Where to buy Durov's cryptocurrency Gram (TON)

This event is called the most anticipated and large-scale project of 2018. The ICO of the TON token, which is better known as the GRAM cryptocurrency, scheduled for the fall of 2020, has become the source of a huge amount of controversy, gossip and no less a number of false and true rumors, as well as several pseudo ICOs organized by scammers in order to profit from the reigning panic around the new coin. Let's figure out what GRAM Coin is.

What is GRAM (TON)?

The Telegram messenger, in addition to being a convenient and, most importantly, encrypted means of operational communication, creates many problems for regulatory authorities. A lot has been written in the media about their confrontation with Durov.

The solution to this situation was the implementation of our own network, which will finally make Telegram completely anonymous and provide it with the ability to make anonymous mutual settlements using the GRAM Coin currency. Here is a short list of the main goals of introducing a new coin to the market:

Raising $1,200,000,000 while the ICO will take place;
Creation of a full-fledged decentralized anonymous network, which will not be influenced by outsiders, in particular by the state;
Implementation of a self-healing network that will not be afraid of global interventions;
Providing the created network with its own currency, equally anonymous and decentralized, but available for purchase on key trading and exchange platforms.

But the most important thing is the creation of a new blockchain called TON (Telegram Open Network), which will allow the creation of a new type of sites operating in the system and protected from any access restrictions and other types of interference. As we can see, the tasks are quite feasible, and most importantly, the implementation of the task is in demand by users who are ready to invest much more money than stated in the documentation for the ICO. The developers do not say how much it costs to create your own cryptocurrency.

Telegram cryptocurrency: more speed, less rate jumps

The fact that Telegram is developing its own blockchain platform TON (Telegram Open Network), where the Gram cryptocurrency will be used, became known at the end of 2020. To create the platform, Durov’s team raised funds from investors in the amount of $1.7 billion (according to media reports, Roman Abramovich and Yuri Milner are among them).

The Telegram team promises that TON will be hundreds of thousands of times faster than the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains and will even be able to surpass the transaction speed of Visa and Mastercard - we are talking about more than a million transactions per second. How is this possible? Unlike Bitcoin, the chain of records of all transactions will not be stored on the computers of all users, but will be divided between Telegram users.

The developers promise that it will be possible to convert any currency into grams using a regular telegram bot that works with a bank card. Having received grams, you can send them to any contact from your chat in a couple of movements.

A total of 5 billion coins will be issued, 44% of which will be sold publicly and on pre-sales, and at least 52% will be in a special stabilization fund, which will keep Gram from jumping in price. For example, if the price of Gram rises sharply, then new coins will be introduced to the market. As soon as someone decides to sell a large batch of grams for dollars or rubles, they will immediately be bought out by the same stabilization fund, where ordinary, fiat currencies (collected at ICO - initial coin offering) are concentrated. This means that you shouldn’t expect a thousand-fold rise in the price of gram, like Bitcoin.

Moreover, every year the rate of Gram relative to other currencies will be raised by two percent - just to compensate for dollar inflation (if it changes, the price of Gram will rise after it).

There is no information about the cost of Gram - the presale of the first tokens is being held closed to a limited circle of investors (Forbes wrote that to participate in the first round, third-party companies and entrepreneurs needed to invest at least $20 million, for “friends” - $500 thousand). Invest analysts estimate the cost of Gram at $2.1–8.0 per token. By 2028, the cost of one Gram could reach $15-30 per coin, Aton calculated (although we are critical of attempts to estimate the exchange rate of a fundamentally new means of payment in advance and urge readers not to rely on these estimates in practical financial steps).

In September of this year, Telegram will begin testing its blockchain, and by October 31 it should release the first batch of its Gram cryptocurrency.

Alternative Internet?

While Mark Zuckerberg is butting heads with US financial authorities and trying to get regulatory approval for Libra, Durov is going to bring cryptocurrency to the mass level - and Telegram, with 200 million loyal users, is becoming a key tool in this mission.

In short, we are talking about a mass-market currency - understandable to ordinary users who do not understand how the blockchain works, how Bitcoin differs from Etherium and how tokens are “mined”. Durov and the team plan to achieve this through the integration of TON and Telegram, which, as stated in the leaked TON presentation, “will open the way to cryptocurrencies for millions of users.”

A “light wallet” will be built into the Telegram messenger, with which users will be able to make payments in the Gram cryptocurrency, and will confirm their identity using a “virtual passport”.

But Gram is only part of an even more ambitious undertaking: in addition to cryptocurrency, the TON system will operate a platform for micropayments and a network of micropayment channels TON Payments, analogue websites (TON Sites), its own file storage service TON Storage, an anonymous proxy server TON Proxy, which will provide the user with absolute anonymity (information can be transmitted with additional encryption - like TOR), its own DNS, which will allow turning complex addresses into understandable ones, and thanks to TON Services, services from third-party developers will be able to work on the platform.

