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Telegram testing an Ethereum-compatible blockchain
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Updated: Sep. 19, 2023 at 3:00 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Telegram is publicly testing its much-anticipated blockchain project ‘TON.’ The company’s blockchain will be compatible with Ethereum, allowing developers to port their Ethereum smart contracts, revealed a tech startup working on the project alongside Telegram.
Ethereum DApps will be available on Telegram’s new blockchain project
Telegram, one of the fastest-growing messaging apps in the world, is working on one of the most highly anticipated blockchain projects this year. The Telegram Open Network (TON), which will host the company’s native cryptocurrency Gram, is set to launch at the end of October.
Notorious for its lack of transparency, Telegram has been quiet for several weeks while it was setting up the network for public testing. Last week, sources close to Telegram revealed that its blockchain will be compatible with Ethereum. The news came from TON Labs, a tech startup tasked with building several tools for the development of the Telegram network.
Alexander Filatov, the CEO of TON Labs, said that one of the tools the company was working on since July was a Solidity compiler. The programming language, which is mainly used on Ethereum, will allow users to port Ethereum smart contracts to the Telegram network.
“That was probably the most difficult thing we built. It will allow the advanced Ethereum community to pull everything they wrote for Ethereum into TON,” Filatov said.
Public testing of the Telegram network begins
According to a report from Russian business paper Vedomosti, public testing of the Telegram Open Network will begin soon. The company will be releasing the code and instructions necessary for installing and hosting a Telegram node to the public.
The network’s sharding and consensus mechanisms will also be available for the public to test, the Russian publication revealed, saying that it will allow users to confirm new blocks in the blockchain.
Two sources close to Telegram revealed the news—Vedomosti said that one of the sources was a TON investor, while the other was the head of one of the companies that participated in TON’s closed testing phase.
We are yet to see whether the public testing of TON yields any positive results for the network. The same sources said that those who participated in the closed testing round experienced various bugs and issues while installing test nodes.
With less than two months left until Telegram’s deadline to launch TON, the company will be under a lot of pressure to push through the public testing. If it fails to launch a working blockchain on Oct. 31 Telegram claims it will return all of the money it raised from investors.
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Ethereum
$3,180.53
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Telegram Open Network
Launched in 2018, this cryptocurrency is based on multi-blockchain Proof-of-Stake system – TON (Telegram Open Network, after 2021 The Open Network) – designed to host a new generation of cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications.
