After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prohibited Telegram from launching TON, the blockchain continued to be developed by the community. New names of decentralized networks based on TON kept appearing in the media. The main successor to the Telegram project is The Open Network. Let’s figure out who they are, how they came to be, and what kind of blockchain they are.
Telegram Open Network was an open-source project from the beginning, so anyone could implement their own blockchain based on TON. Several groups of developers took up their own versions of TON after Durov quit the project. Two large communities have formed: Free TON includes former investors in Durov’s TON, The Open Network includes former participants in Telegram’s crypto contests. Later a conflict for the right to own TON trademark broke out between them.
How did events unfold: In June 2021, The Open Network asked Durov to give them the original Github repositoryand the TON domain address. They wrote a public appeal. In the letter, they highlighted that they are developing the original testnet2 network, launched by Telegram before the SEC prohibition. Next, they released an app for their wallet on the Google Play platform. Meanwhile, Free TON (aka TON Labs) registered the right to trademark TON with the European Commission, and sent a complaint about the use of the name TON in that wallet to Google.
The trademark assignment was illegal. At the time when TON Labs and Telegram were working on blockchain jointly, Durov signed an agreement with them under which they could use the TON name in their products, but undertook not to register the rights to it. Free TON broke the agreement and started to crush all competitors using the TON name. In response to attempts to strike their wallet on Google Play, The Open Network appealed to Durov again, as the TON trademark was still legally managed by Telegram.
Durov threatened Free TON with legal action. They stopped their attacks and announced that they had decided not to use TON in their naming. In August 2021, Durov handed over his legacy to the developers of The Open Network.
Let’s get the names straight. The developers changed the name of the blockchain as the project progressed – at first it was called NewTON, later it was renamed TON Foundation and then The Open Network. The coin is called TONcoin.
You can buy Toncoin right now at: Mercuryo, Crypto bot, EXMO.
Officially, Telegram has abandoned the project and should not take part in it, even through intermediaries. However, based on the fact that Durov took the side of The Open Network in the conflict with Free TON, we can conclude that he is at least not against the development of The Open Network and seems willing to participate in it as much as possible.
Thus, if you want to invest in TON, you can safely buy The Open Network tokens.
