TON Blockchain Upgrades to Catchain 2.0 for 10x Speed

Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram, announced on April 9, 2026, that the TON blockchain had completed a major upgrade via its Catchain 2.0 consensus mechanism, slashing block production times to 400 milliseconds and enabling subsecond transaction finality starting April 10. The enhancement, which increases the block rate sixfold and overall network throughput tenfold, aims to support instant payments and responsive applications within Telegram's ecosystem of more than one billion users.

The upgrade reduces confirmation times from about 10 seconds to roughly one second for payments, making blockchain interactions feel as seamless as sending a message, according to TON statements. Validators approved the changes through a vote on April 8 and 9, after which the network activated the improvements. Exchanges including Binance and Bithumb conducted wallet maintenance to accommodate the shift. While the main chain block reward remains at 1.7 TON, the faster production pace will boost validator earnings per cycle, projecting annual network inflation to rise from 0.6 percent to 3.6 percent.

Durov described the rollout as "step 1 of 7 to Make TON Great Again," a roadmap he outlined...