Toncoin Trims Losses, Outperforms Bitcoin and Ether as TON Blockchain Resumes Operations

Toncoin (TON) has recovered some of its earlier losses after the TON blockchain successfully restarted following a nearly five-hour downtime. The downtime was attributed to the overwhelming popularity of the DOGS airdrop, which is part of the Ton Foundation’s campaign to raise awareness about the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.

Despite the downtime, TON showed resilience, trimming its losses during the East Asia trading day to less than 1%. In contrast, many major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), saw significant declines, with BTC dropping 6% and ETH, along with other major tokens like Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA), experiencing declines of over 5%.

The broader market downturn resulted in over $300 million in crypto futures liquidations, the highest since early August. This wave of liquidations likely triggered a long squeeze, further exacerbating the market’s losses. The total open interest on Bitcoin futures dropped to $31 billion from $34 billion earlier in the week, indicating a decline in trader sentiment.

Meanwhile, U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw significant outflows, totaling over $127 million, following an eight-day streak of inflows. Ether ETFs also continued to experience outflows, marking the ninth consecutive day of withdrawals.

AI-related tokens, which had previously been buoyed by the anticipation of strong earnings from Nvidia, also suffered significant losses. NEAR, ICP, FET, and other AI-focused tokens saw declines ranging from 6.5% to 11.8%.

In other news, Hong Kong-based custodian Hex Trust has launched a staking partner program, signaling continued institutional interest in the cryptocurrency space. This program aims to provide clients with enhanced access to staking offerings, further expanding the asset class’s appeal to institutional investors.