.png)
What you need to know about TON by Telegram in 2023
TON is riding a fresh wave of popularity following the debut of its wallet feature on Telegram. But this spotlight moment overshadows the project's arduous and often under-appreciated trek towards triumph.
The Story of TON
The Telegram team birthed The Open Network (TON), with big plans for its native currency, Gram.
Back in 2018, the folks at Telegram kicked off their initial coin offering (ICO) and it was a hit, drawing nearly $3 billion in the first round.
The next year saw the launch of the TON testnet, a handy network browser, and code for running a full node. They were all set to roll out the main network by November 2019.
But then, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stepped in. Since the ICO included U.S. investors, it fell under Uncle Sam's jurisdiction.
The SEC spotted some issues with how the tokens were sold. Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, chose to shut down the project instead of fighting the SEC's restraining order.
The Dream Behind TON
The goal was simple: weave TON seamlessly into a user-friendly app. This app would let folks buy, send, and store digital assets easily.
Users would pay a fee for transactions and use TON for settling or confirming these transactions.
The team envisioned a platform offering speedy, transparent, and secure payment services. The dream included transactions at minimal costs and the ability to sidestep third-party apps.
The mission was ambitious – create a whole ecosystem packed with decentralized storage, services, a domain system much like DNS, an anonymous network, an instant payment setup, and efficient transaction handling.
The TON Structure
At its heart, the TON crypto project is a quartet:
- The foundational layer-1 blockchain.
- TON DNS for domain names.
- TON storage solutions.
- TON-powered websites.
Toncoin (TON) is the native currency tying the project together.
It's the go-to for paying fees and making transactions, not to mention a way to earn through staking.
The TON site is a one-stop shop, featuring:
- Wallets that work with TON.
- Services for trading Toncoin.
- Staking essentials.
- TON-based payment setups.
There's also an app explorer, a bridge to connect The Open Network with .ton domains, and a TON stats browser.
You can find all these under the Learn tab on their official website.
The Telegram Connection
TON is the brainchild of the Telegram crypto initiative, which couldn't see the light of day because of regulatory hiccups.
The project's blueprints were public, prompting several dev teams to take them and run with them – The Open Network team included.
Telegram's nod to TON is evident. The messaging app even used TON's blockchain tech to start a service for short domain names.
The crypto wallet feature made its Telegram debut in January 2022 through a namesake bot – but it was a bit of an exclusive club at first.
By 2022, Telegram also let users hawk usernames and IDs via the Fragment platform, built on TON's tech. The auctions were wild, selling $120 million in digital goodies, with some items like secret Telegram numbers skyrocketing in value by 27 times in just nine months.
Now, the wallet's nestled into Telegram as a mini-app, ready to use via the @wallet bot. It's a full-service feature, allowing you to buy, sell, swap, and ship cryptocurrency straight to your contacts. And they promise to treat your personal data with the utmost respect.
TON Speed
TON shatters records and hits 100,000 transactions per second in performance test
Let's compared top 16 blockchains sorted by TPS (Transactions Per Second)
- Toncoin: 104,715 TPS
- Solana (SOL): 59,400 TPS
- Polygon (MATIC) L2: 7,000 TPS
- Avalanche (AVAX): 4,500 TPS
- BNB Smart Chain: 2,200 TPS
- TRON (TRX): 2,000 TPS
- Ripple (XRP): 1,500 TPS
- Polkadot (DOT): 1,000 TPS
- Monero (XMR): 1,000 TPS
- Cardano (ADA): 250 TPS
- Stellar (XLM): 200 TPS
- Bitcoin Cash: 130 TPS
- Litecoin (LTC) L2: 56 TPS
- Dogecoin: 33 TPS
- Ethereum: 20 TPS
- Bitcoin: 7 TPS
