Why TON Tokens Get “Lost”: Jetton Notification

This week, two tokens on the TON blockchain — Notcoin and DOGS — made headlines by entering the Guinness World Records. No, not for any blockchain innovation, but for a record-breaking drone show over the skies of Dubai.

Still, the spotlight on this event is likely to draw new attention to the TON ecosystem — including its tokens. And that’s great… unless your first experience with them ends in confusion.

At rabbit.io, we’ve seen it happen.

Imagine this: a user decides to withdraw their USDT (on the TON blockchain) to an exchange or swap service. They copy the destination address, send the tokens using their wallet — and wait. Five minutes pass. Ten. Still nothing.

“Did I lose my tokens?”

They reach out to support, only to learn the transaction did go through — but it wasn’t picked up by the system.

Why? Because the transfer was missing something called a Jetton Notification.

At this point, most users react with disbelief: “Wait, I’m not new to crypto! I’ve transferred tokens across Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon — never needed a notification before!”

And they’re right. This isn’t common in other chains. But it is critical in TON.

In fact, we’ve had several long-time rabbit.io users run into this exact problem. People who had used our platform multiple times, knew our flow was fast and smooth, and came back expecting the same seamless experience. But this time, they were moving Jettons through TON — and got stuck in the unexpected.

Let’s unpack what Jettons are, what this mysterious notification does, and why things work a little differently in TON.

What Are Jettons, and Why Do They Need Notifications?

Every asset issued on the TON blockchain (apart from the native Toncoin) is built using a standard called Jetton — somewhat similar to ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum. In simple terms, Jettons are custom tokens governed by smart contracts.

But there’s a twist.

Instead of keeping balances in a single central contract like ERC-20, the TON architecture gives each user their own smart contract wallet (called a Jetton Wallet), which manages their balance independently. Think of it like this. You hold your Toncoin in your own wallet. But Jettons are stored and managed by dedicated little robot-butlers — smart contracts that act on your behalf. They can’t steal from you or misuse your tokens — but they only do what they’re told.

So how does a token transfer work?

Let’s say Alice wants to send 1 USDT (a Jetton) to Bob.

• Her Jetton Wallet — her token-managing robot — sends a message to Bob’s Jetton Wallet, transferring the token.
• The transaction is written to the blockchain: the token leaves Alice’s balance and enters Bob’s.
• But unless instructed otherwise, Bob never gets notified.

This is what we call a bare transfer — no extra data, no follow-up message, no “Hey Bob, you just got 1 USDT!” The transfer is real. The balance updates. But unless Bob checks manually, he may never know it happened.

Here’s where Jetton Notification comes in.

• When a user adds a small message (for example, a text comment) and includes a tiny amount of TON to cover the fee, something important happens: the recipient’s Jetton Wallet not only accepts the tokens — it also sends a message to its owner.
• This special incoming message to the recipient’s main wallet is known as a Jetton transfer notification.
• Technically, this is an internal message with the operation code 0x7362d09c, and it acts as a signal: “Tokens have arrived.”

The difference is significant:

• With Jetton Notification, the recipient is explicitly alerted that tokens have been received.
• Without it, there’s no signal — just a silent balance update.

To trigger a notification, the sender must attach:

• at least a tiny amount of TON (to pay for gas),
• and optionally a comment or payload (even a single character is enough).

According to the TON standard, even 1 nanoton (0.000000001 TON) is sufficient to cover this — just enough for the recipient’s Jetton Wallet to send out the notification message.

In other words: to make sure the recipient knows the tokens have arrived, the sender has to “tip” the Jetton Wallet with a speck of TON and a note.

If that doesn’t happen — if the sender skips the TON fee — then technically the tokens still arrive. They are now held by the recipient’s Jetton Wallet. But unless the recipient checks the blockchain manually (via an explorer), they may not even realize it.

For a regular user, this can be confusing. For a crypto service — like an exchange or swap platform — it’s worse: their automated system simply won’t detect the deposit at all.

Why Exchanges and Swap Services Don’t See Transfers Without Notifications

Businesses using the TON blockchain — online stores, exchanges, swap services, and so on — rely heavily on automated systems to detect incoming payments. These systems are built to monitor incoming messages to specific addresses.

In simple terms, the system keeps asking: “Did this wallet receive a message about a token transfer?”

If such a message arrives, the system reads it: which token, how much, who sent it — and instantly credits the user’s account.

But if the transfer was sent without Jetton Notification, no incoming message is generated. The tokens arrive silently. The automated script has nothing to catch — because there was no message to detect.

It’s like this: imagine a courier brings you a package, but instead of ringing the bell, he just hands it to your robot butler without saying anything. And your butler? He only acts when instructed. If no one told him to alert you — he stays silent.

And so, the deposit enters a sort of limbo. The system doesn’t “see” it — so it never gets processed.

That’s why the TON Foundation strongly recommends that all services sending Jetton tokens enable Jetton Notification by default. Otherwise, recipients (especially business services) simply can’t process the incoming transaction properly.

