TON Finalizes Transactions in 0.6s, 6,000x Faster Than Bitcoin

Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted data showing The Open Network (TON) finalizes transactions in roughly 0.6 seconds following the network’s Catchain 2.0 upgrade. At the same time, Telegram confirmed it now operates the largest validator on TON.

The Catchain 2.0 update reduced block times to about 400 milliseconds and pushed finality below one second on April 10. Finality in this context refers to how quickly a transaction becomes resistant to reorganization. Bitcoin’s common finality convention-six confirmations at roughly 10 minutes per block-equates to about one hour, which is the basis for the 6,000-times comparison with TON.

Durov circulated a report ranking Layer 1 blockchains by finalization time. The report placed Cardano at the slowest end with about a day to finality. Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain and Sui cleared transactions in under two seconds. Hedera, the XRP Ledger and Stellar showed finality under five seconds. Solana registered roughly 13 seconds, TRON about one minute, and Ethereum around 13 minutes. Litecoin and Monero registered about 15 and 20 minutes respectively.

Telegram reported it staked about 2.2 million TON tokens, valued near $2.9 million at the time, and now runs the largest validator on the network. Telegram described the validator position as a counterweight to large operators and as a way to let major participants join the validator pool without increasing centralization. Some observers flagged that the stake could approach a quarter of total validator power, raising governance concentration questions.

The network’s estimated staking yield is about 20 percent. Higher participation in validation has increased the share of TON supply locked in staking, reducing circulating supply and tightening trading liquidity. Toncoin’s market price rose after the validator update was posted.

Developers and network observers note that faster finality can enable near real-time settlement use cases. Broader adoption will depend on whether application activity and overall ecosystem growth match the network’s technical performance gains.