Pavel Durov said TON will cut transaction fees by sixfold within one week, bringing the network to a fixed charge of 0.00039 TON per transaction, or about $0.0005 based on the value cited in his post. He also pointed to a larger target: most transactions on TON could eventually become fully free.
A fixed fee model is central to the update
According to Durov’s post on X, the new TON fee will not rise with network congestion. That detail matters as much as the headline number. Users would know the cost before sending a transaction instead of dealing with changing fees during busy periods, which is a common friction point on many blockchains.
Durov tied the fee reduction to the MTONGA roadmap, short for “Make TON Great Again.” He described the cut as step two. Step one came in April, when TON was upgraded and, by his account, became 10 times faster while block rate increased sixfold. He also said transactions are now instant, with sub-second confirmation.
Telegram-linked payments and mini-apps are the clearest use cases
The fee change is especially relevant for products connected to Telegram’s ecosystem. The source material lists several areas that could benefit: Telegram mini-app payments, small wallet transfers, crypto games, AI agent payments, creator tips and rewards, and in-app digital purchases. These are all categories where low-value, high-frequency transactions matter.
Micropayments stand out. If a transfer is worth only a few cents, even a small network fee can make the payment uneconomical. A fixed cost near $0.0005 changes that calculation and makes pricing easier to understand. Users would not need to monitor network activity before sending funds, which reduces uncertainty even if the amount involved is tiny.
The zero-fee claim remains a roadmap statement for now
Durov said most TON transactions will soon become feeless, but that part has not been presented as a full rollout yet. For now, the concrete update is the planned sixfold cut and the move to a fixed-fee structure. The next week will be the first test of how that model works in practice.
The article also compares the proposed TON cost with other chains. It says Bitcoin’s average fee is around $0.48, Ethereum is roughly $0.70 to $0.90, Solana often sits near $0.0005 though users may add priority fees, Polygon usually stays under $0.01, and BNB Chain is often a few cents or less. On that basis, TON is positioning itself around speed, low transaction costs, and Telegram distribution, with mini-apps, games, and micropayments at the front of that push.