This requirement has already become a de facto standard in the TON ecosystem: “If you’re sending a Jetton — you include a notification.”

Newcomers, however, often fall into this trap. If their wallet gives them the option to send the tokens without paying the tiny extra fee, they usually take it — why spend more than necessary?

But what happens is this: the “courier” (the sender’s Jetton Wallet) gets paid only for the delivery, not for passing along the message to the recipient’s butler (the Jetton Wallet on the other side). And so it does exactly what it was paid for — nothing more.

As a result, the exchange, store, or service never learns that a transfer took place. And the user ends up having to contact support and resolve the issue manually — a process that could’ve been avoided entirely.

Similar Issues in Other Blockchains

This whole situation with Jetton Notifications may seem confusing — even unique to TON. But in fact, similar quirks exist in many other blockchain ecosystems. They just appear in different forms:

Bitcoin Ordinals (rare sats)

In 2023, the Bitcoin community saw the rise of Ordinals — a way to attach NFT-like data to individual satoshis. These uniquely tagged coins are often called rare sats.

But here’s the catch. The Bitcoin protocol itself doesn’t distinguish a rare sat from an ordinary one. The tagging and indexing happen on a higher layer.

So if you send one of these rare sats using a standard Bitcoin transaction to an exchange, the platform will treat it as just BTC. The special Ordinal data will likely be lost forever.

Special assets require special handling. Just like Ordinals require special wallets and tools, Jetton tokens on TON need to be sent with proper notification.

Memos and Destination Tags

Anyone who has used XRP, XLM, or even Toncoin itself on exchanges knows about memos or destination tags. These are small identifiers you must include when sending to a shared deposit address.

If you forget to add the memo or tag, the funds still arrive — but the exchange has no way to link them to your account. Your tokens just sit there until you open a support ticket.

Jetton Notifications work similarly. A comment or payload added to the transaction (even a single dot or letter) both identifies the context and technically triggers the notification. Without it, the recipient’s system may not recognize or process the deposit.

Ethereum and Token Visibility

Ethereum has its own quirks too.

If your wallet doesn’t have a specific token configured for display, you might not even know you received it — until you check Etherscan.

Scammers have used this behavior to their advantage: they send freshly minted tokens to the wallets of high-profile holders (“whales”) to trick on-chain observers. An inexperienced user might think, “Wow, this whale just bought this token — I should ape in too!” But the whale might not even know the token is there — because their wallet isn’t showing it.

All of these examples show the same core truth. Every blockchain has its own token-handling rules. If you ignore them, things break.

How to Avoid Issues with Jetton Notification

So, what can you do to make sure your Jetton transfer on TON doesn’t get stuck or go unnoticed? Here are a few practical tips:

1. Always include a memo (comment) when sending Jettons to an exchange or swap service.

Most TON wallets offer a “Comment” or “Memo” field when you send tokens. Even a single character — like a dot or a letter — is enough. When you add that, the wallet will automatically include the required 1 nanoton fee to generate a Jetton Notification.

Even though the comment itself might never be taken into account by the merchant, the notification will — and that’s what matters.

2. Test with a small amount first.

If the recipient asks you not to include a comment for some reason, or if you’re unsure whether you’re doing everything right — send a small test transfer. Wait to see if it gets credited properly before sending the full amount.

This small precaution can save you from big stress.

3. Use reliable wallets.

Modern TON wallets like Tonkeeper, Tonhub, and MyTonWallet already handle this well. In most cases, they automatically add the necessary TON fee and payload when you’re sending tokens.

But if you’re using custom scripts or older wallet apps, be careful — you might need to set the forward_ton_amount and payload manually. The official TON developer docs make this clear to ensure the recipient receives a Jetton Notification, add 1 nanoton and construct a proper forward_payload (i.e., a comment or message).

4. If the issue has already occurred — act.

Let’s say you used rabbit.io, sent Jettons without notification, and the transaction didn’t go through automatically.

Don’t panic.

Gather the details transaction hash, timestamp, sender and receiver addresses — and reach out to the support team. In most cases, they’ll be able to locate your “lost” deposit manually. Still, that takes time. And it may even incur a handling fee — so it’s much better to prevent the issue in the first place.

Conclusion

Jetton Notification isn’t some optional extra or hidden fee — it’s a core part of how the TON token ecosystem works.

Once you understand how transfers are structured on TON, it becomes clear simply “sending tokens to an address” isn’t enough for the system to register a deposit.

TON is an asynchronous, modular blockchain. Transferring tokens here is more like a conversation between smart contracts — and if you don’t explicitly tell the contract to notify the recipient, they may never know that the conversation took place.

Fortunately, the solution is simple — and takes just a few seconds.

Just follow your wallet’s suggestions and the instructions provided by your exchange or swap platform:

• Add a memo or comment.
• Include the tiniest amount of TON for gas.

With that, your transaction will be picked up instantly by automated systems.
No delays. No support tickets. No stress.