Toncoin (TON)
Toncoin, previously known as Gram, is the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network (TON). It serves various purposes, such as securing the blockchain through staking, facilitating network development, processing smart contract message fees, and settling transactions within the TON ecosystem.
History of Toncoin
Toncoin originated as Gram, the cryptocurrency Telegram intended to launch for its decentralized applications (dApps) platform, conceptualized by Telegram co-founders Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov in 2018. Initially, Grams were distributed through private sales, raising $1.7 billion in April 2018. This project marked one of the largest token sales historically, with tokens sold to various businesses worldwide.
| Ticker | TON |
| Category | Smart Contract Platform |
| Website | https://ton.org/ |
| @ton_blockchain | |
| Telegram | toncoin |
| Contract Addresses | |
|---|---|
| the-open-network | EQ...9c Copied! |
| binance-smart-chain | 0x76...0fCopied! |
| ethereum | 0x58...f1Copied! |
Despite its success, the project faced challenges, including cybercriminals creating ICO scams on Twitter due to Gram's popularity. This led to public warnings from Pavel Durov to protect the community. Attempts were made to conduct public sales in the U.S., necessitating compliance with SEC regulations. However, the SEC categorized the initial investors as underwriters, deeming the sale an unregistered securities distribution. Following legal proceedings, Telegram ceased its involvement in the blockchain's development in May 2020, issuing refunds to initial investors.
The open-source nature of TON allowed other projects to continue developing the technology. Consequently, Gram was rebranded as Toncoin and is now maintained by the TON Foundation, separate from Telegram.
Tokenomics
Toncoin has a total supply cap of 5 billion TON coins, gradually increasing as rewards for validators mining new masterchain and shardchain blocks. An annual inflation rate of 2% is expected, which will double the total supply to 10 billion TON coins over 35 years. This inflation compensates validators for maintaining the system.
Utility
Toncoin facilitates various functions within the TON ecosystem. It is used to build decentralized applications (dApps), as a processing fee for smart contract transactions, and for cross-chain transaction fees. Additionally, it can be used to lend capital to validators to earn interest, purchase blockchain-based domain names (DNS), and serve as stakes for blockchain validators. Toncoin also plays a crucial role in TON's on-chain governance program and supports payment services offered by apps built on the platform.