Telegram Messenger to Officially Launch TON Network in Late October

Encrypted messaging service Telegram will launch its long-awaited Telegram Open Network (TON) in late October.

In an Oct. 2 message in the official TON Board on Telegram, the firm states that original investors were informed that the blockchain network would launch later this month.

Investors are provided with TON key generation software and will be required to provide Telegram with a public key to receive their Gram (GRM) tokens — the platform’s native token — by Oct. 16th. The entire source code for TON is now available on Github.

The message states that the launch follows a successful testing stage.

In early September, Telegram released the TON testnet explorer and node software, followed by an alpha version of a Gram token wallet for iOS.

Ethereum compatibility and smart contracts on TON

The network will purportedly be compatible with the Ethereum network, allowing users to port their Ethereum smart contracts over to TON. Software startup TON Labs, which is managed by Telegram’s token offering investors, is reportedly developing a Solidity compiler for its blockchain. Solidity is a programming language is primarily used to develop smart contracts on Ethereum.

Last week, Telegram announced a coding competition for building smart contracts on TON. Using the tools provided in the TON Blockchain distribution, contestants will vie for a prize fund worth between $200,000 and $400,000.