In essence, this is a “second Internet”, only, unlike the usual one, it is uncontrolled either by the authorities or by censorship.

Release date, ICO

The exact date of the initial placement is still unknown, but all statements by the development team place it in the fall of 2020. The process leading up to the placement requires awakening users' interest in the new currency. But for Durov’s cryptocurrency, as users often call it, this interest appeared immediately after the first rumors about the creation of Gram Coin. However, the developers did not rush and change the start date of the project.

As part of the initial offering, it is planned to sell 44% of tokens, the total number of which will reach 5,000,000,000 units. The sale will initially be made only to large investors, with a significant discount, which, however, will depend on how long the investor will allow the coins he purchased to be frozen from sale, after the start of circulation of the coins on exchanges.

The maximum discount is 75%, subject to holding the coins for three years. Large investors mean those who are able to invest at least $20,000,000 in the project.

Where to buy cryptocurrency Telegram (TON) – GRAM

The public sale of Durov’s cryptocurrency as part of the ICO did not take place. Therefore, officially buy the coins themselves at the beginning of the 2nd quarter of 2020. it is forbidden. However, some cryptocurrency exchanges offer gram futures and derivatives for sale. In the future, when sales start, exchange management claims that they will be exchanged for TON tokens in a 1:1 ratio. Those. the thirstiest ones can start buying gram now.

A cryptocurrency futures is an agreement between the parties to deliver a specified cryptocurrency (in our case, gram) in the future at a price approved and paid at the conclusion of the agreement.

You can buy gram crypto futures through exchanges:

LBANK is a large Chinese crypto exchange operating since 2020. and included in the TOP-20 list in terms of trading volumes on the market. By registering on the official website of the exchange https://www.lbank.info you can buy gram futures for ether (GRAMS/ETH).

I recommend buying and exchanging Ether (ETH) through the trusted Binance exchange.

However, not all so simple. Investors of the ICO project TON, who will be the first to receive gram tokens, are prohibited by the agreement from selling the received tokens for 18 months. Any confirmation that the exchange is an investor in the specified project and will receive tokens exclusively is not confirmed by any of the parties.

Recommended reading: Investing in cryptocurrency

Thus, experts assume that this exchange will receive cryptocurrency only when it becomes available to the general public and at the current market price. Therefore, in fact, the exchange is currently selling air. According to experts, this was done to attract money and in the hope that the tokens will fall in price.

Otherwise, if the tokens do not go on sale, the exchange is unlikely to deceive investors and buy the tokens back. But they will already have financial support and advertising.

This information is confirmed by a message from Pavel Durov on Twitter, warning that any offers to purchase cryptocurrency are fraudulent. You should only rely on the information posted on the official website of the project – telegram.org.

Where to buy Durov’s cryptocurrency Gram (TON)

Another way to purchase cryptocurrency is offered by the Xena Exchange, which in February 2020. started selling gram derivative tokens.

A derivative is a contract with no expiration date to buy an asset in the future at a pre-agreed price.

Derivatives are similar in terms to futures, but unlike them, they do not have an expiration date, which provides additional protection against price surges.

To date, Gram/USDt derivatives have increased in price almost 4 times from the moment they went on sale from $2.2 to $8.25.

In general, the situation on the Xena Exchange is similar to the above-mentioned Hong Kong exchange. Both of them have no compelling reason to receive gram tokens at a special price. The only difference is that XenaEx management promises to close clients’ derivatives at a price of $5.9 if the sale of the asset does not open. If sales start, the purchased derivatives will be tied to the market price.

The XenaEx exchange itself is registered in London and began operating relatively recently, in 2020. Therefore, there are few reviews about the reliability of the exchange. But the core team is strong, including developers and former specialists from large investment banks, including JP Mordan. In my opinion, in this case, the introduction of derivatives is aimed more at PR for a young company.

Recommended reading: Earning money from cryptocurrency mining

I told you where to buy Durov’s cryptocurrency Gram (TON). Each investor will have to decide whether to buy the exchanges’ obligations to supply the gram cryptocurrency in the future or wait for the official start of sales. As for me, I decided not to rush and wait for the official release of the coin on the market. Although the prospects for this currency are obvious to me. And for you?

Technology/Algorithm

The new blockchain, according to Pavel Durov, will be built on principles that have not yet been used, namely, on the master chain supplemented with the “2-to-the-power-of-92” principle.

2-to-the-power-of-92 – will be used to structure blocks in the blockchain. This approach, according to the creator, will make it possible to qualitatively scale the network using the endless shard paradigm.

