Dialogue with core developers to help users better understand every public chain world - Developer Story

TON is pushing the potential of blockchain technology to new heights. TON (The Open Network) was initially created by the Telegram Messenger development team and later continued to be developed by the community with the aim of building a fast, secure, and scalable blockchain network. As a cutting-edge blockchain project in technological innovation, TON has attracted numerous developers and users with its high performance and flexibility, especially with its theoretical maximum TPS reaching millions. With the continuous growth of the ecosystem and the continuous iteration of technology, TON is expected to become an important role in the blockchain field in the future, promoting the popularization and development of decentralized applications.

It is worth noting that OKX Web3 launched a new App Connect protocol on September 6, 2024, which currently supports the TON ecosystem and will soon expand to popular networks such as EVM and Solana. This upgrade enables developers to easily call the OKX App wallet directly through the Telegram Mini App, enabling DApp interaction operations such as signature transactions. Developers only need to connect to App Connect to quickly build their own DApps on TON and Telegram, which not only simplifies the development process but also lays the foundation for building a richer Web3 ecosystem.

This issue is the 02nd issue of the "Developer Story" column, which will provide a better understanding and comprehension of the TON world from the perspectives of TON core developer Anatoly Makosov and OKX Web3 TON ecosystem access manager Wang. This column covers various aspects such as TON technology progress, developer development, community governance, ecological security, etc., aiming to gain a deeper understanding of the insights and plans of TON's core developers.

The long-term goal of TON is to promote the widespread adoption of the encryption industry and decentralized technology, rather than short-term trends; Our short-term clear goal is to achieve 500 million monthly active users within 5 years.

2. I appeal to Solidity programmers - if you don't want to be left behind by history like Prolog or Fortran programmers, don't be afraid of new things.

OKX Web3 launched a new App Connect protocol on September 6, 2024, which now supports the TON ecosystem and will soon expand to popular networks such as EVM and Solana.

4. Telegram project developers do not necessarily have to choose TON Chain, they can choose any blockchain.

All services and products in the TON network have been fully developed by the community in a decentralized manner, and our core team is only responsible for the implementation of the blockchain core.

I believe that in the future, only Bitcoin and TON will continue to exist, and other blockchains seem outdated - with slow development cycles and unclear goals.

We highly respect Bitcoin and Ethereum - they have opened the era of the cryptocurrency industry. But to be honest, they haven't achieved much success in large-scale applications.

In addition to setting the stage for excellent projects in the TON ecosystem, OKX Web3 also promotes the improvement of the TON ecosystem through technology.

Currently, TON Core is not a standard setter, but a pioneer.

10. We need to pay attention to ordinary users who are not yet familiar with blockchain. Perhaps such a user will find that having a TON passport with visa free access to 256 countries is more attractive than another complex mining protocol.

11. The OKX OS service provided by OKX Web3 provides a complete set of development tools, SDKs, APIs, and documentation for TON developers, greatly simplifying the development process. Developers can quickly build their own applications on TON and connect to the OKX Web3 wallet, providing a one-stop solution for project deployment and operation needs.

Explosive Chain Game, TON's Technological Innovation and Progress Sharing

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: These games with millions or even billions of users choose TON because it seems to be the only blockchain capable of handling such high loads. Although we did encounter some challenges during this process, we ultimately succes**ully completed the launch of all these games.

On May 16, 2024, the gaming project Notchoin, with 35 million users, issued its token on the TON blockchain and simultaneously went live on top global exchanges. On the first day of the game's launch, TON blockchain welcomed one million new Notcoin holders. Equally noteworthy are the token issuances of Avacoin in July and DOGS in August, which have 6 million monthly active users and 50 million monthly active users, respectively. Next, this year, game giant Hamster Kombat with 239 million players and TapSwap with 56 million players will issue tokens on TON. These figures are quite impressive even under the Web2 standard, and we feel like we are truly pioneers.

TON has an asynchronous architecture that can load dynamic sharding. However, in practical operation, there are indeed some implementation and infrastructure issues that we strive to address in a timely manner to keep up with the increasing load. We release planned kernel updates every 1-2 months, some of which increase resource consumption and performance in certain areas by tens of times. This year we plan to release a major "accelerator" kernel update and update the decentralized weak validator penalty system to encourage network validators not to save on hardware costs.

