After Telegram lost its fight with the SEC over the Gram token, the blockchain project has to be dismantled
Telegram could not move forward with its blockchain project, Telegram Open Network (TON), and was ordered to shut it down in May 2020. Despite that, it seems that the platform has still been running, so the developers of the TON project announced, on July 6, that the test network for TON will no longer be supported. The development group announced on Telegram that all remaining TON validators will be turned off by August 1, so it was recommended that all network users save their important data, as well as stop any testing processes as soon as possible.
It’s not all bad news for the users of the testing net, as they can continue the experimentation projects once the testnet is terminated, and it only requires the installation of some testnet validators. In order to learn more details on how to continue using the platform, there are three different documents available with the how-tos and guidelines for the Full Node, the Validator and Test Grams.
Telegram was working on an ambitious project to run its own digital token – the Gram – along with a wallet, so it launched the TON testnet for explorer and node software on September 6, 2019. Also, the company released an alpha version of an iOS wallet in preparation for the scheduled October 31 official launch. However, the project hit a brick wall and was never realized because of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its decision to declare Telegram’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering illegal. This event followed up a long-lasting battle between the authorities and Telegram, which finally concluded in the company deciding to shut down its TON project and return $1.2 billion to investors in a court-approved settlement.
