A pioneer of some of the challenges frequently associated with the use of digital communication, and experimentation in online transactions include; privacy challenges, slow transaction times and high fees respectively.
Current social media and messaging platforms are designed with little to no emphasis on privacy or security of the communication happening through them, and existing solutions built on the principles of blockchain have severe drawbacks in terms of cost, efficiency, and practicality for everyday use.
Spring forth the Telegram Open Network, or TON for short. TON is a groundbreaking blockchain platform designed by the developers of Telegram, an application that has probably entered every second person’s life around the world. This is intended to work in symbiosis with Telegram so that both messaging and payments can take place on a fast, safe, and quickly scalable platform.
TON combines all the features necessary to address the various problems hindering effective digital communication and transactions.
Indeed, TON blockchain technology permits processing millions of transactions in a few seconds with reduced costs, so it can be used for micro- and macro-payments.
Usability and security: it has strong security measures that guarantee users’ confidentiality and information exchange.
Also, it enhances the concept of leveraging blockchain technology since we can interact with TON right during the chat on Telegram such performance, security, and accessibility of a fast-growing platform reveals TON as a groundbreaking project in the era of digital messaging and blockchain solutions.
What is Telegram Open Network (TON)?
The Telegram Open Network (TON) is a blockchain platform created to upscale messaging and payment capabilities on Telegram. It constructs an environment for digital transactions and communication that will be fast, safe, and scalable.
Key Features of Telegram Open Network (TON)
Telegram Open Network (TON) stands out due to its:
- Transaction Speed: Millions of transactions can be processed within seconds.
- Security Measures: Protection of users’ confidentiality and exchange of information is secured.
- Scalability: It can support a vast number of users and transactions with easy scaling.
History of TON
This is the ripe outcome process of TON, which began when the development team behind Telegram Messenger looked for a blockchain solution that would be compatible with their instant messaging platform. Led by Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the project generals launched TON and its cryptocurrency, ‘Gram,’ in 2018, following up with the raising of $1.7 billion through the sale of tokens.
After legal wrangles with the US SEC that led to a settlement with the cessation of this project by Telegram, development went independently into the hands of dedicated developers. Development of TON Right after the exit of Telegram, independent developers Anatoliy Makosov and Kirill Emelyanenko picked up the project under the auspices of the TON Foundation and with fidelity to the vision, viewing milestone events in its prospects.
How does TON work?
The Open Network uses a combination of a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, sharding, and a virtual machine to ensure that it is fast, flexible, and cost-effective. Because of this, Telegram Open Network (TON) claims it can support millions of users and process millions of transactions per second.
At the time of this video, the highest record is from 2021 when it processed 55,000 transactions per second. Sharding, a newer approach to scalability, splits the network into interconnected pieces that still run independently, allowing multiple transactions to run in parallel.
TON also implements dynamic sharding, which means the network is able to split or merge these pieces depending on the network’s load. And let’s not forget TON’s virtual machine, which is bringing some new concepts to the table.
Take for example, that TON’s fee model charges the contract developer instead of users to fund operations. Each smart contract holds a TON token balance, which it uses to pay for its own resource costs. Another example is the asynchronous architecture that the TON network uses to process multiple transactions independently from each other.
Why is TON different?
Why is TON different? At the top of the list is the network’s ability to connect with Telegram’s large user base. In 2022, the application had over 700 million monthly active users and projects to have over 1 billion by the end of 2023. Since day one, seamlessly bridging blockchain technologies and distributed services to the everyday user was part of the whitepaper.
One key step in this is the integration of the self-custodial TON-based crypto wallet to the platform, where users can now send, receive, buy, and swap Toncoin directly within Telegram.
Following the announcement at the Token2049 event in Singapore this year, the price of $TON increased by nearly 7% and continued to climb up to 43% over the next few days – however at the time of shooting it has returned a fair bit of its gains. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
TON’s ecosystem also boasts a lineup of game-changers, including TON Storage for decentralized file storage, TON Proxy to safeguard your IP, and TON DNS to rename your TON wallet address to human-readable names. But it doesn’t end there. You can also use TON Payments for seamless transactions, and TON Bridge to connect with different blockchain networks. And just like that, crypto would become that much more accessible to the masses through a simple messaging platform that as Telegram.
Telegram’s ambitious plans seem to mimic WeChat’s, and many have taken notice. After all, WeChat, with well over 1 billion monthly active users, earned the title of the first super-app when it seamlessly integrated instant messaging with a digital wallet, and then further expanded its list of available services to include games, live streams, e-commerce, and more. If that’s the case then TON and Telegram have quite the journey ahead of them.