In addition, we are proud of our fixed network fee system, which does not fluctuate due to network load. If the price of TON token rises, the cost can be reduced through online voting, as we demonstrated this year.

Wang, Head of OKX Web3 TON Ecological Access: Regarding this topic, I would like to supplement it from the perspective of three parties. The outbreak of TON's online gaming ecosystem is mainly attributed to two key technological factors:

Firstly, the deep integration between TON and Telegram, as well as the TON Connect protocol, has brought unique advantages to the TON ecosystem in the field of blockchain gaming, especially in terms of blockchain gaming promotion and user growth. Users can directly access TON's blockchain games and other DApps within the Telegram application, and achieve **ooth wallet connections and interactive operations through TON Connect. This greatly reduces the entry threshold for users, making participation in blockchain games more convenient, thereby promoting rapid growth in user base.

Secondly, TON's sharding technology is another major core advantage. This architecture significantly improves the network's throughput and scalability, and can effectively meet the needs of high concurrency scenarios. For blockchain games, this is particularly important as they typically require handling a large number of **all transactions and real-time interactions. TON's sharding architecture ensures stable network operation even in high user scenarios, avoiding congestion issues and providing a **ooth gaming experience, ensuring seamless game interaction and transactions for players.

Through these two technological innovations, the TON ecosystem has provided strong support for the development of blockchain touri**.

Why did TON ecosystem applications start with GameFi instead of DeFi?

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: The goal of TON blockchain is to promote the widespread adoption of encryption industry and decentralized technology, which is why we always focus on the needs of ordinary users rather than short-term trends in the encryption industry. I am surprised why other blockchains are almost entirely focused on the speculative component of cryptocurrencies. After all, speculators and traders are not the mainstream of the global population.

TON Network has a comprehensive tool system, covering DEX, lending protocols, liquidity pledging, and more. We hope that users can play DeFi on TON as easily and conveniently as playing **all games, and quickly get started.

On other blockchains, ordinary users may not even be able to figure out how to send tokens. We need to first address this issue in order to enable more people to use DeFi. This year, we launched USDT on the TON network. According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, this is the most succes**ul USDT launch in history, thanks to TON's low fees that do not rely on network load changes, direct integration in Telegram wallets, and the ability to use USDT to pay network fees.

What does TON bring to developers

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: First of all, I believe the main force that attracts developers is the constantly growing number of users in the TON ecosystem. Since the beginning of the year, the number of accounts on the TON blockchain has increased from 4 million to 53 million, a growth of more than 10 times. In addition, with the emergence of a series of tools, this enables developers to create Mini Apps in Telegram and easily link them to the TON network and TON wallet through TON Connect, providing blockchain developers with the opportunity to reach nearly 1 billion Telegram users.

Secondly, we cannot be compatible with EVM because they belong to different architectures: EVM is a non scalable synchronous architecture, while TVM is a scalable asynchronous architecture. But if we consider global programmers, Solidity programmers are actually very few. Our target is ordinary users who are not yet familiar with blockchain, not traders. At the same time, we also target ordinary developers who have not yet been exposed to blockchain, such as Java, Python, C , JavaScript and other language developers, rather than the few Solidity developers.

We have our own development tools and programming languages because TON's asynchronous structure is fundamentally different from the previous generation of synchronous blockchain. This enables developers to create scalable decentralized products. Some developers feel lazy about learning new things. But before the emergence of blockchain, programmers had also shifted from single threaded languages to multi-threaded programming. I appeal to Solidity programmers - if you don't want to be left behind by history like Prolog or Fortran programmers, don't be afraid of new things.

We constantly develop our own development tools and programming languages. Alexander Kirsanov， Former maintainers of KPHP language and AnTON Trunov, who created Scilla language for Zilliqa blockchain, have both joined TON. We plan to showcase significant updates at the Gateway conference this fall.

The ** TON ecosystem is often benchmarked against WeChat, which dominates many businesses. So, what is the division of labor between you and the community?

