TON Coin: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cryptocurrency Linked to Telegram

TON, a Layer-1 blockchain partnered with Telegram, has firmly joined the onboarding race, eyeing Telegram's massive Monthly Active Users (MAUs)

Enter Toncoin and Telegram

Layer-1 blockchain TON, in partnership with Telegram, has officially joined the onboarding race, eyeing the massive Monthly Active Users (MAUs) of Telegram as an enticing distribution channel. The TON Foundation has outlined an ambitious goal of onboarding approximately 500 million people to crypto by 2028. This number is multiple times larger than the current crypto user base in its entirety. While TON states that 500 million users represent only 30% of Telegram’s projected MAUs, half a billion is a significant number that raises skepticism about how they’ll achieve such a feat and whether it is even possible.

What is Toncoin?

Toncoin is a cryptocurrency trading under the ticker TON. It primarily serves as a settlement token within a much broader ecosystem called the Open Network. Understanding the Open Network is vital first, making it easier to comprehend the role of Toncoin (TON) crypto within the said network.

History of The Open Network

Telegram Open Network (TON) was launched by Telegram co-founders Pavel and Nikolai Durov in 2018 to fund Telegram’s operations. The network raised $1.7 billion through the sale of its native token, GRAM. By late 2018, they introduced the TON Virtual Machine and two test networks.

In October 2019, the U.S. SEC sued Telegram, resulting in a 2020 settlement where Telegram returned $1.2 billion to investors and paid an $18.5 million penalty. Telegram stopped working on TON but released its code on GitHub, allowing other groups to continue its development. This led to three independent projects: Free TON (later Everscale), New TON, and TON Community Blockchain.

Evolution of New TON

New TON was founded in May 2020 by Anatoliy Makosov and Kiril Emelyanenko and has since grown into a team of over 40 open-source developers known as the TON Foundation. In May 2021, they renamed the original test network released by Telegram as The Open Network (TON) Mainnet. The TON Foundation has been maintaining and developing the original TON code as an independent community project, aiming to create a fully decentralized internet.

In September 2023, the TON Foundation became a Swiss non-profit organization to enhance its credibility and accountability. That same month, they announced that TON would be integrated into Telegram’s self-custodial, The TON Space. The launch gave Telegram’s 900 million users (outside the U.S.) seamless access to crypto purchasing and holding services.