Key Takeaways:
- Toncoin Bridge will officially shut down on May 10, 2025, marking the end of cross-chain transfers to Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
- Bridging into TON remains temporarily active, with a future end date to be revealed later.
- This move reflects TON’s transition to modern, secure, and scalable cross-chain alternatives.
The TON Foundation announced the shutdown of the Toncoin Bridge, previously a critical solution to cross-chain interoperability. On May 10, 2025, the bridge will be formally retired, suspending all transfers of Toncoin from the TON blockchain to the Ethereum and BNB Smart Chains.
While users will not lose access to previously bridged funds, initiating new transfers in the same direction will no longer be possible.
This strategic move follows the total elimination of jUSDT, the Tether-wrapped version used on TON. The bridge at first played a critical role when TON did not have native USDT, decentralized finance services, or centralized exchange listings.
At the time, users were dependent upon the bridge in order to use Ethereum-based services such as Uniswap or PancakeSwap to trade Toncoin. As TON developed, the reliance decreased.
The Toncoin Bridge’s sunset denotes not merely a technical retirement but also a major milestone in the development of TON. Its shutdown was laid out in a meticulous statement, referencing security improvements, modernization, and decreased reliance on legacy technologies as key driving factors.
Industry expert Matt Kurosawa, who follows blockchain development very carefully, explained that the move falls in line with the strategy of TON to go fully native and integrate with the most modern cross-chain architectures.
Bridging Technology That Defined a Generation
Rolled out in several phases from 2021, the Toncoin Bridge has facilitated over 101 million TON of transfers between Ethereum and the BNB Smart Chain. It witnessed almost 32,000 transfers with zero security breaches logged, a remarkable achievement in the blockchain bridge world.
Its users were significant: more than 35,000 Ethereum holders and a whopping 113,000 on BNB Smart Chain, engaging in millions of transactions.
Even though it has been a success, the supporting infrastructure of the bridge has grown old. The revelation also established that bridge oracles will start unstaking their TON holdings when operations start to cease.
The transition heralds the larger trend in blockchain environments to sunset outdated tech in the interest of seamless and secure interconnectivity, like LayerZero and Stargate, networks that enable more scalable and resilient cross-chain interoperability.
Kurosawa also pointed out that the proactive depreciation of the bridge indicates TON’s dedication to ensuring a secure and forward-thinking network, instead of patching out-of-date tools that cannot adapt to the changing needs of the community.
TON Embraces Cross-Chain Future
Although the capacity to bridge funds from Ethereum or BNB Smart Chain to TON remains intact at the time being, the eventual shutdown will also be confirmed in a follow-up announcement.
Meanwhile, the TON ecosystem keeps expanding at a rapid rate, including native USDT capabilities and native DEXs along with integrations with major cross-chain platforms.
As TON retires existing systems, it opens the door to faster, more secure, and more decentralized applications that don’t depend on third-party ecosystems for liquidity and usefulness.
The closure of the Toncoin Bridge, previously at the hub of the network’s earlier development, signals the beginning of a more standalone and interconnected era for the Telegram-based blockchain.
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