This difficult-to-hear definition will allow TON chains to be separated and connected, depending on the current load on the network. This flexibility will allow you to generate new blocks faster, regardless of how busy the network is at the current time.

Who is Pavel Durov

Russian-speaking Internet users are probably familiar with Pavel Durov primarily because of the social network VKontakte, of which he is the creator. Now VKontakte does not belong to him, but to Mail.ru Group, and Pavel’s name is increasingly associated with the Telegram messenger, which was also developed by him.

Both projects were and continue to be helped by a group of talented Russian programmers, which includes Pavel’s brother, Nikolai.

Pavel Durov himself is also a programmer, although he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University with a degree in English Philology and Translation. Pavel rarely gives interviews, therefore he is a closed figure to everyone, however, his libertarian views motivate him to work, which he has long held and speaks about openly.

Let us remember that libertarianism is based on ideas about personal freedom, political freedom and freedom of choice. Compare these theses with what is said in the section about the purpose of cryptocurrency. You will understand why Pavel Durov is so interested in her.

Release date and history

Initially, it was planned to create our own payment system for the social network VKontakte. But then the project was not developed, since the requirements of the law “On the National Payment System” that was issued at that time significantly complicated the work with the payment system within the VC, which, on the contrary, should have been as easy to use as possible.

Then Durov had the idea to create a payment system that would not depend on state laws.

Blockchain technology has opened a window of opportunity to realize this dream. This is how the development of TON began.

The release date for TON has not yet been set, but it is planned for April 2020. At the same time, the official release of the Gram cryptocurrency will take place, since the TON tokens purchased by the project’s investors will turn into it (in a ratio of 1 to 1).

Let us remind you that in 2 rounds of ICO, that is, during the collection of investments, the TON idea was able to collect 1.7 billion US dollars. This attracted public attention to this project.

Description and characteristics

The protocol on which Gram will work is called Proof-of-Stake, that is, proof of ownership. Thus, the likelihood of creating a new block in the TON blockchain will be greater not for those who have more powerful equipment, but for those who have a larger share of the cryptocurrency in the transaction.

Smart contracts, which are the basis of Ethereum, will provide the stated transaction speed. For example, Visa and Mastercard make tens of millions of transactions per second, while Bitcoin provides only 7.

It is planned that Gram and TON will compete with Mastercard and Visa, and not other cryptocurrencies, since ensuring high transaction speed is one of the main tasks of the creators of Gram and TON.

Gram mining

All Gram transactions will be secured by “validators” and they will receive a commission for this, meaning that there is no need to mine this currency. Thanks to validators, TON will secure itself, and computing power will be spent not on finding counterfeits, but on processing transactions and smart contracts. Validators will be checking TON blocks for integrity.

When experts learned about this point, they noticed that this approach to mining makes Gram similar to Ripple, this will be their second similarity. The first, of course, concerns the speed of transactions, which Ripple has the fastest.

By the way, the fact that mining is not provided now does not mean that it will definitely not happen. It is possible that TON will grow rapidly and validators will not be able to cope with such a volume of work. Then the release of software for mining, preferably for computers with any capacity, will be a logical solution to the problem.

Peculiarities

This project is unique primarily in that its creator and ideological inspirer, before starting work on TON, implemented two projects that became one of the most profitable and successful in the world in history.

Telegram already combines fast communication, anonymity, the ability to program bots, create online stores and other functions that were not previously combined. Now let’s add to this our own currency Gram Coin, the unique blockchain network TON Telegram and we understand that the project will shock the world.

But the home blockcoin cryptocurrency cannot boast of such successes.

Telegram open network roadmap

It looks a little unconventional compared to other projects. The difference is that the roadmap does not describe the degree of user involvement, the percentage of coins sold, and other points. The Gram cryptocurrency was in demand long before the announcement, therefore the roadmap contains only intermediate stages in the formation of the new network:

1 Q '18 - implementation of a secure identifier;
2 Q '18 - TON network test under all load formats and stress tests;
3 Q '18 - network security testing;
4 Q 18 - confirmation of readiness and start of deployment of the TON network;
4 Q 18 - activation of the Gram Coin wallet in the messenger;
1Q 2019 - start of implementation of the economic component of the project described above;
2 Q 19 - server launch and activation of databases of the new blockchain.

Excitement is growing around the project

How much will Durov’s cryptocurrency cost?

In the Pre-sale stage, the cost of the token is provided, which will later be exchanged for Gram in a 1:1 ratio, at 10 cents. It is expected that all pre-sales will be completed quite quickly and the tokens will end up on trading platforms, where their price will reach at least $1, even before the coin appears on stage.

