TL;DR
If you're short on time, here's the gist in four points
- Jettons are tokens on the TON network: USDT, NOT, DOGS, and thousands more.
- Every holder has a small wallet contract for each token. Your app just shows them as one list.
- Fees for sending any token are paid in Gram, the TON network's coin.
- A real token is defined by its address. The name and logo guarantee nothing.
Open Keeper (formerly Tonkeeper) or any other wallet that supports TON, and next to your main balance you'll almost certainly find USDT, NOT, DOGS, or a couple of unfamiliar coins that arrived on their own. These are all jettons, the tokens of the TON network.
People pay with them, earn them in Telegram games, and build whole projects on them. Yet few people know how they work. It's worth understanding, if only so you don't fall for a fake.
TON's native coin has been called Gram since June 2026 (formerly Toncoin). Jetton transfer fees are paid in it.
How a jetton works
A jetton is a token issued under a common TON standard, so every wallet and exchange understands every jetton the same way. It runs on two kinds of smart contracts, small programs living on the blockchain:
- The master contract one per token. It stores the shared details: name, ticker, image, total supply, and who controls it.
- Personal wallets each holder gets a separate contract for that token, recording how much of it they hold.
If you hold USDT and NOT, two personal wallets of yours exist on the network, one per token. Your app simply shows them as one list.
Why so complicated? TON is built for Telegram's huge audience. If every balance of a token lived in one place, that place would become a bottleneck. With a small contract per holder, the load spreads across the whole network.
What happens when you send a jetton
When you send someone 10 USDT, the tokens move from your personal USDT wallet to the recipient's personal USDT wallet. Your main wallet only gives the command and pays the fee.
- You confirm the transfer in your app and pay a small fee in Gram.
- Your personal USDT wallet debits 10 tokens and passes them to the recipient's wallet.
- The recipient's wallet credits the tokens. If they never held USDT before, that wallet is created automatically.
- The recipient sees the deposit, and the unused part of the fee returns to you.
- Fees are always in Gram. Even when you send USDT. Keep a little Gram on hand, or you won't be able to send tokens.
- A transfer takes a few seconds. The steps run one after another, so tokens are briefly "in transit". That's normal.
- Tokens don't get lost on the way. If a step fails, they return to the sender.
How not to fall for a fake
Anyone can choose a jetton's name, ticker, and logo. Launching a token called USDT with the familiar green icon takes minutes. The only thing that sets the real token apart is its master contract address.
- Tokens that arrive uninvited are almost always spam or bait. Their description usually links to a site that asks you to connect your wallet. Don't follow it.
- No verification badge in your wallet? That's a warning sign. Keeper and other major wallets mark verified tokens.
- When in doubt, compare the token address in a blockchain explorer such as tonviewer.com with the one on the project's official site.
- Check who controls the token. The master contract may have an owner who can mint new coins, and serious projects openly explain who that is and why.
Your own jetton: when you need one
Launching your own token is technically easy, and startups are often tempted. The hard part comes later: who will buy it and why, where demand will come from, and how it looks legally.
Your own jetton makes sense when the product can't work without it: the token grants voting rights, serves as in-game currency, or acts as a stake in a service. If you just need to accept payments in a stable currency, existing USDT is enough.
Need your own token or USDT payments?
We'll help you launch a jetton, accept USDT in your product, and make sure your contract is protected against fake tokens.
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