain United States-based users to make cross-border payments for free.

Circles USD Coin (USDC) on Ethereum layer-2 Base via Coinbase Wallet also allows free transfers.

Circle and cryptocurrency exchange Binance recently removed support for USDC on Tron, perhaps providing Tron with an incentive to build a solution of their own.

Tron is also considering building a Bitcoin layer-2 solution that would support a wrapped version of Tether potentially enabling billions of dollars to flow into the Bitcoin ecosystem.

For the time being, Tron is leveraging existing cross-chain protocols to bridge USDT and other tokens between Bitcoin and Tron.

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Tron develops gas-free stablecoin for Ethereum and Tron chains - Cointelegraph

Asset management companies VanEck and 21Shares have amended their S-1 registrations with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list and trade shares of a spot Ether exchange-traded fund, or ETF.

In July 8 filings, VanEck amended its Form S-1 registration statement as part of the firms efforts to get final approval from the SEC for its Ethereum (ETH) ETF. 21Shares filed a similar amended form for its Core Ethereum ETF. Neither filing included a specific launch date on U.S. exchanges but said it would be as soon as practicable after the effective date of the registration.

The amended filings are part of the last stage of approvals required by the SEC before asset management firms can list shares of spot Ether ETFs. Bitwise filed its own amended registration on July 3, and experts predict that other companies will follow in the next seven days.

On May 23, the SEC approved spot Ether ETF 19b-4 filings from eight asset managers including VanEck, 21Shares, and Bitwise with experts suggesting that final approvals could come in July. SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a June Senate Banking Committee hearing that the commission could approve the S-1s sometime over the course of this summer but did not provide a specific date.

Related: Ether ETFs will only be a sidekick to Bitcoin ETFs Bloomberg analyst

VanEck filed its application for a spot Ether ETF in January after the SEC approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF shares. The approval process may have been slowed amid reports the SEC was investigating whether to treat ETH as a security. Consensys legal team reported in June that the commission had dropped the matter.

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VanEck and 21Shares send amended Ether ETF filings to SEC - Cointelegraph

The price of Ether surged 25% between May 20 and May 21, reaching a nine-week high of $3,840. However, the altcoin encountered resistance despite growing confidence in the approval of a United States-based spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the May 23 deadline. This is when regulators will decide on the application from asset manager VanEck. Traders are now pondering whether the stabilization of around $3,750 suggests that the Ether ETF approval has already been factored into the price.

Analysts have increased their approval expectations after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly reached out to the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq to update their 19b-4 filings for the proposed spot Ether (ETH)ETFs. Crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky pointed out that this sudden interest from the regulator likely stems from political motives, as U.S. President Joe Biden may wish to appeal to cryptocurrency supporters.

However, there is still no official word from the SEC, which plans to vote on the issue with a panel of five commissioners. Two of them are notably pro-crypto: Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda. On the other hand, Caroline Crenshaw is known as the SECs most vocal critic of the cryptocurrency sector, especially for its inadequate regulation and the risk of fraud and manipulation.

Investors may assess the potential impact on Ethers price based on Bitcoins (BTC) trajectory following its U.S. spot ETF approval in January. Bitcoin saw a 35% increase in the 50 days after the approval, climbing from $46,356 to $62,416 by March 1. Its uncertain whether the demand for Ether ETFs will reach the $7.37 billion of inflows that Bitcoin experienced in its first 50 days, especially given Grayscales $28.7 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF.

Considering analysts give a 75% probability of spot Ether ETFs being approved, the recent 25% increase in ETH price aligns with Bitcoins trend post-ETF approval. This doesnt mean Ethers price is limited to $3,840, but it suggests that the approval likelihood aligns with market expectations. Similarly, Bitcoins rally didnt stop at a 35% gain, as it reached a new all-time high of $73,750 two weeks later. However, as time passes from events like this, external factors increasingly influence the market.

For instance, the S&P 500 index hit a record high on March 12, and WTI prices finally broke above $80 on March 14 after four months. Bitcoins U.S. spot ETF approval coincided with a particularly favorable period for risk-on assets. While its uncertain what Bitcoins performance would have been under different market conditions, assuming a similar trajectory for Ether would be simplistic.

Related: Strong Bitcoin ETF inflows boost BTC stability, says Bitfinex

To gauge how professional traders are positioned, its useful to examine the Ether futures market. Normally, ETH futures should exhibit an annualized premium of 5% to 10%, a market condition known as contango, which is typical in financial markets.

Data suggests that before May 20, major investors and market makers were not confident in Ethers performance, at least not enough to justify an annualized premium of over 10% for a leveraged long position. The jump to a 15% premium shows a moderate risk appetite among bulls, but this is still far from the 20% to 27% range seen in March.

