Telegram’s own blockchain, TON, continues to enjoy impressive gains despite current market volatility. The open-source protocol has been one of the few ecosystems to stay afloat following the FTX saga. Specifically, TON posted a 3.28% gain intraday with a week-on-week rise of over 13%. TON also gained ground against the top two cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum. The token was seen holding up gains of 2.22% against BTC and 3.09% above ETH. Its intraday price movement is still bullish, despite dropping below its floor mid-day. Related Reading: Litecoin Shows Bullish Signs As Price Eyes $70; Will Bulls Push To This Region? Very few tokens have successfully kept substantial gains as the FTX case unfolds. However, TON has confidently left traders smiling all week and isn’t looking to stop anytime soon. The main catalyst behind TON’s rise is still Telegram’s new username auction feature. Furthermore, a leading blockchain market maker has pledged a huge amount to support the TON ecosystem. A Telegram User Paid $500,000 For The ‘Dogecoin’ Username The Telegram username auction has seen enormous trading volume despite just launching this week. Many users have struggled to get the best usernames, with some costing higher than others. However, one username has caught the attention of many members of the crypto community. As per data retrieved on November 17th, an unknown user purchased the username of the meme coin ‘Dogecoin’ for 350,000TON. This price is roughly $546,000 when converted. The username is one of the most expensive sold on the blockchain’s Fragment NFT marketplace. Specifically, it’s the 8th most expensive Telegram profile username sold on the blockchain. Its price is higher than those of @alfa, @cash, @amazon, @adidas, @gold, @armani, @dior, and even @elon. Topping the list is @auto, which a user bought for 900,000 TON. This is worth approximately $1.43 million. TON Getting $10 Million In Support From Market Maker Popular market maker DWF Labs has entered a new partnership with the TON blockchain. This new deal will see the open-source protocol getting support in the form of investments, token and market development, and exchange listing. The Durov brothers, who founded Telegram Messenger, first conceptualized The Open Network in 2018. Later, they gave it to the open TON Community, who have been sustaining and expanding it ever since. TON was created with user-friendliness and scalability in mind for quick and inexpensive transactions. DWF Labs’ investment will consist of 50 seed investments planned over the next 12 months and $10 million to support the ecosystem. All of these are intended to hasten the expansion of TON and its initiatives. Related Reading: Ep07- Moneyland – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast DWF Labs’ involvement is anticipated to boost TON’s volume across supporting platforms. This will further help to expand the number of ecosystem users. The blockchain’s trading volume is also expected to see a significant boost. As of writing, the token’s 24-hour volume was at $11,956,672, a 26.92% increase. The market maker plans to expand the trading volume further by creating an OTC market. This will enable buyers and sellers to conduct large transactions with ease. Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com