Russian blog, Vedomosti recently announced that the encrypted messenger service Telegarm is almost ready to release a test version of its blockchain based Telegram Open Network (TON).
The publication stated that the platform would accomplish this by autumn. The authenticity of this release was confirmed by two investors of Telegram who have received the official newsletter sent by the company in the beginning of the year as part of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Telegram commenced a quiet sale at the beginning of the year that generated more than a billion dollars from less than 100 investors according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The quiet sale was held in spite of expectations of many in the crypto community that the Telegram ICO would be made available to the public.
Nevertheless, the company focused on qualified investors apparently to avoid running afoul of regulatory standards in certain jurisdictions.
The recent declaration by the Telegram team stated that the new TON will process transactions faster than Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains, which have been criticized for lack of scalability.
The Telegram team also claimed that the speed of payments will compete with those of Visa and MasterCard. These are companies that have been looked at as standards of sorts in terms of scalability.
The internal currency of the platform would be “Gram” and users will be provided with integrated wallets within their Telegram application.
The post also stated its suspicions that the reason behind the disagreement between the Russian government and the messaging platform was the company’s plan to issue the Gram.
The Telegram app is very popular in Russia and there are suspicions that the token may impact the monetary system although the official position was that the service did not comply with data sharing laws.
The report stated that the TON is nearing completion with 70 percent of the work already done.
The rapid development is no surprise given the $1.7 billion raised by the company in the beginning of 2018 through in two private ICO presales.
The invested funds were enough for the company to cancel its planned public sale. Despite the recent news, the company is yet to make any statements confirming a timeline for the expected TON.
It is possible however that an official stance will be made known soon, especially with regard to availability of the platform’s blockchain version for public use.