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: At this stage, all services and products in the TON network have been fully developed by the community in a decentralized manner. Our core team is only responsible for implementing the blockchain kernel and providing network guidelines to provide a platform for the community. The Telegram team has developed a top tier messaging application with rich features and provided publicly available Bot API and Mini Apps API.

Wang, Head of OKX Web3 TON Ecological Access: Indeed, TON needs to focus more on the construction of underlying protocols, especially in terms of infrastructure. Compared with mature public chains such as Ethereum, there is still room for improvement. In the future, with the improvement of TON infrastructure, this will not only help attract more developers to enter the TON ecosystem, but also pave the way for a wider range of application scenarios in the future.

Do we ultimately have to choose TON for projects starting in **?

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: We don't have any mandatory requirements for developers, they can choose any blockchain. For example, the HOT project initially running on Telegram chose the Near blockchain, but failed during the initial token issuance due to overload of the Near blockchain and inability to proceed with the issuance. Therefore, the HOT project has now been tran**erred to the TON blockchain. However, due to the viral nature of Telegram, products that choose to launch on Telegram are more likely to gain sufficient user base.

OKX Web3 TON Ecological Access Manager Wang: Although Telegram startup projects do not necessarily have to choose TON chain, there are indeed many projects that choose to deploy on other public chains such as EVM. However, due to the deep integration between TON and Telegram, projects deployed on the TON chain have more obvious advantages within the Telegram ecosystem. The seamless connection between TON Chain and Telegram can greatly simplify the user experience of the project, enhance user acquisition and participation, and effectively promote project development by utilizing Telegram's huge user base and powerful social functions.

TON's current and future position in the public chain ecosystem

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: We will follow our own path and not blindly follow the trend. Our uniqueness has attracted more innovators with new ideas, rather than practitioners of cryptocurrency scams. Meanwhile, the trend of encryption has not bypassed TON - we have experienced multiple engraving and Meme coin booms.

TON is a community driven project. No one, including the core team, can make changes on the blockchain alone. We can only provide options for improving the network for the community to choose from. The voting function has been built into the core of the TON blockchain, which is in line with the principles of decentralized projects. Major changes require voting through the TON-vote platform, followed by a vote from validators.

I believe that in the future, only Bitcoin and TON will continue to exist, while other blockchains seem outdated - with slow development cycles and unclear goals.

TON has a clear goal - to achieve 500 million monthly active users within 5 years. We are steadily moving towards this goal - since the beginning of this year, the number of monthly active users has increased more than 20 times, from 221000 MAUs to 4.5 million MAUs.

What contribution does TON make to industry standardization?

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: I think the industry has not yet reached the stage of standardization. We highly respect Bitcoin and Ethereum - they have opened the era of the cryptocurrency industry. But to be honest, they haven't achieved much success in large-scale applications.

At present, TON Core is not a standard setter, but a pioneer. Our development achievements will become industry standards in the future. However, we hope to introduce a standard now. Last autumn, we conducted a blockchain performance test that showcased the execution of complex **art contracts with 100K TPS, setting a world record. The problem we are facing is that there is currently no unified system to measure and compare the performance of blockchain. The renowned auditing firm CertiK cross validated our results and created a ranking list in their system. This could become a Guinness World Record similar to the blockchain field.

TON is a Proof of Stake blockchain with its own Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus protocol called Catchain. This year, we have reached 400 independent validators online, with 600M TON (more than 10% of the total supply) participating in the verification to ensure the correctness of the network. Although during this period, the **art contracts written by the TON kernel or core team have not encountered any hacker attacks, we will not be overly complacent about it.

In addition to in-depth and long-term testing by our core team, we also collaborate with top global audit firms and actively conduct vulnerability bounty campaigns in the community. For example, in addition to being tested and reviewed by the core team, USDT's **art contracts have also been tested by Trail of Bits, Zellic, and open cracking competitions.

What technological development direction are you concerned about in achieving large-scale application of TON?

TON core developer Anatoly Makosov: We need to focus on ordinary users who are not yet familiar with blockchain. Perhaps such a user will find that having a TON passport with visa free access to 256 countries is more attractive than another complex mining protocol.

