Affluent Launches DeFi App on Telegram for Crypto Investing

Former TON Foundation Director Justin Hyun has launched Affluent, a new decentralized finance (DeFi) application on Telegram. This innovative app aims to bring DeFi services directly into the Telegram messaging ecosystem, offering users an easy way to invest in cryptocurrencies using smart contracts and expert guidance. Affluent is built on The Open Network (TON) and utilizes vaults to manage funds, providing users with lending pools and crypto yield strategies integrated within the Telegram interface.

Affluent is designed to target both retail savers and institutional liquidity providers, leveraging Telegram’s vast user base to simplify crypto savings for retail users and offer deep liquidity access for institutional players. The app aims to transform Telegram into a financial super app, similar to WeChat, by blending messaging, payments, and financial services in a single user environment. This integration sidesteps many of the usability challenges that have hindered broader DeFi adoption, allowing Telegram users to access lending and yield products without leaving the app.

The core feature of the platform is the Strategy Vault. This system uses smart contracts to automatically distribute user assets across multiple lending markets. This setup enhances returns and balances risk, giving users a streamlined experience backed by human decision-making. Deposits are made through a simple Telegram interface, allowing even novice users to grow wealth with minimal steps. Founder Justin Hyun emphasized the app’s mission to deliver trustless asset management in a user-friendly way.

Affluent’s co-founder Hyung Lee, known for his background in traditional options trading, contributed to the app’s design by blending risk-management tools from traditional finance with blockchain automation. The result is a hybrid system where smart contracts handle execution while institutions guide performance and oversight. According to Lee, the app introduces a modular approach to asset management. Users can earn interest by depositing funds in a single tap, with the underlying structure combining traditional finance safeguards and DeFi scalability. This model positions Affluent as a next-generation financial tool aiming to serve both retail and institutional users.

Affluent also addresses key DeFi risks. Hyun confirmed the platform uses isolated lending pools, which localize potential bad debt events to individual pools, protecting the broader protocol. The platform blends traditional finance risk tools with DeFi yields and has passed audits for security and user safety. The project, co-founded by Justin Hyun and Hyung Lee of DeFi R&D group B-Harvest, officially launched on June 16, 2025. Affluent introduces a points program to incentivize users for various activities, starting with deposits into the TON multiply vault. The app offers a range of features, including a USDT Multiply Vault for stablecoin-denominated delta-neutral engines, Strategy Vaults composable with BTC, Gold, U.S. Treasury, and Tokenized Private Credit, and the ability to make payments directly from vault tokens.

Although Telegram distanced itself from TON after regulatory issues, the platform formally backed TON. This endorsement has accelerated development across the TON ecosystem, with Affluent marking a notable step forward in integrating DeFi into Telegram’s daily user experience. The launch of Affluent represents a significant milestone in the evolution of DeFi, bringing trustless asset management to a platform with over 900 million users and positioning the app as a “smart bank for crypto.”