Telegram’s abandoned blockchain project was called TON, short for Telegram Open Network.
Telegram and TON Issuer began developing the network in 2018, alongside a planned cryptocurrency called Gram. The project was designed as a high-capacity blockchain that could support payments and decentralized applications at a scale suitable for Telegram’s large user base.
The project raised about $1.7 billion through private token-sale agreements. In 2019, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission sued Telegram, arguing that the planned Gram distribution violated securities law. A court later blocked the launch, and Telegram agreed in 2020 to stop work on TON, repay investors, and pay an $18.5 million civil penalty.
The name can cause confusion because the TON brand did not disappear completely. Independent developers later continued work on a separate network now known as The Open Network, also abbreviated TON. That successor is distinct from Telegram’s original corporate project, even though it grew out of the same broader technical concept. Solana and Ethereum are separate blockchain networks, while Libra was Facebook’s later-renamed cryptocurrency project.