TON Leads Crypto Majors as BTC, ETH Remain Flat

• TON led gains in the crypto market on Monday as HashKey announced a partnership with popular GameFi project Catizen.
• DYDX is also up as traders continue to be optimistic about weekly gains in its volume.

Bitcoin BTC$102,731.45, ether ETH$3,519.22 and most other crypto majors were flat in Asia as the region's business week began, with the CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the largest digital assets, down 0.43%.

One of the highlights of the Monday session was TON, the digital asset associated with Telegram. The token was up 5.6% as HashKey announced a partnership with the project.

HashKey will offer regulatory guidance, technical support for Catizen's blockchain infrastructure operations, and collaborate on initiatives within the Ton ecosystem to enhance Catizen's gaming experiences, a press release reads. Catizen is a Telegram-based, gaming platform with multiple cat themed mini games.

"[We'll] focus on the TON ecosystem to offer unique Web3 gaming experiences, fostering the prosperity and development of the TON ecosystem," Ben El-Baz, Managing Director of HashKey Global said in an e-mail. "Leveraging Telegram’s advantage to attract more developers represents a significant opportunity for TON."

Tim Wong, Chairman of the Catizen Foundation, also added in an emailed statement that Catizen seeks to transcend the short lifecycles of typical games by leveraging Web3's untapped potential, aiming to create a lasting impact through a strong community and the fusion of experienced game developers with skilled Web3 designers.

"In many projects with incomplete product models, crypto accelerates their decline. However, in a project with a comprehensive business model, crypto can be the core support that sustains upward development," Wong wrote. "This is because the user base and the Catizen ecosystem are continually reinforced by robust token incentives."

Elsewhere, DYDX is up 5.6% as the decentralized exchange continues to post gains in its weekly trading volume.