TON Jettons

TON Jettons are the standard interface for fungible tokens on the TON blockchain. The standard defines a master‑wallet architecture where each token has a single master contract and every holder has an individual wallet contract that stores their balance.

Overview#

The Jetton standard was introduced on August 24, 2022 in TEP‑74 and published on GitHub. It specifies two smart contracts written in FunC and Tact:

Master contract – stores total supply, token metadata (name, symbol, logo, decimals, etc.), the bytecode of the wallet contract, and a mint function if permitted.
Wallet contract – deployed per holder, enabling transfers, burning, and balance queries.

Developers can deploy a Jetton either by writing custom contracts or by using no‑code services such as TON Minter or TON Raffles, which guide users through a form to set the token’s parameters.

Jettons are primarily traded on TON‑based DEXes STON.fi and DeDust, with some listings on centralized exchanges. Token ratings are displayed in the TON App.

Transfer Mechanics#

When a holder sends Jettons, the process works as follows:

The sender’s wallet contract receives a message that reduces its balance.
It forwards an internal message to the recipient’s wallet contract, which increases the recipient’s balance.
If the recipient does not yet have a wallet contract, it is created automatically during the transfer.

This distributed balance storage contrasts with ERC‑20, where a single contract holds all balances, reducing single‑point congestion in TON’s sharded environment.

Jetton Types#

Wrapped Tokens

Tokens whose value is backed by another asset held as collateral. Examples include WTON, jUSDT, jUSDC, and jWBTC. Wrapped Jettons enable cross‑chain transfers, DEX trading, and DAO voting without incurring the fees of the original blockchain.

Memecoins

Novelty or speculative tokens created for community engagement. Notable examples are Notcoin and Arbuz, which gained large audiences through viral Telegram games before being issued as Jettons.

Utility Tokens

Tokens that grant access to platform services. Current utility Jettons include JetTon (gaming), Web3 TON Token (payment for TON DNS domains), and TRIBE (content monetization).

Differences from ERC‑20#

Feature	TON Jettons	ERC‑20 (Ethereum)
Balance storage	Individual wallet contracts per holder	Single contract stores all balances
Transfer method	Interaction between two wallet contracts	Single `transfer` call on master contract
Additional payload	Optional data and Toncoin can be attached	Not supported by the standard
Burning	Dedicated `burn` method with master‑contract notification	Transfer to a dead address
Balance visibility during transfer	Recipient balance updates in the next block	Updated atomically within the same block
Centralized control	Master contract cannot freeze all balances	Owner can freeze or blacklist accounts

The decentralized architecture of Jettons makes it impossible for the master‑contract owner to block all token balances in a single transaction, enhancing security compared to some ERC‑20 implementations.

Mintless Jettons#

Mintless Jettons extend the standard to distribute tokens without an on‑chain mint step. The process uses an off‑chain Merkle tree that lists recipients and their allocated amounts:

A Merkle tree is generated and stored off‑chain (e.g., IPFS).
Recipients submit a Merkle proof to prove entitlement.
The contract verifies the proof and mints the tokens to the recipient’s wallet on first claim.

During development, a test token Mintless Points was airdropped to 18 million TON wallets. The gaming project Hamster Kombat also employs this airdrop mechanism.