Sachin Gurung, founder of TONYield, is on a mission to make DeFi invisible—seamlessly integrated, radically simple, and available to Telegram’s 1 billion users. With a background in tech startups and a passion for programmable finance, he saw in TON a unique opportunity: a blockchain designed for users, not just developers. TONYield strips away the complexity of traditional yield farming—no tabs, no juggling LPs, just connect your wallet and earn.
In this interview, Sachin shares his journey, the spark behind TONYield, and his vision for building the yield layer of Telegram’s financial future.
Introduction and Personal Motivation
Bitcoinist: Sachin, tell us briefly your story: how did your experience lead you to Web3 and the idea of TONYield?
I come from a background in tech and early-stage startups, always drawn to frontier innovation. My first real engagement with Web3 wasn’t just about crypto—it was about programmable finance. We originally began LevelQ as a EVM facing yield aggregator, but when I saw the potential of TON as a user-first blockchain embedded directly into Telegram, I realized it was the perfect environment to make DeFi truly accessible and usable for the next billion users.
Bitcoinist: What was the “spark” that led you to start TONYield? Was there a specific moment or problem that you were keenly interested in solving?
The real “spark” was the frustration around how fragmented and technical yield farming had become. Especially, being an everyday user of telegram and TON, I could see DeFi opportunities were quite low and most users on TON were jumping across chains and LP pools.
On TON, there’s a huge opportunity to build the DeFi space and resolve these issues—we could design yield strategies from the ground up with UX-first principles and native integration into a messaging ecosystem already used by 1bn users. The goal was clear: build DeFi that doesn’t feel like DeFi.
Bitcoinist: What is your vision for TONYield in 3-5 years? What is your main goal?
Our vision is to become the default yield layer for TON—serving users, DAOs, and institutions with automated, non-custodial vaults.
In 3–5 years, TONYield will be cross-chain, seamlessly bridging EVM and Telegram-native liquidity, with billions in TVL and deeply integrated into the Telegram Mini-App ecosystem. We’re not just building a product—we’re creating a financial primitive that feels invisible, but incredibly powerful.
TONYield Problem and Solution
Bitcoinist: What are the main challenges DeFi users face at TON that TONYield aims to address?
The two biggest issues: liquidity fragmentation and complexity. Most users don’t know where to deploy capital for yield, and those that do are managing multiple tabs, wallets, and risk exposures.
TONYield solves this by aggregating vaults across DeDust, STON.fi, Bemo, and TAC—all within a single interface, powered by automation and built for both native TON users and incoming EVM capital.
Bitcoinist: How exactly does TONYield “simplify yield”? What does this mean for the end user in practice?
It means: you connect your wallet, provide liquidity into a vault, and that’s it. Behind the scenes, the strategy auto-compounds, rebalances, and optimizes yield. Users don’t need to touch LPs, monitor rewards, or jump across platforms. We abstract away all the complexity while giving full on-chain transparency on what’s happening under the hood.
Bitcoinist: Who is TONYield aimed more at: experienced “degens” or newcomers to crypto?
Both. Our goal is to serve the Telegram-native user who might be deploying assets for the first time, as well as the DeFi native user looking for advanced strategies, staking, or points farming.
The beauty of our platform is that it’s modular. A newcomer gets a one-click experience. A degen can build their own strategies to fit their appetite. For institutions, it’s even more beneficial as institutional toncoin investors are still well within their vesting periods, this provides them a way to maximise rewards on the idle capital.
Product and Technology
Bitcoinist: Tell us about your flagship vaults, e.g. Boosted TON Yield Vault. How do they generate returns for users using strategies like liquid staking (e.g., with Bemo’s stTON)?
Our Boosted TON Yield Vaults combine LP rewards derived from various pools on TON. We essentially combine the APRs’ providing users with maximum rewards. Again, this is only the start, we have multiple vaults in the pipeline ranging from concentrated LP into Dexes with hedging, leverage strategy with points farming, LP into derivatives protocols with hedging..
Not only this, but we have integration on the way to build vaults that are EVM compatible, with the likes of TAC, a layer 1 blockchain bridging the gap between EVM and TON, this is only the beginning.
Bitcoinist: What new products or types of vaults can users expect in the future?
We’re launching institutional-grade vaults with hedging and risk metrics. You’ll also see derivatives vaults via StormTrade, as well as “Point Farming” vaults that optimize for upcoming airdrops on TAC, Bemo & EVAA protocol Long term, we’re developing smart vaults that respond to market volatility automatically.
