In this article, we trace the origins of Telegram’s crypto network, to what we know today as the TON blockchain.
We then delve into the technical features of this project, highlighting all the dynamics that have led to success in the web3 sector.
Let’s look at everything in detail below.
Telegram and the first (failed) approach to the world of crypto in 2017
The first meeting between Telegram and the crypto world dates back to 2017, when the founders of social media started exploring new solutions in the field of blockchain.
At the time, there was essentially no cryptographic network that could support the platform’s entire user traffic, estimated in billions of units.
Pavel and Nikolai Durov, founders and owners of Telegram, decided to launch their own project after a year of research.
In 2018, the blockchain became known as “Telegram Open Network” comes to light, along with the GRAM token (later renamed TON).
The latter resource, sold publicly through an ICO, was launched as a form of venture capital financing for the company.
In short, with the proceeds from the public sale, the Telegram team would have improved its servers and services intended for the crypto sector.
More than 80% of the money raised would be spent on equipment, bandwidth, collocation and user authentication costs.
The problem arose when, just two years later, the Durov brothers were forced to leave the project after an event order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The American regulator had discovered in the activity of the Russian entrepreneurs the presence of a public offering of an unregistered ‘security’.
The SEC fined Telegram $18.5 million and the entire project was (almost) abandoned to make room for other opportunities.
The Durov brothers were also forced to return the money to the ICO’s investors, worth approx $1.7 billion.
TON’s open source blockchain was born
As mentioned, the original Telegram project was abandoned by the founders themselves and the new crypto GRAM ended up in obscurity.
However, from 2018 to 2020, social media had made great progress in designing the blockchain network The Open Network, also achieving important milestones.
Until the SEC’s sanction, the product had been improved several times. The development team had released a lite version of the blockchain network client, published a complete source code for nodes on Github and launched a testnet.
Since the crypto network was practically ready to appear on the market, the founders of Telegram thought it wise to decentralize the project.
All codes have been distributed to developers in an open source manner, just like Tesla did a few years earlier with the liberalization of patents for electric cars.
From there was born what we all know as the TON blockchain, even though it kept the name Telegram Open Network.
GRAM was renamed TON (Tonmint), the only difference being that the token was no longer controlled by the company itself, but had become a free resource.
This transition has led to a radical shift. From a centralized initiative linked to a corporate entity to a decentralized project managed by the community.
This change has allowed Telegram to evolve independently and continue to expand and innovate in the world of cryptocurrencies
Today, the crypto network is known for its extraordinary transaction processing capacity.
Features of the crypto network: integration and scalability with the Telegram app
With the launch of Telegram’s crypto network in 2020, several very interesting technical implementations were inaugurated.
The architecture has several advanced features, such as the use of a dynamic sharding mechanism.
This feature allows the blockchain to manage transaction processing load more efficiently, resulting in high-performance scalability.
Moreover, the developers of the Telegram community have a immediate routing mechanism that guarantees rapid distribution through the network.
This means minimizing latency and improving the end-user experience.
It should also be noted the presence in Ton of a certain Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus mechanism called “Catcha consensus”.
This model ensures reliability in achieving distributed consensus and contributes to ethical behavior on the part of the node structure.
It is very important to also mention the presence in this sense of Proof of Stake, which maintains the integrity of the network in the crypto world.
Just like on Ethereum, the Ton blockchain also has its own virtual machine, called the TON virtual machine (TVM). It is responsible for executing smart contracts and provides an operational framework for dapp development.
However, one of the most interesting aspects is the perfect integration with the messaging app Telegram.
Indeed, the network is designed to be complementary to the structure of social media and adaptable to its high performance.
The crypto TON plays a fundamental role in this area: it represents both the gas token of the chain and the currency used for payments.
Users can send and receive Toncoin directly within the Telegram app, through a very simple and intuitive process.
The same source is used to reassure the network through staking, and to tip content creators and developers. Payments can also be made via bot, thanks to features such as Telegram Stars.
The majestic growth of Telegram’s crypto ecosystem in 2024
Although Telegram’s crypto network was officially launched in 2020, Only from 2024 onwards has it achieved real mainstream acceptance.
After some marketing stunts, the Foundation managed to bring a good user base to the network and became the 20th chain by total value locked (TVL).
For example, in February 2024, Telegram decided to share 50% of its advertising profits with channel owners through payments in TON.
This allowed the crypto TON to be taken to the next level, bringing it to the attention of the general public given its newfound utility.
In March, the team announced the allocation of 30 million tons of rewards to the community, worth $115 million.
Additionally, the stablecoin USDT was integrated into the network in April, providing users with a new onboarding source.
However, the real success came with the introduction of play-to-earn games based on Telegram. Games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have generated a lot of engagement given the opportunity to earn money for free.
Their success has allowed this trend to expand and attract hundreds of millions of players to a blockchain product.
This is a true record in terms of user numbers: no blockchain had managed to generate such traffic until then.
Today TON appears to be one of the most promising chains in the crypto landscape, potentially capable of achieving mass adoption.