Toncoin (TON) is the native cryptocurrency of the Web3 ecosystem known as The Open Network. The Open Network, or TON for short, includes a number of decentralized elements including the TON Blockchain, the Layer-1 blockchain network that forms the foundation of this ecosystem.
TON Blockchain is a blockchain network with high scalability and cross-chain interoperability. With the capacity to process millions of transactions per second, TON Blockchain works as a kind of “super server” and creates significant opportunities especially for Web3 developers.
The Open Network ecosystem is built on this blockchain and also provides its users with smart contract creation, domain name, proxy and storage services.
TON Coin Project
Toncoin, or simply TON, is the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network ecosystem and operates on the TON Blockchain. Toncoin, shown among the best Layer-1 coins, is used to pay transaction fees on the network.
Users can also purchase blockchain domains similar to those offered by the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) platform by paying Toncoin. The Open Network users can also use Toncoin to purchase decentralized cloud storage services.
Payments to validators on the TON Blockchain, which works with the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, are also made with Toncoin. Of course, in order to become a validator on the network, it is necessary to stake TON coins.
In short, all payments within The Open Network ecosystem are made using Toncoin.
Who are the founders of Toncoin?
Toncoin and The Open Network were developed by Telegram, one of the world's leading messaging applications, in 2018. The project was led by Telegram founders Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov. However, in 2020, Telegram left the TON project and the TON Foundation took over the management of the project.
How does Toncoin work?
Toncoin operates on its own decentralized blockchain network that enables smart contracts. This network, called TON Blockchain, operates with a PoS consensus mechanism, just like one of the largest blockchains, Ethereum.
However, the process of verifying Toncoin transactions uses a method called “sharding”. This method helps maximize transaction speeds and increase scalability. The idea behind using sharding is explained in the Toncoin whitepaper as follows: “The main idea of sharding in TON is that when account A sends a message to account B and account C sends a message to account D, both of these transactions can be performed asynchronously.”
Sharding works like this in TON: The blockchain can be dynamically fragmented depending on the load on the network. If the number of transactions increases enough to cause congestion in the chain, the blockchain is split into two chains. Of course, one of these two chains can then become overloaded. In that case, it is also split into two, and so on.
In this entire process, validators are also split along with the chains. In other words, validators on the network are not responsible for all Toncoin transactions. Instead, validators are also spread across shards, or split chains.
With this structure, Toncoin stands out as a very fast cryptocurrency with the capacity to perform millions of transactions per second.
What makes Toncoin special?
Toncoin’s network infrastructure is extremely efficient and scalable, as we explained above, making it fast and cost-effective compared to traditional cryptocurrencies that have scalability issues, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Toncoin, which is shown among the best cryptocurrencies, is also used in services such as the domain name and decentralized cloud storage of the blockchain network. This increases its function in The Open Network ecosystem and allows it to have a real use area.$TON
