Telegram’s record-breaking Telegram Open Network (TON) ICO could be set for launch in Q3, according to The Block. They cite an internal note sent to investors, which allegedly states that the ongoing testing from the Telegram team “reaffirms our belief that the TON virtual machine and the TON … Byzantine consensus algorithm are capable of meeting the goals stated in the original white paper.” The note also states that the network is set to launch in Q3, much later than the predictions made at the start of the year.
Telegram’s Monster ICO
The Telegram ICO caused a major stir in January 2018 when it announced its aims to raise over $1 billion, a number bettered only by EOS in their year-long ICO. This came at the height of ICO mania, with many doubting that the money would be raised or that the project would even get off the ground. However, with some $1.7 billion in ICO investment banked the pressure has been cranked up substantially, and the network is going to have to be pretty impressive to justify the money raised.
All Things to All Men?
TON itself will be a platform for decentralized services, aiming to go head-to-head with the likes of Ethereum, which could be something of an unfair fight seeing as Ethereum’s ICO was all the way back in 2014 before ICOs were cool, and they only raised $18.3 million. The TON is set to offer features related to decentralized VPN services, distributed file storage, micropayments, DApps, and more. This has led to criticism that they are trying to cover too many areas rather than specializing in one or two, but if they get each area right then they could well end up being the Amazon of the blockchain world. With $1.7 billion at their disposal, it would be a brave man to bet against them.
