The popular messaging app Telegram is working on its own blockchain which will be called the Telegram Open Network. Users on this platform can utilize cryptocurrencies. The new network is said to be a spin-off of the TON blockchain, in other words, TON 2.0.
Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, said when they bid farewell to TON, he had hopes that developers would one day carry on with the vision. Telegram wants a mass-market blockchain platform. Durov revealed he was inspired by the champions of Telegram’s coding contests creating the open TON project. This was rebranded to Toncoin.
However, the executive says there is no link between Toncoin and Telegram. Durov says Toncoin is very much independent from the messaging app. But critics are not to be brushed off so easily. Observers believe Telegram may potentially be involved with the Toncoin project. This violates the SEC rules. It should be noted that Telegram has already been banned by the US regulator from launching any crypto tokens until 2023.
Fedor Skuratov, a former community manager at TON Labs, said it would be up to the SEC to see the connection if any. He also added Durov might be showing to the regulator that it cannot stop him from working on the technology. Skuratov highlighted that the CEO supports Toncoin, but he is not a part of it.
Three years ago, Telegram started works on the TON blockchain and raised $1.7 billion in two private funding rounds. But due to a fight with SEC over the project’s token about it, being a security or not, Telegram had to leave TON and pay a penalty of $18.5 million. As such, Durov had to leave the ambitious project.
