Community devs and validators launch a fork of TON without participation from Telegram

Development firm TON Labs enlisted the help of community developers and professional validators to launch a new version of the TON blockchain earlier today without participation from Telegram. The announcement comes one week after Telegram once again postponed the release of the original TON platform in response to the regulatory hurdles it faced in the U.S.

The new chain, called Free TON, is a fork of its predecessor and, therefore, features many of the same designs like sharing and a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. But the founding developers named its native token “ton crystals” to distinguish them from GRAMs. According to CoinDesk, thirteen validators backed by fifteen entities support the current version Free TON, which will serve as the network’s first phase as it looks to decentralize in progressive stages.

Why it matters:

• Free TON will allow developers and users to interact with a TON-like network well before Telegram’s version will go live, if ever.
• Unlike the original TON blockchain, 85% of ton crystals will go to “Free TON partners and users” that sign its “Declaration of Decentralization” and contribute to the network. Free TON developers and validators will receive the remaining tokens. But ton crystals are not readily available at the moment. The current Free TON chain is a beta version, and only select validators and users will receive tokens. According to its roadmap, Free TON will need to go through two full testing phases before reaching a level of sufficient decentralization that’s safe enough for widespread distribution. Also, note that prospective users based in the U.S. will not be able to participate in these initial stages.