Telegram Finally Releases Code for Its $1.7 Billion TON Blockchain

Telegram’s blockchain project, TON, has entered the last preparation stage before going live.

The code for running a blockchain node was released on the test network portalhttps://test.ton.org/ late Friday. Now developers and community members interested in the messaging app provider's blockchain can start kicking the tires of a full node, a validator node and the blockchain explorerhttps://test.ton.org/testnet/last.

The release had been previously scheduled for Sept. 1, according to the sources familiar with the project’s progress, but was delayed a few days for unclear reasons.

According to Mitja Goroshevsky, CTO of TON Labs, which is working on tools for devs, there are currently 100 nodes maintained by Telegram itself on the testnet. Several more are maintained by his startup, helmed by investors in Telegram’s token sale, which raised $1.7 billion in early 2018.

"Source code for a full node that can access testnet, create and validate blocks has been released. Lite client was released several months ago. TON Labs will release Public Beta of its developer tools suite on Monday," Goroshevsky told CoinDesk.

The mainnet launch for the Telegram Open Network is set to happen no later than Oct. 31.

Telegram’s blockchain is designed as a proof-of-stake protocol with the support of multiple "shardchains." Validators, chosen from among those users who stake considerable amounts of tokens, will confirm the blocks.

The TON blockchain will be compatible with ethereum-based software, according to TON Labs.

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