TON, which stands for The Open Network is a high-performance, decentralized, layer-1 blockchain. Founded by Telegram in 2018, it is a proof-of-stake (PoS) network that is well-known in the crypto community for its fast transaction speeds. During a contest in September 2021, the TON recorded 55,000 transactions per second. However, today, it can process millions of transactions per second.
Let’s know more about TON and Toncoin, its native currency, in detail.
How Was TON Founded?
TON is famous for its scalability and flexible architecture, but the network has hit a few roadblocks along the way. Toncoin, formerly known as Gram, was in active development until 2020. During this time, Gram became immensely popular and racked up $1.7 billion in sales, and companies across the globe purchased an additional billion dollars’ worth of Gram.
The project got so popular that even before there was an official ICO for the project, there were fake ICOs promoted on Twitter. Finally, Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO, announced an official ICO. Initially, Telegram didn’t want to be viewed as a security by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the agency saw the initial investors as underwriters and declared it a security.
Drove fought this court, but ultimately lost the case and started returning $1.2 billion to investors, having to pay $18.5 million in penalties. After this, the project was abandoned, but the developers and crypto enthusiasts saw the potential of the project as it is open-source and available on GitHub. Since then, the TON Foundation, which is a group of supporters and an independent community of enthusiasts, has been developing TON and renaming it from “Telegram Open Network” to “The Open Network.”
Why is Toncoin Unique?
TON has a multi-level structure developed on the principle of sharding. This principle uses multiple subnets on the same blockchain, where every shard has a specific purpose. Each shard is unique and has its own data, which is why it has the potential to reduce latencies, avoid the accumulation of unverified blocks, and speed up the transaction process.
This flexible multi-blockchain platform can process millions of transactions per second, with its Turing complete smart contracts. Other than that, it has a unique feature called the self-healing vertical blockchain mechanism, which makes it reliable, fast, self-consistent, and scalable.
Other than that, the TON network offers a Toncoin wallet (custodial and non-custodial), which helps with fund transfers and allows users to interact with platform services. Developers can create decentralized applications (dApps) using TON Services, and users can access the third-party apps via a user-friendly interface. With TON Storage, users can secure their wallets using a private key that provides private encryption.
How to Earn Passive Income From Toncoin?
There are two ways to earn passive income from Toncoin:
- Validator
- Nominator
Validator
Validators earn interest from validating transactions since it is a PoS network. The first requirement to become a validator is to have high-performance hardware; the next is high-speed internet; and the last requirement is to stake Toncoin. Currently, users have to stake 600,000 Toncoins to become a validator and at the time of writing this piece, Toncoin is worth $2.41.
These requirements may seem over-the-top, but they protect the network from hackers who might try to manipulate the system. If someone tries to cheat their stake may get partially or fully forfeited.
Nominator
Nominators pool their assets and lend them to validators, allowing them to earn rewards. Once the rewards are issued by the blockchain, they are distributed evenly among the pool members. This system ensures that the tokens lent to the validators are only used for validation, and rewards are distributed honestly.
This process makes it easy for average users to earn rewards, even if they don’t have 600,000 coins for staking.
How to Buy Toncoin?
Toncoin crypto is available on many crypto exchanges, but you can buy it from a wallet as well. Let’s see how you can buy it from a MetaMask wallet:
Download a MetaMask Wallet
First off, install the MetaMask Chrome extension if you are using a desktop computer. If you prefer MetaMask’s mobile app, you can download it from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. Or, you can visit MetaMask’s official website and download the app or the Chrome extension.
Set up Your Metamask Wallet
In this step, set up your crypto wallet and register via the extension or the mobile
app as mentioned above. After you register, make sure to keep the seed phrase safe
and note down your wallet address.
Buy Ethereum as Your Base Currency
After setting up your wallet, login to your crypto exchange, such as Binance, and buy Ethereum.
Transfer Ethereum to Your Wallet
After you’ve purchased Ethereum, go to your Binance wallet section and withdraw it. Ethereum. Set Ethereum as the network, and provide your wallet address and the quantity of Ethereum you want to transfer. Finally, click the withdraw button.
Choose a Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
There are a lot of DEXs on the market. Choose a DEX that is compatible with your wallet. You select a different wallet than MetaMask.
Connect Your Wallet
After choosing the DEX, connect your MetaMask wallet to the exchange.
Trade Ethereum With Toncoin Crypto
On the chosen DEX, choose TON as the coin you want to buy and choose Ethereum
as payment.
Note: If Toncoin doesn’t appear on the DEX, you can find its smart contract by
referring to https://etherscan.io/. Also, make sure you get the official contract
address.
Apply the Swap
Once everything in the previous steps is set up, click on the Swap button, and you’ve
purchased Toncoin.
TON’s Future
TON is a community-driven blockchain, and it is growing significantly. In January 2022, the number of active Toncoin wallets was 200,000 and this number increased to 600,000 by May. Currently, the number of Toncoin wallets has crossed the mark of 740,000. This shows us that TON can become a practical way of transferring funds as more people adopt the TON blockchain. Learn more about the best bitcoin wallet.
