What is Telegram Open Network? TOM: the platform principle, aims, and structure. Advantages and disadvantages of the TOM, future outlook after it is launched.
The Telegram Open Network (TON), one of the most anticipated blockchain projects ever, has announced it’s entering the final preparation stage before going live. The launch of the Telegram Open Network (TON) components is going according to plan, it is scheduled for Oct. 31. In 2018, Pavel Durov raised about $1.7 billion. He promised that by the end of October 2019, the platform would be launched or he will return money to investors. Taking into account that the GRAM wallet has been recently released, the platform is about to start operating. The first launch of TON is a test, most of the platform components are still at the development stage, but the idea itself is admirable. TOM is a multitier networking platform, where you can do anything, form designing software to making deals. This is a kind of “super server”, read on the overview and you will learn more about it.
Telegram Open Network — launch date and the features of the decentralized server of the new generation
One of the most anticipated cryptocurrency projects of the year, the Telegram Open Network (TON) of the Durov brothers, has introduced the first version of terms of service (ToS) for the GRAM token’s wallet app, which officially confirms that the Telegram messenger team is involved in the Telegram Open Network. This news is interesting for two reasons:
- Earlier, no one from the Telegram team, including Pavel Durov (Telegram CEO and a former owner of Russian online social media and social networking service VKontakte) has ever announced the project or commented on it.
- This proves that the plans to launch the platform by the end of October 2019.
It is known that in late 2018, Pavel Durov raised $1.7 billion from 175 investors with the condition that by October 31, 2019, the platform will be launched or all money will be returned to investors. In early October, investors received emails with links to TON’s key generator (so that they can access their actual tokens). The project is scheduled to launch no later than October 31. A few days later, there was published the Terms of Service for the token’s wallet app. It is remarkable, that more investors wanted to take part in the project, but Durov, having specified the estimated minimum cost of the platform at 400-500 million dollars, decided not to abuse the trust of the cryptocurrency community.
Telegram Open Network – the last hope of investors in 2019
Telegram Open Network is a networking platform of a new generation. This is a kind of fast, safe “super server”; on its basis, millions of useful applications can be created and launched. And, in addition, there is an own blockchain based internal infrastructure, Gram cryptocurrency is meant to be used, we can imagine the whole scale of the idea suggested by the Durovs. Maybe, in the future, we will enter the Internet via some TON browser, and the Internet itself will be a single information space inside the Telegram Open Network. By the way, the Telegram messenger could be the first application integrated into the network platform. It is clear that the idea itself is much larger in scale than just the “TON blockchain”.
Unlike Ethereum that is a platform for decentralized apps, TON has a complex multitier structure, where each level (roughly speaking, an API, a program) performs its function and ensures the operation of the entire system.
TON services, components, and architecture:
- Telegram Virtual Machine. It is the basis of the TON platform blockchain, the node-based virtual machine that executes smart contracts. The virtual machine will provide making deals (contractual relationships) among network participants.
- TON Network. A peer-to-peer decentralized network made up of the platform’s clients themselves.
- TON DNS. It is a service that assigns human-readable addresses services and contractors. The smart contract execution is still under development, therefore, its essence will be described in more detail by the developers later.
- TON Storage. It is still under development. This is the concept of cloud services and torrents. It allows using the free capacity of network users, who will receive compensation with Grams.
- TON Payments. This is the platform payment system
- TON Proxy. It is a service that is basically like the Tor browser. It is a proxy server and anonymizer that allows blocks to be circumvented, and also to create a ban on tracking a user’s actions within the platform.
- TON Messages. This component’s basic function is the exchange of messages — not only between human users but also exchange encrypted messages between algorithms.
Mark Zuckerberg tried to present something like this, but he failed to reach an agreement with regulators. Durov managed to get an agreement with the SEC by sacrificing the users’ confidentiality:
- The GRAM wallet can be used only by users over 18. The service can’t be used if it is forbidden by a country’s laws.
- The verification is obligatory. To be verified, the user will have to submit: an identity document with a photo (for example, a passport), verification of the residence address, information on the bank cards.
Although there is suggested the control over the users’ personal information, Durov warns that the TON doesn’t have any access to the reserve files and passwords. This means that the platform is not responsible for personal data safety and won’t be able to help in case the access to the wallet is lost.
TON funding. The platform will be based on the PoS/DpoS consensus algorithm, there is no mining. 5 billion of coins will be issued simultaneously; 52% will be held as the platform reserve, 44% will be sold to investors, 4% will be distributed between the developers, but the digital currency will be frozen for 4 years (it may be done in order to prevent the developers from affecting the market with token sale at the launching stage). Unlike Facebook’s Libra, which TON is often compared to, the token won’t be a stablecoin; its price will be formed according to the supply/demand ratio.
In an effort to involve the entire cryptocurrency community in the development, the founders of TON announced competitions: for improving the virtual machine, for smart contracts implementation, fixing bugs in the blockchain code, cryptocurrency exchanges, test network, etc.
Key advantages of TON, distinguishing it from other projects:
- Dynamic sharding. This is a scalability technique that suggests dividing the database of the distributed ledger into separate parts, which are located on different servers. The figure below presents the structure of TON blockchain.
- Homogeneous and heterogeneous multichain networks. A heterogeneous network is a network connecting computers with different operating systems or data transfer protocols. A homogeneous network connects PCs only with homogeneous operation systems and the same exchange protocols.
- Blockchains interoperability (strong and weak connection).
Without going deep into technical details (if you are interested, you can find this information on the Internet), I can say that TON is the fifth generation blockchain. The first generation blockchain is BTC, based on the PoW consensus algorithm; the second generation blockchain is ETH, based on the PoW consensus algorithm, but supporting complex smart contracts, the third and the fourth generation blockchains are PoS, DPoS, BFT PoS algorithms with heterogeneous multichain networks.
TON developers manage to solve another common problem of cryptocurrency projects, they managed to provide a high speed of transaction processing. The TON architecture is significantly scalable; in theory, the network will be able to process millions of transactions per second, although so far this is just a theory. The system will be scaled up on demand (that is, with the extension), which means that the initially declared speed will not be provided.
There are also skeptics in the cryptocurrency community. The arguments against TON launch.
- TON may become just another platform for making scams, like to was the Ethereum and other platforms. Telegram is already flooded with scam bots, which are considered to be insignificant by the regulators that nobody monitors them. Taking into account that 90% of the existing cryptocurrency projects are bubbles, the concerns are reasonable to some extent.
- TON will either become an ordinary, mean project that is interesting only in terms of the token price swings or will be targeted by the regulators, like Libra. Most of the platform components are designed to circumvent different kinds of blocks, which contradicts the requirement for transparency. Telegram is already popular for its possibility to create anonymous channels, difficult user data re-identification, due to which Telegram is fully or partially banned in some countries.
- TON, although it is a less ambitious project than Libra, is less credible. Unlike Zuckerberg’s platform, TON development is closed. Users do not have enough information about its architecture and cannot assess its potential vulnerabilities.
Conclusion. The cryptocurrency community bets a lot on the Telegram Open Network following the failed launched the platform for Bitcoin futures, Bakkt and the negative reaction of the regulators to the Libra (Facebook) launch scheduled for 2020. TON is a kind of unique network, which should become a new technological level of the cryptocurrency development, leaving behind the out-of-date Bitcoin and Ethereum. Will the most anticipated project of the year meet the expectations of investors? Share your ideas in the comments!
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