Toncoin price outlook amid vote to freeze 20% of supply

• Toncoin price is around $2.36 as of 9:15 am ET, with TON up only 1.2% in the past 24 hours.
• TON blockchain validators are set to vote on a propol to freeze up to 1 billion coins.
• Reducing TON circulating supply could help price momentum in the short term amid fresh buying pressure.

Toncoin price is largely flat on Tuesday morning, with the coin’s value only 1.2% and 2.7% higher in the past week and 30 days respectively.

The price of TON, the native coin on The Open Network (TON) blockchain, was around $2.06 on 10 February, before rising to highs above $2.40 as the broader market rallied this past week. However, today’s price action has seen the coin decline to test lows of $2.34 – again amid a broader market slowdown that has Bitcoin bulls battling to keep BTC above $24,500. 

So, what’s the outlook for Toncoin price?

TON price prediction ahead of key vote on token supply

TON validators are set to vote on a major proposal around Toncoin’s tokenomics, particularly on freezing billions of TON tokens.

💎 TON’s tokenomics optimization

On Feb. 21, on @ton_blockchain the validators will vote on a proposal to optimize tokenomics. If the proposal is accepted, the circulating supply of Toncoin will be reduced by ~20% by freezing it for the next 48 months and then unfreezing it. pic.twitter.com/MXwWjt7YAZ

— Tonstarter (@ton_starter) February 20, 2023

This proposal aims at reducing the coin’s circulating supply by 20% if it passes.  If validators adopt the proposal, 1 billion TON tokens will be frozen for the next 48 months. In doing so, the total supply will drop to roughly 4 billion, while circulating supply shrinks from the current 1.47 billion.

TON developers’ proposal targets inactive accounts belonging to the layer-1 blockchain’s first group of miners. The team hopes the move will help bring more decentralisation to the project as freezing the inactive large wallets will ostensibly remove the control of the early whales.

The plan is to have these large whales lock their assets for 48 months through a network of validators, which would still see them earn more Toncoin.  But according to the proposal, only whales holding 300,000 TON or more will be able to lock their coins, which at current prices of $2.36, is equivalent to just over $708,000. 

Large whales who don’t have such holdings can join a pool and stake their TON.

Toncoin price in 2023

As noted below by the trading platform Dash 2 Trade, Toncoin price has not made an explosive start to 2023 as have some of the leading coins in the market. 

📰3/ $TON Validators to Vote on Freezing 20% of #Toncoin Supply.
✔️The proposal could freeze 1 billion #Toncoins.
✔️The project is aiming for greater #Decentralization.
✔️ $TON prices have been flat for a month or so.

— Dash 2 Trade (@dash2_trade) February 21, 2023

But with the locking of 1 billion TON tokens, the short-term price movement could be on the upside. Cutting token supply through various methods as part of the tokenomics is largely seen as a positive for the price.

If this is the case, bulls could be looking at retesting $2.55 and then December highs of $2.66 in the short term. 

However, any upside momentum could also depend on the overall market outlook in coming months. Also key is the locking period for TON being set for 48 months, which could mean prices rise then flip once coins begin to be unlocked.

TON is also 55% down from its all-time high of $5.29 reached in November 2021.