TON Increased Inflation 6x. Why?
On April 9, 2026, the TON blockchain successfully activated the Sub-Second upgrade — the largest consensus-layer change in the network's history. Transactions now reach finality in under one second. But behind the speed boost lies a side effect that has already sparked discussion in the community.
What happened
TON Core rolled out the upgrade in three stages:
- By March 31 — validator nodes updated to the latest version
- April 2 — vote to activate new consensus on the basechain and moderately increase block frequency
- April 7 — final vote for full fast-consensus activation on both basechain and masterchain
The upgrade is known as Catchain 2.0 — a new consensus and networking protocol. Binance performed wallet maintenance on April 7 to support the upgrade.
Speed: what changed
Before the upgrade, TON block finality took around ten seconds. Now — under one second. Blocks arrive every 400 milliseconds, and a new streaming layer pushes updates to apps almost instantly.
For users of Telegram mini-apps, DeFi protocols, and payment services, this is a fundamental change. Payments go through in about one second, trades execute in real time, and apps respond with the immediacy people already expect from every other product they use.
For developers: to surface the speed improvement to users, switch from polling to streaming APIs. Recommended stack: Streaming API v2, TON Center v3 or TONAPI, AppKit.
Inflation: context
TON validators earn a reward for every block produced. 5–6x more blocks — 5–6x more rewards.
- Before the upgrade: staking yielded ~3.9% APY
- After the upgrade: staking yield is reported at 20–25% annually
TON co-founder Anatoliy Makosov clarified that Toncoin inflation after the upgrade is approximately 4% per year — and urged people not to confuse staking yield with token inflation.
| Blockchain | Inflation |
| TON (post Sub-Second) | ~4% |
| Solana | ~3.9% |
| Aptos | 2.6–5.19% |
| SUI | 3.2–3.6% |
What's next
The TON Foundation positions the increased yield as a transitional phase. Sub-Second optimizations lay the groundwork for the next step — reducing network fees.
Summary
| Metric | Before | After |
| Block finality | several sec | < 1 sec |
| Staking APY | ~3.9% | 20–25% |
| Token inflation | ~0.6% (est.) | ~4% |
| Block speed | 1x | 5–6x |
Sub-Second is a technically strong upgrade that makes TON competitive in speed with Solana and other fast L1s. Inflation has increased but remains within industry norms.
