Tonstakers (tsTON)

The research assessment is adverse because the product bars the intended users and the underlying asset has undergone a material change. Tonstakers’ own Terms of Service state plainly that “individuals residing in, citizens of, or entities registered in the United States are explicitly prohibited from using this Interface.” The terms use England and Wales law, require binding LCIA arbitration, and add that the operator “and the Interface are not under the active supervision of any government agency or financial regulatory authority.” The product itself thus rules out this registry’s US client base. Apart from that access bar, TON’s native token was renamed back to “Gram,” effective 2026-06-15, after a community vote. This revives the exact name used for Telegram’s 2018 token sale, which the SEC sued over as an unregistered securities offering. Telegram settled in 2020 by paying $18.5M and returning $1.2B to investors. That settlement led the community to rename the coin “Toncoin” specifically to distance it from that history. Tonstakers has already adopted the new name. No public document names the legal entity that operates Tonstakers, and tracked TVL is down roughly 49% from its January 2025 peak.

Review triggers: events that reopen the verdict
• This registry never approves an entity that explicitly prohibits this registry’s US client base from using it, regardless of any other finding, this is a standing bar, not a reopen condition
• A named legal entity, jurisdiction, and current audit are disclosed if the US-exclusion bar is ever lifted
• The regulatory implications of the Gram rename for TON-denominated products are independently assessed by counsel
• TVL and validator-network share stabilize following the documented drawdown

Watched nightly: a warning on its venues or files, or a cited document that changes, reopens the memo. The first confirmation is due 2026-11-19.

The research file

The Gram rename and its regulatory history

TON’s native token returned to the name “Gram” on 2026-06-15 after a community vote. Telegram founder Pavel Durov described the change as “returning to our roots.” “Gram” is not a generic label. It is the exact name of the token sold in Telegram’s 2018, roughly $1.7B private sale for the “Telegram Open Network,” which the SEC sued over in October 2019 as an unregistered securities offering. Telegram settled in March 2020 by returning $1.2B to investors, paying an $18.5M civil penalty, and agreeing to notify the SEC before any future token issuance. Telegram then abandoned the project, and independent developers relaunched it as the community-run “The Open Network.” They deliberately renamed the coin “Toncoin” to distance it from the Gram name linked to the SEC case. The June 2026 rename undoes that separation. Tonstakers’ own site and product terms have already adopted “Gram” throughout.

The explicit US exclusion and unregulated posture

Tonstakers’ Terms of Service state directly: “individuals residing in, citizens of, or entities registered in the United States are explicitly prohibited from using this Interface.” Users must affirm that they are not a US person. England and Wales law governs the terms. Disputes go through binding, confidential LCIA arbitration, and users waive class actions. The Terms also state: “Tonstakers.com and the Interface are not under the active supervision of any government agency or financial regulatory authority.” The site names no legal entity, company name, place of incorporation, or registration number. The Terms identify the operator only as “the online project which operates the Website.”

Mechanism and control

Users deposit TON, now Gram, and receive tsTON, a share of a pooled, auto-compounding stake spread across validators that Tonstakers selects and operates through its Validator-as-a-Service business. Tonstakers claims roughly 8% of TON’s total validated network stake. Institutional integrations include Tonkeeper, Crypto.com, and Telegram’s in-app wallet. A CertiK audit delivered in November 2023 flagged one Major centralization finding, which was later marked mitigated. Public summaries did not list the specific admin-key, upgrade-authority, or freeze mechanism, and Tonstakers discloses no multisig signer list or timelock parameters. That single audit is now nearly three years old, while the codebase and TVL base have grown substantially since then.

Redemption and track record

Redemption is fairly fast for this category. Users can take an instant path funded by idle pool liquidity when it is available, or use the default path, which completes at the end of the current validation cycle in roughly 18-27 hours. The default path uses a service NFT receipt. A user who transfers that receipt interrupts the withdrawal, creating a real operational risk. Tracked TVL peaked near $332M in January 2025 and stands around $170M at this review, down roughly 49% from its peak. The decline coincides with a broader TON slowdown and now the Gram rename. Tonstakers holds roughly 75-80% of all TON liquid-staking TVL. It is the clear category leader, but also the largest single concentration point in TON liquid staking.

Comparison and decision

Compared with other TON liquid staking options such as bemo or Whales, Tonstakers leads by TVL and institutional integration. Neither fact changes the two reasons for rejection: the product itself bars US persons, and the underlying asset has taken the exact name tied to an SEC enforcement action and settlement. A client who stakes TON directly avoids Tonstakers’ contract and validator-selection risks, but still faces the same question about the base asset’s regulatory history. That issue concerns the chain, not Tonstakers’ own conduct.

Sources

The claims above trace to these. Where a number could not be independently verified, the thesis says so.

• Tonstakers — terms of service · primary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: explicit US-person prohibition, England and Wales governing law, no regulatory supervision disclaimer, no named legal entity
• Tonstakers — validators and staking overview · primary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: validator-as-a-service model, network stake share, institutional integrations
• CertiK Skynet — Tonstakers project audit and score · secondary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: November 2023 audit, centralization finding, single audit on record
• DefiLlama — Tonstakers LSD protocol data · secondary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: TVL history, January 2025 peak and current drawdown
• CoinGecko — Gram (previously Toncoin) · secondary · accessed 2026-08-19
  Supports: June 2026 token rename confirmation

Inherited controls

The research above describes the protocol layer. Every position also inherits the asset it holds and the chain it settles on. The layer with the most administrative power sets the position’s effective control; that describes control, not quality or suitability.