Grants and Bounties Logo

Grants and Bounties are TON Foundation programs to reward developers and communities that contribute to TON Ecosystem. The focus is on products with potential for mass adoption, a clear introduction to the ecosystem and a user-friendly interface.

Grants

The program funds projects that create new features, tools, or applications. Grants are awarded for a variety of purposes, including improving app security, expanding software functionality, and developing integrations. The goal of the grants is to stimulate innovation and improve the user experience on Telegram.

Applying for a Grants

The concept of TON grants is aimed at supporting projects that can attract Telegram users to TON and Web3. Initiatives aimed at improving TON infrastructure and developing DeFi are also supported. Projects that duplicate functionality do not receive funding. It is important that applicants study TON Ecosystem Map before applying.

The page on Questbook for submitting a Grant

The application process:

Preparation — gathering information about the project, creating a plan to attract users and a plan to support the project after the grant is completed.
Applying on Questbook — you need to fill in all fields: team info, milestones, competitors, etc.
Waiting for feedback — if there is interest in the project, the team will be contacted via Telegram to discuss the product and possible support. Results and agreements will be recorded in comments to the proposal on Questbook.

There are some general requirements: the project must be useful and not related to criminal activity.

Priority Grant Categories:

Telegram Mini Apps (TMA): Web3 social cases inside Telegram, including SocialFi, utilities, community and brand management.
GameFi: social games in the form of TMA and stand-alone games (PC or mobile) with strong social mechanics.
Other: open technical projects, commercial projects to improve TON infrastructure.

The money can be used for initial product development on TON or for migrating an existing product from another blockchain to TON. No funds are allocated for marketing campaigns in the early stages.

How to increase the chances of Grant approval

Describe the problem clearly. Explain why it is important and how your decision will help. Show how your solution is better than others.
Prove that your team has the experience and knowledge to implement the project. Tell about the achievements of the team.
Present a plan to attract and retain users. Describe the target audience.
Divide the project into stages with clear deadlines. Identify key performance indicators and write down a detailed cost plan.
Describe how you will support the project after the grant is completed and look for additional sources of funding.
Tell us about the new technologies that you use.

Requirements for Open Source projects

The code in this grant category must be open source and not require proprietary software for full functionality.
Applications should not mention specific tokens. Your resources should focus on the development or study of software under the grant. Describe how people will benefit from your solution.

Grant Reports

Grant Sizes

Initial deployment aims to create and develop a concept with integration of @wallet, TON Connect and/or Wallet Pay. Grant size: up to $10K in TON.

Live projects without TON but with high traffic are transferred to TON in the form of TMA with transfer of user base. Grant size in this case will depend on the volume of transactions and other relevant indicators. Grant size: up to $50K in TON.

Examples of Grants Awarded

Grants for 2023

TonJump introduces the first game with content from Web3 users on Telegram.
PlayWallet creates a mini-app that allows users to fund gaming platforms (e.g. Steam) with cryptocurrency via Telegram Mini Apps.
DeDust.io receives funding to develop a mini-app, a decentralized exchange (DEX) for the DeFi TON Ecosystem.
Kit42 introduces a mini-app for Telegram, offering analytics and management tools for contacts, messages and channels, as well as account cleanup features.
TON Raffles and DAOLama also received funding to develop Web3 platforms and mini-apps for monetizing and selling NFT.

Bounty

Bounty Logo

Program participants are rewarded in cryptocurrency and SBT for testing new features, finding bugs, creating content and other contributions to Telegram development.

Participating in the Bounty

Select and complete existing Bounty tasks to earn rewards.
Suggest new tasks: if you have an idea, you can suggest a task. If the community approves the task, it will be passed on to those willing to do it. The authors of the idea will be rewarded.

Questbook page with Bounty tasks

Complete the task:

Select an issue from the list.
Propose an implementation plan, remuneration and deadline for submission of results.
Wait for the committee to appoint you to the task.
Submit an issue solving suggestion to Questbook.
Results will be reviewed by a committee and if confirmed you will receive a TON of rewards.

Suggest a task:

Create a new Bounty task on GitHub from the appropriate category:
- Developer's tool
- Education — resources or initiatives
- Infrastructure — system or technology integration
- Step up - requests from TON Footstep
- Integration — infrastructural challenges or problems
- A good first step — for beginners
Fill in the fields and publish the task. The community will comment and discuss the task on GitHub.
Propose an implementation plan, fee, and deadline.
Fill out the proposal form on Questbook carefully, make sure you have described everything correctly. Click «Submit Proposal».

Examples of Bounties awarded

For Q4 2023, 27 tasks worth $50K were completed and 44 tasks worth $60K were approved. A total of 77 proposals were processed. Some of the most outstanding completed Bounties include:

Realization of native Python bindings for TON with $12,000 award.
Creating a C# library for TON Connect 2.0 with $2100 award.
Launching a cryptocurrency donation service with $2000 award.
Realization of ADNL over TCP in C# with $2250 award.
Creating the Tact lexer for pygments with $400 award.
Establishing the NFT fractionation standard with $1200 award.
Creating TON Wiki educational materials with $5000 starting award.