Explore the TON Blockchain: its architecture, features, and potential use cases.
Have you bought a TON phone? Or maybe you broke the screen while clicking on Telegram’s Not Coin? Either way, don’t worry if you missed it: projects on TON are just beginning to flourish.
In general perception, TON is simply “Durov’s cryptocurrency,” which differs from hundreds of others only by its connection to Telegram. And if the project started developing outside Telegram after the SEC decision, what makes it interesting at all?
Today we’re going to break down what TON is and why there’s a lot of attention attached to it.
Background of TON
Back in 2018, the Durov brothers published a whitepaper for the first-level blockchain Telegram Open Network (TON). They wanted to move all of Telegram onto their own blockchain architecture. Anonymity, security, and convenient payments were the goals.
At that time, TON was described as a platform for DApp and an alternative to Visa and MasterCard due to its scalability and ability to support millions of transactions per second.
The token was initially named Gram, not TON, and was needed for settlements and fee payments.
To finance Telegram, an ICO was conducted in the same year. They managed to raise a significant amount: $1.7 billion by selling 44% of the issuance.
Then, the SEC, the bane of the crypto world, sued them. The trial lasted six months, and in the end, they told Telegram to shut down the operation and stop issuing tokens. Durov distanced himself, saying he was no longer involved.
As a result, Telegram announced the cessation of work on the TON network and released the source code as open-source, inviting the community to take over. To completely distance from the blockchain, they also allowed tokens to be mined.
During this process, a new mining approach, IPoW, was developed. It combined two consensus algorithms: Proof of Stake and Proof of Work. Daily, 200k TON were mined, continuing for two years until summer 2022.
Current Status of TON
By the way, TON is now worth $4.6 (Nov 6, 2024). Not bad if you managed to mine it.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Difference from other blockchains and the advantage
The project’s fate is interesting, but what is more intriguing is what’s inside TON.
First, the TON blockchain consists of three levels: the master chain, work chains, and shard chains.
The master chain contains general information about the protocol: the number of validators, the set of active work chains, and hashes of the latest blocks.
Work chains are separate blockchains based on the master chain. They can use custom virtual machines, address formats, and transaction formats, as well as their own tokens for transaction fee payments while maintaining compatibility with the main network.
Work chains consist of shard chains, which contain data only about small sets of addresses. Shard chains of one blockchain have the same block formats and operate on the same virtual machine as the “parent” work chain.
Each shard chain is responsible for transactions of its own wallets, each work chain for its shard chains, and the master chain for all work chains. Thanks to compatibility, shard chains can exchange messages with each other, call smart contracts, and transfer tokens.
Shard chaining needs some explanation. Shard chaining is the division of data into independent blocks. The simplest example of shard chaining is a card catalog in a clinic. The administrator quickly finds your card by surname and year of birth – that’s your shard.
How does this work with blockchain?
Blockchain was initially designed to store data in one piece, and the validity of each next block relies on the validity of all previous blocks. The absence of even one block makes the entire chain non-compliant with the network rules. Integrating shard chaining into such a system is a non-trivial task and generally contradicts the logic initially embedded in blockchain.
As a result, while classic blockchains solve the scaling issue with L2 layers, TON can scale without them. For example, when there is a need to improve the convenience, transaction speed, and functionality of Ethereum, a conditional Polygon appears. In contrast, the TON blockchain can expand without needing to create new mini blockchains on its architecture and network.
But that’s not the only reason TON stands apart from others.
TON is the first blockchain I know of where the past can be rewritten. Like with shard chaining, this literally contradicts the very philosophy of blockchain – anyone can view the past, but no one can change it. In TON, you can change past blocks. Imagine you receive tons in your wallet, send merchandise to a person, and then the person cancels their transaction. Even if you have already spent the received money, your expenses will also be canceled.
It sounds scary, but it is stated that for a transaction to be canceled, the consent of absolutely all network validators must be obtained. This actually happens in blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin – there, a global transaction rollback is called a hard fork, but it essentially leads to the creation of a new blockchain where a particular transaction, as it were, did not happen. The most famous incident is the Ethereum fork, when the entire network rolled back the $50 million theft transaction in Ether. Here, the same mechanism is implemented more neatly.
