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 …

Liquid’s intention to sell encrypted messenger Telegram’s token, GRAM, is not connected to the company, a source close to Telegram told Cointelegraph in private comments on June 11. As Cointelegraph reported earlier Tuesday, cryptocurrency exchange Liquid had announced that on July 10, it would be the representative of sales of Telegram’s GRAM tokens for Gram Asia. Gram Asia is allegedly the largest holder of the token in Asia, Liquid’s press release notes: however, a source close to Telegram noted that it was the first time that they had heard of Gram Asia. The source close to Telegram has stated to …

Cryptocurrency exchange Liquid will reportedly be the first to host encrypted messaging app Telegram’s gram tokens when they go on public sale, a press release confirmed on June 11. Telegram, which has not provided an official statement on the move, became the focus of international attention last year when it held a private initial coin offering (ICO) for Gram, which raised $1.7 billion for its Telegram Open Network (TON) project. A message from an unofficial TON channel on Telegram wrote that Liquid could be attempting to catch on to the hype surrounding the as-of-yet unreleased token, and that investors should …

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 …

Michael Novogratz, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, has suggested that one of the crypto assets created by social media giants will succeed. Novogratz made his remarks during an interview with CNBC published on May 24. At the end of the interview, Novogratz noted: “I think Facebook’s payment currency, I think Telegram’s gonna have one...You’re gonna see one of those payment coins work, and I think that has the chance to be a real currency.” Earlier in the interview, Novogratz reiterated his stance that bitcoin (BTC) is a store of value, again comparing the coin to gold …

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 …

Facebook is controversial, if nothing else. The world's fifth-biggest company by market cap, it's also the biggest social network by a comfortable margin. Yet, despite the fact that most of us use it, we've become increasingly suspicious of what it's been doing with our personal data. Ever since the Cambridge Analytica scandal (and probably long before), we've feared that such data isn't particularly secure or private, so we've been pushing back against the social media giant, as witnessed with last year’s #DeleteFacebook campaign. But at the same time, those with an interest in cryptocurrency also have an appreciation that, for …

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, …

Purchase agreements for messenger service Telegram’s Gram tokens will be terminated if the Telegram Open Network (TON) does not launch by October 31, 2019. An apparent purchase agreement with the said terms was obtained by Cointelegraph on Feb. 21 though the Telegram channel Tgram, devoted to news about the TON network. The agreement details the legal niceties of Gram token purchases, outlining regulations for different jurisdictions in regard to the distribution of the tokens. Notably, it states that, should network not be released by October 31, 2019, the contract will be considered null and void. While the document provides the …