Toncoin has outperformed its rivals in the cryptocurrency market, cutting its losses and outperforming major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as the TON chain successfully restarted after a five-hour outage. This resilience comes despite the broader market downturn that saw liquidations and significant declines in most major tokens.
The TON chain’s downturn, which was partly attributed to the overwhelming popularity of the DOGS airdrop — a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov — did little to dampen Toncoin’s performance. With the blockchain back online, TON’s losses were trimmed, leaving it down less than 1%, according to CoinDesk Indices data. In contrast, the CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a benchmark for the largest and most liquid digital assets, fell more than 6.5%. The broader market saw Bitcoin fall 6%, while Ethereum, Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) fell more than 5%. XRP showed relative strength, down 3.4%, while TRX outperformed, down 2%. Market analysts pointed to a series of large liquidations as a driving force behind the market’s downward spiral. Cryptocurrency futures liquidated more than $300 million, with ether seeing the largest share at $102 million, followed by bitcoin at $96 million. The resulting long squeeze, where traders are forced to sell in a bear market, has exacerbated the losses. Open interest in bitcoin futures fell to $31 billion from $34 billion on Monday, indicating weaker sentiment among traders. The selloff was fueled by large outflows from U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which saw net outflows of $127 million on Tuesday, breaking an eight-day streak of inflows.Ethereum ETFs continued their losing streak with outflows of $3.45 million.
“Bitcoin ETFs saw a very large outflow of $127 million as traders appeared to take profits following the Jackson Hole rally,” said Augustin Fan, head of insights at on-chain financial products provider SOFA. “Meanwhile, Ethereum continued its weak momentum with its ninth straight day of outflows.”
AI-related tokens, which had been on a high in anticipation of Nvidia’s earnings report, were also hit. NEAR fell 10%, while Bittensor’s FET and TAO dropped 11.8% and 11.3%, respectively. Katie Stockton, founder of Fairlead Strategies, pointed to Nvidia’s influence on market dynamics, saying: “Sentiment around AI has definitely changed.”
Amid the turmoil, institutional interest in the asset class remains strong. Hong Kong-based custodian Hex Trust has announced the launch of a custodial partner program, providing clients with expanded access to custodial opportunities.
As the market digests these developments, Toncoin’s ability to quickly recover from the TON blockchain outage may indicate fundamental strength, even as the broader crypto landscape struggles with volatility and uncertainty.
