From messaging platform to blockchain powerhouse: the remarkable rise of Ton.

The Evolving Influence of Telegram in the Cryptocurrency Landscape

Despite facing challenges in the independent growth of the TON network, Telegram has established a prominent presence in the cryptocurrency sector. The messaging platform has become an essential hub for the crypto community, enabling discussions, collaborations, and the sharing of information.

Telegram groups and channels are widely used for announcements, trading signals, and enhancing community interaction within the crypto ecosystem.

Additionally, the platform's influence in the crypto space has been bolstered by the recent introduction of features designed for crypto enthusiasts, such as a digital marketplace and integrations with popular wallets like Trust Wallet.

Through its partnership with Trust Wallet, the crypto wallet can leverage Telegram's vast user base, particularly in gaming finance and decentralized applications (dApps). This collaboration is expected to allow Trust Wallet's 100 million users to effortlessly send and receive TON tokens.

Furthermore, TON has revealed plans to support Tether (USDT) tokens on its blockchain, enabling Telegram users to perform transactions with the stablecoin directly within the app.

This advancement has positively impacted TON's market value, which rose from approximately $2.21 a year ago to $7.63 on April 11, according to CoinGecko data.

As of now, TON tokens are valued at $5.46, giving the cryptocurrency a total market capitalization of $13.7 billion, making it the tenth-largest digital asset by market cap, just behind Dogecoin.

Development of the TON Blockchain

The TON Blockchain project gained significant momentum when Pavel Durov published a whitepaper in 2018, detailing its technological innovations and potential applications.

Initially intended to incorporate cryptocurrency and blockchain functionalities into the Telegram platform, the creators of TON focused on scalability. The goal was to facilitate millions of transactions per second, which they aimed to achieve through a distinctive multi-blockchain architecture and a sharding mechanism.

This approach divides the blockchain into a master chain that oversees the entire network and several work chains that can function independently.

To bring this vision to life, Telegram planned to raise capital through an initial coin offering. Prior to this, the company successfully secured approximately $1.7 billion from 175 investors during a private sale of its native Gram token.

Unfortunately, this success was short-lived. Shortly after the presale, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began to scrutinize the platform.

Legal Conflict with the SEC

In October 2019, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Telegram, alleging that the company had conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling Gram tokens. The SEC argued that these tokens were classified as securities and should have been registered in compliance with U.S. securities laws.

The case reached a critical juncture in March 2020 when a U.S. federal court ruled in favor of the SEC, effectively putting a stop to the distribution of Gram tokens.

As a result, Telegram opted to delay and ultimately abandon the project in May 2020. The company also agreed to refund the funds raised during the pre-ICO phase to investors and to pay an $18.5 million civil penalty.

This ruling had far-reaching implications for Telegram and sent shockwaves through the broader cryptocurrency industry, highlighting the regulatory challenges faced by blockchain projects.

Following Telegram's withdrawal, a group of independent developers took the reins to continue the project, which was later rebranded as The Open Network (TON). This change ensured the project's ongoing development.

Oversight of the project is now managed by a non-profit organization, the TON Foundation, based in Zug, Switzerland. Steve Yun serves as the foundation's president, while Andrew Rogozov, the former CEO of the Russian social media platform VK, is a founding member.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, the TON community focused on improving the network's architecture, implementing dynamic sharding, and enhancing its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

What will be the price of a ton in the future?

It is expected that in the medium term it may be more Ton because despite the numerous Telegram users and their acquaintances with the non-free versions of Telegram and the advantages that Telegram has at the disposal of users and businesses that in this platform will cause a further increase in the number of becomes users. This collection for the preparation of the native token of the network can increase the growth of this cryptocurrency in the medium term.