TON even has DNS. Just like Ethereum’s Ethereum Name Service. This allows you to come up with a unique name for your wallet address, reducing the risk of error when transferring money.
Plus, TON decided to become a better version of Dropbox and created TON Storage.
This is a distributed data storage network that aims to be simple and reliable. Essentially, it is an equivalent of torrents, accessible from the blockchain. That is, a smart contract can access data knowing its ID. While this approach has been known for its instability since the days of IPFS (files disappear once there is not a single computer with the file left), the TON team came up with a cool feature. You can create a special smart contract that will pay servers to store the file, thus incentivizing them to keep the file as long as money keeps flowing. Not a 100% guarantee, but definitely better than before.
And let’s not forget! Telegram is a super-confidential messenger. Therefore, the blockchain must also be super confidential.
There are also TON sites and TON proxies. TON sites are sites that are transmitted not through the classic HTTP but through messenger protocols. For the provider’s equipment, it looks like a chat with a friend, not browsing web pages. Why is this necessary? Because this traffic will not be learned to be blocked anytime soon unless they block Telegram entirely. And as we know, no country has succeeded in doing so yet, despite attempts. Distributing your site via TON sites ensures that it can be accessed by anyone in the world. TON proxy is a special program that allows viewing TON sites directly through the browser, as if they were regular sites. Setting it up is a bit tricky, but it’s worth the convenience.
And then there’s TON Payments, an integrated payment processing network for instant transfers, and TON Services, a platform for third-party applications.
Why should you build on TON?
If you haven’t yet rushed to launch your project on TON or move your business to web3 via Telegram, you might at least consider it.
When starting a project, the choice of blockchain is crucial. There are many to choose from, and you can select the best one for a specific task. Recently, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Solana have been the popular choices. They have lower fees and faster networks compared to the old Ethereum, where not much is built now.
TON also has many arguments in its favor. It has a community, grand goals, and can reach the masses through Telegram. They even offer funding! TON Foundation is quite generous with grants.
Let’s break down the reasons to launch on TON:
First, there’s a huge user base thanks to Telegram. The official partnership between TON and Telegram was concluded in September 2023.
💡 The messenger has over 800 million monthly users, and most of them already have access to a non-custodial TON Space wallet, significantly expanding the potential user base.
Additionally, there is an active Russian-speaking audience. This is a huge plus for teams from the CIS, making it easier to communicate with the community and understand investor mentality, etc.
Second, the Telegram Mini-Apps catalog has over 40 different blockchain applications on TON. Mini-apps are essentially applications within Telegram, looking like a regular site or app wrapped in the messenger and working through bots. For example, the DEX exchange STON.fi operates through a bot. TON plans to create the first super app to collect applications on their blockchain in one place. Telegram, with its many crypto channels, is perfect for such things.
Therefore, startups on TON can expect integration into Telegram Mini-Apps and eventually into the TON super app, giving access to hundreds of millions of potential users. Not many blockchains can boast of this.
Lastly, access to venture investors.
TON Foundation does not engage in venture investments but helps to establish contact with funds and provide valuable recommendations. There is also the TONcoin.Fund investment fund. So far, they have only two public investments: Megaton Finance and the sports-gaming platform Fanzee.
How to get a grant from TON Foundation
What about grants? Over $1.2 million has been granted to more than 100 projects and 450 individual developers. This looks extremely tempting.
Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how to apply for grants if you have a project on TON.
TON Foundation grants are issued through Toncoin.Fund with a capital of $250 million and TON Accelerator.
If you plan to integrate with Telegram Web Apps, you can count on up to $10,000 in TON if there is no product yet, and up to $50,000 if there is a product and users on another blockchain are ready to migrate to TON.
Source: TON Foundation Accelerator
But what projects are in demand? Basically, everything that is trending and can be launched on Telegram:
- SocialFi: Projects for working with the community, optimizing daily tasks, etc. For example, a loyalty program or an app where users earn tokens for publishing content.
- GameFi projects: These can be mini-games within Telegram or full-fledged games. The mini-app must have social mechanics like challenges, leaderboards, and similar features. They are also desirable for other types of games.
- Everything else: Infrastructure, DeFi, solutions for interaction between mini-apps and DApps, or other ideas. The main thing is that it is useful, original, and feasible.
