Understanding TON: The Blockchain Powering Crypto on Telegram

TON Ecosystem and Cryptocurrency: What It Is and How It Works

TON is a blockchain project that launched in 2019. It’s built by an independent team who are constantly adding new features. The network processes around 4–5 million transactions every day and is growing fast, offering super fast transaction speeds. Let’s dive into what TON is, how it works, and why it might be cool for businesses.

How Did TON Start?

The idea for TON came in 2018 from Pavel and Nikolai Durov, the founders of the messaging app Telegram. They wanted to add cryptocurrency to Telegram, but the existing blockchains just wouldn’t work for that. So, they decided to create their own network — Telegram Open Network, or TON.

TON was a huge success at first, raising over $1.7 billion through token sales. But in 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Telegram, causing the project to halt. After some time, the team refunded the investors and stopped development.

However, TON didn’t disappear. A group of developers, known as NewTON, kept working on it using open-source code. In 2021, the network officially launched its main blockchain, and the community changed its name to the TON Foundation.

Telegram still supports the TON network, even though it no longer has control over its development. By 2024, the TON wallet and Toncoin were fully integrated into Telegram, making it easier than ever to use.

How Does the TON Network Work?

TON is a sharded blockchain, which means it’s made up of multiple chains that all work together. Here’s how it’s set up:

1. The main chain: Stores the important information about the system.
2. Workchains: These are independent blockchains that can have their own rules, fees, and processes. There can be up to 2^32 workchains.
3. Sharded chains: These are “child” chains of the workchains, and there can be up to 2^60 shards. They help process large amounts of data instantly.

TON uses a consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Validators, who hold tokens, help confirm new blocks, approve transactions, and make sure smart contracts run smoothly.

This setup allows TON to be super flexible, scalable, and fast, making it a great choice for decentralized finance (DeFi) apps.

What is Toncoin?

Toncoin is the cryptocurrency of the TON network. It’s used to pay fees, confirm transactions, reward validators, and more. Toncoin is getting more and more popular, and it’s now one of the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market value.

You can store Toncoin in lots of different wallets, but the developers offer two of their own: the custodial TON Wallet and the non-custodial TON Space. Both wallets are integrated into Telegram, so it’s easy to manage your coins directly through the app.

Why Is TON Great?

TON has gained a lot of attention for several key reasons:

1. Built on its own network: All transactions in Toncoin happen through the TON blockchain, which makes everything fast and secure.
2. Super fast transactions: With the sharded blockchain, TON can handle up to 100,000 transactions per second. That’s way faster than traditional systems like VISA and MasterCard.
3. Telegram integration: TON is built right into Telegram. You can access the wallet directly from the main menu of the app, and send payments just by using someone's Telegram handle.
4. Low fees: TON charges very low transaction fees — about 0.005 TON (less than $0.01). This is great for businesses, especially if they deal with customers from other countries.
5. Secure: The TON network is encrypted and decentralized, making it tough for anyone to mess with payments. Plus, with the open-source code, any issues are fixed quickly.

How to Accept Payments in TON Cryptocurrency?

Using a Wallet

One simple way to accept TON payments is by using a wallet. Here’s how it works:

1. The customer picks a product and contacts you.
2. You calculate the amount in the customer's chosen currency and give them your wallet address.
3. The customer sends the payment.
4. You manually confirm the payment and process the order.

This method works for small businesses, but it can be slow because everything has to be done by hand. TON Payments

TON is a decentralized, super-fast network that’s great for handling lots of transactions. It’s part of a larger ecosystem with lots of useful tools, and being integrated into Telegram makes using cryptocurrency easy and accessible for everyone.