How Does Tonstakers LSD Work?

Liquid Staking|Risk B|5 mechanisms|4 interactions

Tonstakers is the largest liquid staking protocol on the TON blockchain, holding about 67% of all liquid-staked TON. When you deposit TON, you receive tsTON, a token that grows in value over time as staking rewards accrue (up to ~5% APY). You can stake as little as 1 TON directly through Tonkeeper wallet, OKX, or even a Telegram bot. The protocol has been audited by CertiK with a 94/100 score and uses multi-signature wallets to protect funds.

TVL

$95M

Sector

Liquid Staking

Risk Grade

B

Value Grade

C

Core Mechanisms

Staking/Liquid-Staking

tsTON: exchange-rate liquid staking token for TON with reward accrual

Users deposit TON and receive tsTON, which appreciates in value as staking rewards accumulate. Over time 1 tsTON becomes worth more than 1 TON. Minimum stake of 1 TON.

Staking/Validator-Set

Multi-validator delegation across partner validators on TON

Tonstakers distributes pooled TON across multiple partner validators. Validator selection criteria and rebalancing logic are managed by the protocol team.

Staking/Reward-Distribution

Exchange-rate model with continuous reward accrual in tsTON value

Rewards are reflected in the tsTON exchange rate rather than distributed as separate tokens. Up to 5% APY from native TON staking rewards.

Custody/Smart-Contract

Open-source TON smart contracts with CertiK audit (94/100)

Smart contracts are open-source and audited by CertiK with a 94/100 score. Multi-signature wallets protect pooled funds.

Integration/Wallet

Novel

Native integration with Tonkeeper, OKX, and Telegram bot staking

Staking directly through Telegram bot is a novel distribution channel unique to the TON ecosystem. Also integrated with Tonkeeper wallet and OKX for seamless access.

How the Pieces Interact

67% TON liquid staking market shareTON DeFi ecosystemHigh

With ~67% market share, Tonstakers is the dominant liquid staking provider on TON. A protocol failure would disrupt the majority of the TON DeFi ecosystem that depends on tsTON as a primary yield-bearing asset.

TON smart contract languageCertiK audit coverageMedium

TON uses FunC/Tact rather than Solidity, with a much smaller pool of security auditors and fewer battle-tested security tools. Even a strong CertiK audit may miss language-specific vulnerabilities.

Multi-signature wallet custodyValidator delegationMedium

The multisig controlling fund distribution to validators represents a centralized trust assumption. Compromise of the multisig could redirect staked TON to malicious validators.

Telegram bot stakingUser securityLow

Telegram-based staking introduces phishing and social engineering attack vectors not present in traditional DeFi interfaces. Users may interact with fake bots that drain funds.

What Could Go Wrong

  1. Dominant 67% market share of TON liquid staking creates systemic concentration risk for the entire TON DeFi ecosystem
  2. TON blockchain smart contract language (FunC/Tact) has a smaller auditor pool and less battle-tested tooling compared to EVM, increasing undiscovered vulnerability risk
  3. tsTON DeFi integrations are limited to the TON ecosystem, which is still nascent and less liquid than EVM-based DeFi

Tonstakers Smart Contract Exploit and TON DeFi Contagion

Tail

Trigger: A vulnerability in Tonstakers' FunC smart contracts is exploited, draining the staking pool or enabling unauthorized withdrawal of pooled TON

  1. 1.Attacker exploits a FunC-specific vulnerability in Tonstakers' staking contracts (e.g., reentrancy, integer overflow, or TON-specific message handling bug) Pooled TON partially or fully drained from the staking contract
  2. 2.tsTON exchange rate collapses as the backing TON is stolen tsTON holders face immediate losses; tsTON trades at severe discount on DEXes
  3. 3.DeFi protocols on TON that use tsTON as collateral (lending, DEX LPs) trigger cascading liquidations TON DeFi ecosystem contracts sharply as 67% of liquid staked TON is compromised
  4. 4.Confidence in TON DeFi collapses; capital flight from TON ecosystem Broader TON token price impact as DeFi TVL drops by majority

Risk Profile at a Glance

Mechanism Novelty3/15
Interaction Severity4/20
Oracle Surface3/10
Documentation Gaps3/10
Track Record2/15
Scale Exposure3/10
Regulatory Risk2/10
Vitality Risk5/10
B

Overall: B (25/100)

Lower score = safer

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