This year, we have developed a new TON Wallet **art contract v5.0, which will support two factor authentication, social key recovery to prevent loss, and has already achieved gas free transactions, meaning there is no need to pay network fees with TONcoin. In addition, we have now launched TON Mintless Token technology, which allows projects to instantly distribute tokens to hundreds of millions of users at a network cost of less than one dollar.

However, we still face many challenges, including both technical and non-technical challenges. It's difficult to identify a single issue - we need to improve the kernel, infrastructure, APIs, and applications. We still need to rethink user experience (UX) and user interface multiple times until they are intuitive enough for everyone. TON has a naturally scalable architecture, excellent technology, and Telegram as a rocket launcher, so we are able to address all of these challenges. Many other blockchain projects lack these advantages.

Wang, Head of OKX Web3 TON Ecological Access: Personally, I am also very concerned about the development of TON's wallet **art contracts.

The latest v5 contract version introduces capabilities such as gas free transactions and off chain calls, undoubtedly laying the foundation for exploring more use cases of Web2. This has many similarities with EIP-4337 wallet, but also unique advantages. This greatly enhances the user friendliness, flexibility, and security of TON Chain Wallet.

When users can use TON Chain Wallet without feeling anything, combined with Telegram's inherent user base in Web2, this will inevitably promote the further large-scale application of TON

What has OKX Web3 done in the construction of TON ecosystem?

Wang, Head of TON Ecological Access at OKX Web3: Firstly, as a leading entry point for Web3, OKX Web3 Wallet has natively integrated with the TON chain ecosystem. Users can manage TON assets in one stop through OKX wallet, and **oothly complete cross chain swaps, NFTs, Defi, and access TON DApps on mobile and desktop devices. At the same time, OKX Web3, in collaboration with the TON project team and The Open League, launched the Giveaway and Cryptopedia series of activities, which exposed and attracted high-quality projects on TON, helping more Web3 users onboard to the TON ecosystem.

Secondly, in addition to setting the stage for excellent projects in the TON ecosystem, OKX Web3 also promotes the improvement of the TON ecosystem through technology. We actively collaborate with TON core developers to promote TON Enhancement Proposals (TEPs) and continuously improve infrastructure to help developers better build applications in the ecosystem, making the TON ecosystem healthier and more sustainable. In addition, in terms of tools, OKX Web3 provides OKX OS services, offering TON developers a complete set of development tools, SDKs, APIs, and documentation, greatly simplifying the development process. Developers can quickly build their own applications on TON and connect to the OKX Web3 wallet, providing a one-stop solution for project deployment and operation needs.

Thirdly, OKX Ventures, as the investment department of OKX, has partnered with TON to establish a fund and actively participate in the investment and incubation of TON ecological projects, helping start-up projects grow on the TON network. Through financial support and resource guidance, help more projects to be launched and commercialized within the TON ecosystem.

In short, OKX Web3 has always been committed to promoting innovation and application of blockchain technology, and the TON ecosystem is one of the areas we are very optimistic about. Our collaboration with TON ecosystem will focus on promoting the growth and development of more projects within the ecosystem, providing users with the highest quality multi chain support and developer tools. However, OKX Web3 is not only friendly to TON developers, but also to all public chain developers in terms of technology and resources. In the future, we will continue to optimize our products and provide more convenient services for users and developers. We look forward to promoting the implementation of more application scenarios and attracting more users and developers to enter the Web3 ecosystem through resource sharing and technical exchanges.

About the "Developer Story" column

Web3 developers have made significant contributions to the development of the encryption industry. Their innovative spirit and technological capabilities have injected lasting vitality and momentum into the entire industry, not only improving the technology itself, but also providing support for future application scenarios and business models. But although they are active, they are rarely noticed. The "Developer Story" column launched by OKX Web3 and Chain Catcher aims to understand the development trends, technical insights, latest developments, market changes, hot comments, etc. of different public chains from the perspective of developers through dialogue with core developers of different public chain ecosystems and OKX Web3 technology teams, enhancing the voice of Web3 developers, approaching this most active and interesting people, and providing them with maximum support.

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