In this article, we trace the origins of the Telegram crypto network to what is known today as the TON blockchain.
We then delve deeper into the technical characteristics of this project, highlighting all the dynamics that led it to success in the web3 sector.
Let’s see everything in detail below.
Telegram and the first (failed) approach to the crypto world in 2017
Telegram’s first encounter with the crypto world was in 2017, when social media founders began exploring new solutions in the blockchain space.
At that time, there was no cryptographic network capable of supporting all of the platform’s user traffic, estimated in billions of units.
Pavel and Nikolai Durov, founding brothers and owners of Telegram, decided after a year of research to launch their own project.
In 2018, blockchain known as “Open Telegram Network» is revealed, with the GRAM token (later renamed TON).
The latter resource, sold publicly through an ICO, was launched as a form of venture capital funding for the company.
In short, with the profits from the public sale, the Telegram team would have enriched its servers and services intended for the crypto sector.
More than 80% of the funds raised were to be spent on equipment, bandwidth, co-location and user verification costs.
The problem arose when, just 2 years later, the Durov brothers were forced to leave the project following a injunction from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The American regulator detected in the activity of Russian entrepreneurs the presence of a public offer 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 investors, amounting to approximately $1.7 billion.
TON’s open source blockchain is born
As mentioned, the initial Telegram project was abandoned by the founders themselves and the new crypto GRAM ended up in obscurity.
However, between 2018 and 2020, social media has made great progress in the design of The Open Network blockchain network, also reaching important milestones.
Until the SEC sanction arrived, the product had been improved several times. The development team released a lightweight version of the blockchain network client, posted full source code for the nodes on Github, and launched a testnet.
With the crypto network almost ready to make its market debut, the founders of Telegram thought it was wise to decentralize the project.
All codes were distributed in an open source manner to developers, just as Tesla had done a few years earlier with the liberalization of patents on electric cars.
From there was born what we all know as the TON blockchain, although it retained the name Telegram Open Network.
GRAM was renamed TON (Toncoin), the only difference was that the token was no longer controlled by the company itself, but had become a free resource.
This transition led to radical change. From a centralized initiative linked to a corporate entity to a decentralized project managed by the community.
This change allowed Telegram to evolve independently, continuing to grow and innovate in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Currently, the crypto network is known for its extraordinary transaction processing capacity.
Crypto Network Features: Integration and Scalability with Telegram App
With the launch of Telegram’s crypto network in 2020, several very interesting technical implementations were inaugurated.
Its architecture presents several avant-garde characteristics, such as the use of a dynamic partitioning mechanism.
This feature allows the blockchain to handle transaction processing load more efficiently, resulting in high-performance scalability.
In addition, the developers of the Telegram community have implemented a instant routing mechanism that ensures rapid propagation through the network.
This means minimizing latency and improving the end-user experience.
Also worth noting is the presence in Ton of a particular Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus mechanism called “Consensus on the capture chain“.
This model guarantees reliability in achieving distributed consensus, thus contributing to ethical behavior on the part of the node structure.
Very important to also mention the presence in this sense of Proof of Stake which makes it possible to maintain 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 the execution of smart contracts and provides an operational framework for the development of dapps.
One of the most interesting aspects, however, is its perfect integration with the Telegram messaging application.
The network was in fact designed to be complementary to the structure of social media, being able to adapt to its high performance.
The TON crypto plays a fundamental role in this area: it represents the gas token of the chain as well as the currency used for payments.
Users can send and receive Toncoin directly in the Telegram app, through a very simple and intuitive process.
The same resource is used to reassure the network through staking, as well as to tip content creators and developers. Payments can also be made via a bot, thanks to features like Telegram Stars.
The majestic growth of Telegram’s crypto ecosystem in 2024
Although the Telegram crypto network was officially launched in 2020, it was not until 2024 that it reached true mainstream adoption.
After some marketing efforts, Foundation managed to attract a good user base to the network, becoming the 20th channel in terms of total value locked (TVL).
For example, in February 2024, Telegram decided to share 50% of its advertising profits with channel owners via TON payments.
This helped elevate TON crypto, bringing it to mainstream attention, given its newfound utility.
Last March, the team announced 30 million TON in community rewards, worth $115 million.
Additionally, in April, the stablecoin USDT was integrated into the network, providing users with a new onboarding resource.
The real success, however, came with the introduction of games to win based on Telegram. Games like Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have created a lot of engagement given the opportunity to earn free money.
Their success has allowed this trend to grow, attracting hundreds of millions of players to a blockchain product.
This is a real record of the number of users: no blockchain until now had managed to bring such traffic.
Today TONNE emerges as one of the most promising chains in the crypto landscape, potentially capable of achieving mass adoption.
