It was a “natural” development. That is how Mike Kayamori, the CEO of Liquid described an exclusive deal with Gram Asia on public sales of Telegram Open Network (TON), a decentralized network being developed by privacy-focused messaging platform Telegram. Kayamori told Cointelegraph how Liquid came to agree with Gram Asia. He also claimed that Liquid was the pioneer of initial exchange offering (IEO) and explained which advantages Liquid has in the IEO market. “Everything is between Gram Asia and Liquid” The upcoming IEO at Liquid is a public sale of gram, which is the native token of TON. The Liquid …

Over the past few months, it appeared that Telegram has been comfortably leading the clandestine race between major social platforms that have been quietly working on their native crypto tokens, with its Telegram Open Network (TON) making strides toward its October 2019 launch deadline. The latest avalanche of news from Facebook, however, makes this lead look less convincing, as it becomes apparent that the social media giant’s blockchain project is also well underway. After a series of indirect cues suggesting that Facebook’s long-rumored fintech initiative is in motion, a massive breakthrough came with a detailed report from The Information, which …

Disclaimer: The source in this article previously listed the file archive domain name. It has been changed to more accurately reflect the development. Encrypted instant messaging service Telegram has officially released a test client for its Telegram Open Network (TON), according to a recent email to investors. The archive of files available for download on test.ton.org is a distribution of a preliminary version of the TON Blockchain Network Lite Client along with the relevant portions of the TON Blockchain Library, according to the readme information file. The development is a simplified stable version of the Lite Client. On May 25, …

A GitHub user seeming uploaded the first version of the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain light client on May 25. Per the readme information file on GitHub, the client — if configured properly — connects to a full node for the TON blockchain testnet and sends some queries to it. The apparent existence of a testnet is in line with reports released in April, according to which Telegram opened access to a testing version of the TON Blockchain to a limited number of global developers, including Russian development teams. The document also refers to what appears to offer the same …

Privacy-focused encrypted instant messaging service Telegram has created a new programming language for its Telegram Open Network (TON), according to a document posted on an unofficial TON Telegram channel on May 23. The document — evidently authored by Telegram co-founder Nikolai Durov and dated May 23 — introduces a new language called Fift. The language is specifically designed for developing and managing TON blockchain smart contracts, and interacting with the TON Virtual Machine (TVM). TVM, in its turn, executes smart contract code in the TON blockchain, supporting all operations required to parse incoming messages and persistent data, and to create …

Encrypted messaging service Telegram will purportedly launch its Telegram Open Network (TON) in the third quarter of 2019, according to crypto news site The Block. An internal memo sent to investors reportedly said that the network would launch later this year. Telegram purportedly said that a recent successful test process “reaffirms our belief that the TON virtual machine and the TON ... Byzantine consensus algorithm are capable of meeting the goals stated in the original white paper." In April, Cointelegraph reported that Telegram opened access to a private testing version of the TON blockchain to a select number of developers. …

The development team behind encrypted messaging service Telegram’s forthcoming blockchain ecosystem Telegram Open Network (TON) has partnered with German financial services provider Wirecard. The latter revealed the news in a press release on April 17. TON Labs, which also functions as a knowledge base for decentralized project development, will work with Wirecard to develop new digital financial products, the press release reports. The partnership comes a week after sources hinted that TON had moved to private beta testing mode, a watershed moment for the project since its massive private initial coin offering (ICO) last year. “The addition of TON Blockchain …

Global messaging app Telegram has reportedly launched a private beta testing of its blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), Russian media outlet Vedomosti reports on April 11. According to Vedomosti, Telegram has opened access to a testing version of TON Blockchain to a limited number of global developers, including Russian dev teams. Citing two anonymous persons who acquired the early access, the news agency reported that the dev teams were enabled to set up TON Blockchain nodes. While testing has not provided any specific outcomes, the unnamed testers revealed that the TON Blockchain has demonstrated an “extremely high transaction speed.” However, …

Global messaging app Telegram plans to release the mainnet and token for its blockchain-based Telegram Open Network (TON) platform as early as March 2019. The news was revealed to Cointelegraph by a source close to Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov today, Jan. 23. Telegram — which reportedly counts 200+ million active users per month, placing it among the top ten most popular messaging apps worldwide — raised almost $1.7 billion in two private initial coin offering (ICO) rounds last year for both Telegram and its forthcoming platform TON. Cointelegraph’s source has emphasized that Durov was reluctant to confirm a …

The world of finance is driven by some of the greatest minds out there, but every year we see new faces pop up on the list of the industry’s most influential. This month, Fortune released their list of ‘40 under 40,’ a compendium of the most influential figures in the global business space. The usual suspects featured in this awe-inspiring group include Instagram’s co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and AirBNB co-founder Brian Chesky, to name but a few. The list also features prominent leaders of some of the world’s biggest enterprises, such as Dhivya Suryadevara, who …