The metrics from derivatives suggest that Ether traders are not excessively optimistic or fully pricing in the approval odds of the U.S. spot Ether ETF. For ETH bears, this greatly reduces the potential negative impact of a denial, as there is no excessive leverage use among buyers. Ultimately, Ethers current price does not reflect full anticipation of approval, indicating potential for further gains.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Ethereum rally stalls at $3.8K Is SEC ETH ETF decision already priced in? - Cointelegraph

Ethereum, the nerdy cryptocurrency that was lately overshadowed by Bitcoin, is in the news again, and the price is pumping. What gives?

Well, only one of the most important developments in Ethereum's history, anon. An Ethereum spot ETF (Exchange Traded-Fund) might get approved in the U.S. today that's Thursday, May 23.

Before we get into all that, here's a very short primer on Ethereum or ETH. Launched in 2015 by programmer Vitalik Buterin and others, Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind Bitcoin, and it has been so for the better part of the past five years or so.

Ethereum is a very different beast from Bitcoin. The latter is a digital currency and a public ledger of transactions that uses a network of computers (miners) to securely verify every transaction in the system, as well as create new coins through a computing-intensive process called proof-of-work.

Ethereum is a blockchain platform for decentralized apps. Unlike Bitcoin, it uses proof-of-stake to power and secure the network, meaning there is no environmentally unfriendly mining, with validators using a stake of their ether or ETH (the underlying currency of the platform) to validate transactions. Also, unlike Bitcoin, which is all about the secure sending and receiving of bitcoins and fairly little else, Ethereum is a platform for other decentralized apps (also called smart contracts) to run on.

As you can imagine, this makes Ethereum more powerful than Bitcoin in a sense, but it also makes it more complicated, both in terms of usage and implications. These days, basically everyone the likes of large banks and pensions funds included understands Bitcoin to be a largely decentralized digital asset, which can be bought, securely stored and sold, akin to a digital version of gold. Ethereum is a lot more complicated, with the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) not being entirely clear on whether ETH is a security or not.

This leads us to the part about ETFs. In January 2024, after receiving the SEC's blessing, Bitcoin spot ETF funds started trading in the United States. This had immense implications as to who can buy Bitcoin; suddenly, a U.S. state pension fund or an investment fund was able to easily get exposure to Bitcoin without worrying about breaking some rule. And the "spot" part, in contrast to a futures ETF, means that the Bitcoin spot ETFs must buy actual Bitcoins when someone buys their product.

The interest was record-breaking, with more than $13 billion flowing into BTC via spot ETFs since their inception. And unsurprisingly, the price of Bitcoin soared from around $42,000 in early January to roughly $69,500 at writing time.

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Many of the same entities large investment companies such as BlackRock, VanEck, and Ark also filed for a spot Ethereum ETF, with deadlines for SEC's approval or denial starting on May 23. And up until a few days ago, analysts largely believed that the ETFs would be denied, given SEC's previous reluctance to provide clear guidance over whether ETH is a security or not.

This has changed. According to Bloomberg senior analyst Eric Balchunas, there was "chatter" that the SEC has completely reversed its stance on Ethereum, followed by a slew of potential ETF issuers submitting amended 19b-4 forms to the SEC, signaling that there's a very good chance that the ETFs are on their way for approval.

We know, the sheer mention of something like a 19b-4 form made you fall asleep instantly. But we mention it because there's another set of forms that need to be approved, the S-1 forms, and those are key for actual ETF approval.

In practice, this means we could get a very good indication that one or more (probably more) Ethereum ETFs are coming, but it might take weeks or months before they actually start trading.

As a result of these filings, the price of Ethereum rose from around $3,100 to $3,800, where it's trading at writing time.

Of course, nothing is official or set in stone. The Ethereum ETF applications could still get denied, though the consensus among experts is that it's now a question of when, not if, it will happen. A denial would surely be a cold shower for Ethereum's price, at least in the short term.

This is not just about Ethereum's price. This sudden change of sentiment by the SEC could mean that the U.S. government is suddenly far more open to everything crypto related. Indeed, an important crypto bill was just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, despite the SEC head Gary Gensler having some very stern words about it.

Perhaps the simplest of implications of this approval is other crypto spot ETFs getting the nod in the future. But with BlackRock launching a tokenized version of its money-market fund on Ethereum, it's getting easy to envision a future in which a big chunk of global finance exists on the blockchain. In other words, your nerdy, crypto-mining neighbor who told you that one day all of finance will roll into crypto, may have actually been right.

Well, unless you're a trader looking to capitalize on price moves, you don't really have to do anything. Regardless of whether the Ethereum spot ETF is denied, approved, or delayed today, Ethereum and its ecosystem of apps will keep trudging along.

But it is important to consider that a potential approval fully legitimizes an entire new class of crypto assets. Institutions, funds, banks, perhaps even pension funds, will be looking to get in on the action, and it could spark a thriving period for Ethereum, as well as the apps and assets that reside on it. After a bit of a lull in the past couple of years, the crypto space could once again become very exciting over the next couple of years.

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Ethereum heats up over key ETF decision. Here's what you need to know. - Mashable