Security and Risks
Bitcoinist: Security is paramount in DeFi. What 2-3 key measures does TONYield take to protect user funds?
- All vaults are non-custodial, meaning users always control their assets.
- We deploy audited smart contracts and use battle-tested components from the TON ecosystem.
- Vaults have built-in risk thresholds and rebalancing mechanisms to prevent exposure to volatile swings or impermanent loss spikes.
Bitcoinist: How can users see for themselves that your strategies are safe and transparent?
Every vault has real-time analytics, links to contract code, and on-chain performance history. We will be publishing reports and soon will integrate a public audit dashboard for maximum transparency. If you’re a power user, you can trace every reward source and strategy path directly. All vaults will be independently audited and available for the public.
TON Ecosystem and Competition
Bitcoinist: Why TON? What are the unique advantages of this blockchain that you utilize?
TON is the only chain that has a direct line into hundreds of millions of Telegram users. It’s fast, low-cost, and purpose-built for consumer UX. Most blockchains build tools for developers—TON is building an ecosystem for users. That’s where we want to be. Bringing the next wave of Web2 users into Web3.0 with ease, that’s our mission.
Bitcoinist: How does TONYield interact with other projects in the TON ecosystem? Can you give examples of successful collaboration?
We integrate directly with protocols like STON.fi, DeDust, Bemo, and EEVA. Over the past year, the team have been working incredible hard to make TONYield to what it is today, we still have a bit to go, during this time we’re solidified partnerships and established ourselves as the go to yield platform on TON.
Bitcoinist: What is TONYield’s key competitive advantage over other revenue aggregators? What is your “secret formula”?
Our “secret” is that we’re product-first, but deeply protocol-aware. We’ve built vaults, rewards, and IQ/SBT systems as one fluid loop. Other protocols aggregate strategies. We aggregate outcomes: yield + identity + reputation + rewards.
Business Model and Sustainability
Bitcoinist: How is your business model structured? How do the protocol commissions ensure the development of TONYield?
The business model is actually built around rewarding our users, those we participate are able to earn fees earned on the platform… Right now, the platform only charges a standard incentive fee and a facilitation fee. We removed the streaming fee entirely for now as we want users to gain more rewards.
Bitcoinist: Are there any plans to launch your own TONYield token? If so, what role will it play?
Yes. The token will be used for governance, vault boosts, and access to exclusive products. Holding LVLQ will also unlock future perks via SBTs and IQ point tiers—blending utility and gamification.
Token holders will have control over rewards incentives distribution, fees shares and strategy proposals. Fees generated will go back to users, token holders and reinvested back into the project.
Team and Development
Bitcoinist: What was the biggest challenge the team faced in launching TONYield and what lesson did you learn?
The biggest challenge was building cross-chain logic into a new chain like TON without EVM compatibility. We had to rethink core architecture, but it taught us to build modularly—something that now lets us deploy across TAC, TON, and beyond seamlessly.
Bitcoinist: What are the most exciting items in your roadmap for the next 6-12 months?
- Deployment on TAC and integration with EVM capital
- Cross-chain swaps and EVM liquidity flowing into TON seamlessly for users.
- Launch of smart vaults and institutional strategies
- Onboarding $100M+ in TVL through strategic partnerships
- Launching our token and SBT system
Community and Marketing
Bitcoinist: How important is community to you? How do you use feedback from users to improve TONYield?
Community is everything. We run quests, test vaults with power users, and use Telegram polls and feedback loops for product tweaks. The IQ system itself was born from community suggestions. We treat users as co-builders.
Looking to the Future and Industry
Bitcoinist: What trends in DeFi at TON (LSTfi, restacking, etc.) seem most promising to you and how does TONYield plan to capitalize on them?
LSTfi and restaking will be huge. We’re already integrating stTON and plan to launch restaking vaults. Our vaults are flexible by design—we can rotate into new meta strategies instantly.
Bitcoinist: Final question, what is the most important thing people should know about TONYield right now?
We’re not just another DeFi protocol—we’re building the yield layer for Telegram. TONYield is where DeFi meets distribution. If you want to earn yield without complexity, this is your gateway.
Conclusion
TONYield isn’t just another DeFi project—it’s building the yield layer for Telegram’s billion-user ecosystem. By abstracting away complexity and deeply integrating with TON-native protocols, TONYield is creating a financial experience where users don’t need to understand DeFi to benefit from it.
As Sachin puts it, “We’re where DeFi meets distribution.” If you’re ready to earn yield without the friction, TONYield is your gateway to the future of Web3 finance.
