Telegram confirms TON blockchain launch in late-October

This year, the blockchain and crypto-industry witnessed the entry of several mainstream companies into its ecosystem, including the likes of Fidelity, JPMorgan, Facebook and Telegram. However, Facebook’s Libra has made the most noise so far due to the regulatory hurdles that it faces. Similarly, Facebook’s rival Telegram, the messaging platform, has announced the launch of its own native cryptocurrency, GRAM.

The messaging giant had also revealed that it would be launching the Telegram Open Network [TON], the first 5th generation blockchain. Telegram’s entire project is being funded by different investors and hence, the platform is obligated to deliver a working blockchain and issue its tokens by 31 October 2019. If Telegram fails to do so, the platform would be forced to return the money invested.

In a recent update about the same, the official TON Board on Telegram confirmed the launch of TON in the latter part of October. The message suggested that investors had been informed about the same via emails from the core team of Telegram. As per the message, investors would have to provide the platform with public keys by 16 October, in order to receive GRAM tokens, and the keys would further be confirmed using the credentials that are provided in the token purchase agreement. The message went on to say,

“Investors have to select validators. Neither Telegram nor the TON Foundation will serve as validators post-launch.”

Furthermore, the source code for TON was also shared in the message.

September was an eventful month for Telegram as the platform released a testnet explorer, along with the code for running a TON blockchain node on its testnet portal. This code gave developers and the community a peep into what the TON blockchain encapsulates. An alpha version of the GRAM token wallet designed for iOS was also released.