What Is Gram (GRAM)?

Gram (GRAM) is the native cryptocurrency of the decentralized layer-1 blockchain, The Open Network (TON). The TON blockchain is open-sourced and supported by many network contributors, including the Switzerland-based non-profit organization, the TON Foundation.

Since 2017, the Telegram team had been developing the codebase for a blockchain network, then named Telegram Open Network (TON), with a native cryptocurrency named 'Gram.' In May 2020, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov announced the end of Telegram's involvement with the TON Blockchain following a court order by the SEC. The original Gram token was never issued.

Since 2020, the technology has been developed by an independent community of developers and blockchain enthusiasts. The non-profit TON Foundation is the most prominent of these supporters. The blockchain was renamed from "Telegram Open Network" to "The Open Network," and its native cryptocurrency became known as Toncoin. Toncoin was later renamed Gram (GRAM).

The whitepaper contains part of the original codebase written by Dr. Nikolai Durov, co-founder of Telegram and brother of Pavel Durov. The TON blockchain utilizes the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model for network scalability and reliability.

TON Foundation's vision is to empower 500 million users to own their digital identity, data, and assets by 2028 by empowering developers to build a Web3 ecosystem in Telegram Messenger.

Who Founded The Open Network?

The Open Network (TON) is an open-source and decentralized blockchain.

The TON Foundation, which launched and developed The Open Network (TON), was established by Anatoliy Makosov and Kirill Emelianenko.

What Makes TON Unique?

TON has a multi-level structure built on the principle of sharding or segmentation (TON can be thought of as "a blockchain of blockchains"). TON’s sharding feature involves the use of multiple subnets (shards) on the same blockchain, where each shard has a specific purpose. It allows the network to avoid the accumulation of unverified blocks and significantly speeds up tasks. This sharding technology enables TON to scale effectively and efficiently, meaning that TON can theoretically perform a near-limitless number of simultaneous, ultra-fast transactions.

TON’s capacity to scale while ensuring transactions remain cheap and fast is just one of the reasons that Telegram has endorsed TON as its official Web3 infrastructure. Telegram and the TON Foundation will integrate and promote the TON-based Web3 ecosystem in Telegram. The partners’ mission is to onboard 30% of all Telegram users to TON by 2028. Telegram’s commitment to the TON blockchain provides developers and merchants across the world with unrivalled access to a rapidly expanding global audience of Web3-familiar users.

Alongside this unprecedented access, TON’s role as Telegram’s official Web3 infrastructure has also supported the development of a best-in-class cryptocurrency payments solution. Wallet, a TON-based platform directly integrated into Telegram, enables instantaneous P2P transactions and borderless payments for merchants within Telegram. Wallet’s unique value as a crypto-based payments facilitator was recently cemented with the announcement that, in conjunction with Telegram, Tether, and TON Foundation, Wallet would now enable users to make low-cost USDT payments with the click of a button, making crypto as easy as texting.

TON also offers the following services: TON Storage offers the benefits of private encryption using the private key of the owner's wallet; TON Proxy uses all platform components and allows clients to access the TON blockchain via decentralized VPNs; and TON DNS (decentralized name system) makes it possible for traditional websites to work in the TON network, allowing users to set short, readable names.

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What is proof-of-stake (PoS)? Learn more with the CMC glossary.

What is Web 3.0? Find out more with CMC Alexandria.

How Many Gram (GRAM) Coins Are There in Circulation?

The TON network has its native cryptocurrency, Gram, with a circulating supply of 3.47B and a maximum supply of 5B GRAM.

Gram was designed to be a utility token that fuels dApps within the TON ecosystem. The TON blockchain can be used to build decentralized applications (dApps), with Gram used to pay transaction processing fees and cross-chain transaction fees. The token can also be used for staking to secure the blockchain. The list of use cases also includes payment for decentralized data storage, TON DNS/TON Proxy, and other fees within TON-based decentralized services. Validator fees are also paid in GRAM.

How Is The Open Network (TON) Secured?

The network utilizes the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate transactions. Validator rewards are paid in Gram. Nominators can also provide GRAM to validators and receive rewards. Validators and nominators are managed with smart contracts, providing the network extra protection. Smart contracts are executed using TON Virtual Machine (TVM).

Where Can You Buy Gram (GRAM)?

Gram (GRAM) is listed on multiple crypto exchanges like Huobi Global, KuCoin, Uniswap (V3), Gate.io, OKX, LBank, MEXC, EXMO, CoinEx, Biswap, BitMart, Nomiswap, BitoPro, ACE, DigiFinex, Tidex, Unocoin, Bit.com, BingX, Bybit, and HitBTC.

Read CoinMarketCap's in-depth guide on tokenomics.