To qualify for the maximum grant, you need at least 5,000 daily users and 20,000 monthly users. Good retention metrics are also needed – for example, the number of active users in 7 days should be at least 10% of the number of downloads during that period. This is quite achievable if everything is done smartly.
Additionally, if you apply for a grant and want to receive it, keep this checklist in mind:
- You have not had a successful token sale yet. This is very important.
- You have a website, a GitHub page, Twitter, and a Telegram channel. A pitch deck is desirable but not mandatory.
- Your project is not a casino, as you definitely won’t get money for that.
- You won’t spend the grant on marketing.
- You are ready to work because funds are allocated in stages, and you cannot receive money in advance. If tasks are delayed by more than a month after the deadline or are performed unsatisfactorily, the grant may be canceled.
What projects are in demand?
Speaking of money, let’s look at the startups that received it last year:
- An NFT game in the style of “Tamagotchi” with a mini-app received $23,000;
- A DEX aggregator received $20,000;
- A smart contract monitoring platform, a ticket issuance protocol, an AI chatbot for developers, and many others. The full list is on the grants page.
Current ecosystem parts, that are worth to look after:
- NOT Coin: A Telegram bot clicker game that made 35 million people click, and its token is now listed on Binance and Bybit.
- Tonstakers and Bemo offer liquid staking. You can stake your coins through a Telegram bot conveniently and quickly at a higher rate than on Binance.
- DEXs DeDust, Ston.fi, and Megaton Finance: These seem more convenient than DEXs outside the Telegram ecosystem. No need to connect different wallets, check passwords, worry about security. It’s much more convenient to do it within Telegram.
- NFT marketplace GetGems: NFTs on TON are sold here, but currently, mostly memes and small collections are traded.
- Launchpad Ton.Starter: This platform launches various projects on the TON blockchain and allows participation in their launch without leaving the messenger.
- TON Phone, officially: Universal Basic Smartphone from Oyster Labs. The phone itself is a standard budget smartphone. Its feature is that it operates entirely on the TON blockchain, has its app store (like Google Play but for web3), and offers cashback from various partners. However, the project’s fate is still unclear, as pre-orders just ended. As a phenomenon, it’s interesting.
What you need to be prepared for
All this sounds fantastic. But no blockchain is perfect: high gas fees, high competition, low liquidity… The same applies to TON, and several challenges need to be overcome.
TON is not compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine and uses specially created smart contract languages: FunC and Tact, which are more complex than Solidity. Therefore, existing DApps for other blockchains cannot simply be ported to TON as they can be to Ethereum or Avalanche. They have to be completely rewritten.
Since smart contracts for TON are written in FunC and Tact, Solidity developers won’t be able to help. Finding specialists will likely require word-of-mouth in various Telegram groups or “headhunting” from other projects. So, if you find one, hold on to them!
Finding FunC developers is harder than finding Solidity developers. There are also few companies developing smart contracts for TON.
Another significant difference is in shard chaining. You will need to understand how it works and how the application interacts with it.
Each NFT on TON has its own smart contract. This means that a collection has as many contracts as there are NFTs in it, plus one general contract. Creating 10,000 monkeys? Get ready to deploy 10,001 smart contracts!
Despite the enormous potential user base, TON simply has low liquidity. TON ranks 28th among blockchains by total money in the blockchain. To enter the top 10, TON needs to overtake Avalanche, which has almost a billion dollars in the system.
Projects need to understand that low liquidity and low trading volumes can lead to extreme volatility. This means that if you go to the exchange, your token can be easily manipulated, which is extremely dangerous.
Conclusion
From a technical standpoint, TON Coin is a truly unique blockchain that can potentially become the basis for mass adoption.
Development on TON clearly has prospects. Its main advantage is integration with Telegram. No other blockchain allows DApps to operate within a Web2 application. But to be honest, the ecosystem lacks global reach.
Additionally, here every team needs to be enough specialists for expansion. The lack of EVM support and the need to create contracts in new languages also narrow TON’s potential audience. Although Solana’s example shows this is not critical, TON cannot yet compensate for the technical entry difficulties into the ecosystem. The only project in the ecosystem that has become truly global is Notcoin.
Maybe your project will be the breakthrough?
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