But here too there is a peculiarity of the project, and it consists of two components:

42% of coins are not planned to be sold. They will remain the property of the project team as a lever to compensate for possible speculative sentiment in the market. No matter how traders and investors want to increase their capital, Pavel Durov will allow this to be done only by expanding the network and offering better conditions;
Each coin sold during the ICO process increases the value of the remaining coins by 1 billionth of a dollar;

It turns out that the price of each remaining coin will increase in proportion to the GramCoin already purchased.

Gram (TON) – Durov’s cryptocurrency Gram (TON)

Many people confuse the concepts of Gram and TON. Pavel Durov’s cryptocurrency itself is called Gram. The word TON comes from the abbreviation Telegram Open Network, the blockchain platform on which the Gram cryptocurrency was created and will operate.

So why is the newly minted cryptocurrency from the creator of Telegram so attractive to investors and ordinary people, except for the name of its creator? According to experts, gram will be different from other cryptocurrencies:

the highest speed and low cost of transactions,
reduced risk of exchange rate speculation, because the company will retain more than 52% of all coins released for sale,
increased security against hacking of the blockchain and user wallets by developing our own identity verification system,
complete anonymity of users.

Thus, the developers took into account the most serious mistakes made when creating cryptocurrencies and limiting their distribution to settlements using virtual money. Therefore, the release of the cryptocurrency from TON caused such a resonance. It’s a no brainer that such a project has high growth potential.

Gram cryptocurrency exchange rate to ruble

Today (Q2 2020) it is difficult to answer this question, because... It is unknown when cryptocurrency sales will begin. But based on the money raised and the expected issue of coins, experts predict the rate of cryptocurrency Gram to the ruble in the ranges:

Most experts estimate the cost of a gram at the time it goes into circulation at around 100 rubles. for 1 coin,
In terms of the number of votes on cryptocurrency forums, the leading position is held by the price of 160-170 rubles. for one gram,
the most expectant and positive-minded ones name figures up to 500 rubles. a piece.

Recommended reading: Cold wallet for cryptocurrency

The exact exchange rate of the Gram cryptocurrency to the ruble will become known only immediately at the time it goes on sale to the masses.

I discussed all the ways to make money on cryptocurrency in detail in the articles:

How to make money on cryptocurrency
Investing in cryptocurrency (7 break-even strategies)
Cryptocurrency trading

Gram wallets

It is not yet known for certain in what format the method of storing cryptocurrency in the TON network will be implemented. The documentation for the project mentions that the Gram wallet will allow you to store a large number of cryptocurrencies, as well as fiat money. In this case, it is most likely that internal exchange of assets will be provided directly within the system.

It is reported that the system will provide almost instant transfers, including to plastic cards. There will be a fee for using the system, the amount of which has not yet been announced.

But the fact that each wallet owner will have to undergo full verification with identity confirmation by sending passport scans to the project support greatly outraged potential users of the project. Indeed, what is the point of creating an anonymous messenger, then a completely anonymous network that allows you to create anonymous sites, pay for all this with anonymous currency and require users to undergo verification at the same time? The question remains unanswered for now.

The only thing we managed to find out was a message that the sent data will be stored on the user’s side and will be locked with a complex key, which will also be stored by the user.

Most likely, for the network itself, the fact of client verification will be enough to serve him, but separate procedures will probably be developed to resolve controversial situations.

The emergence of information about the Gram cryptocurrency

We first heard about Gram coin on December 21 last year from former VKontakte top manager Anton Rosenberg. It was he who came up with the message that Telegram (which is headed by Pavel Durov) will launch its own cryptocurrency. This information could not have been taken seriously if the next day a video with a presentation of the project had not been published on YouTube.

But this is not the end of the information about the coin. Thus, on January 7, Fyodor Skuratov (founder of the company for analytics in instant messengers Combot) published text extracts from the whitepaper.

Well, the final point that there will indeed be a cryptocurrency was made by Techcrunch, where on January 8 a detailed note about the upcoming presentation of the Gram coin was published. The author of this publication claims that after negotiations with a couple of reliable sources, he was able to familiarize himself with the original whitepaper.

Representatives of Telegram will work on the launch of this coin. Moreover, this will happen without the participation of banks or government organizations. And of course, it is not discussed that the future coin will be called Gram.

Naturally, the coin has practically no tools. Their launch is planned gradually. In particular:

Telegram Wallet (a wallet for storing this cryptocurrency) will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2020. So this year it will be possible to acquire one of the main tools for work. The wallet will allow you to store both cryptocurrency from Telegram and fiat funds. This is a unique solution;
Almost all services running on the TON blockchain and suitable for working with this cryptocurrency will be launched in 2019.

During the pre-sale of coins, the developers plan to receive up to $500 million. Moreover, such investments are expected only from large investors. When a full-fledged ICO starts, the developers plan to collect at least three billion dollars. Although, according to optimistic forecasts, it is possible that the Gram coin will be able to raise five billion dollars. And not the least role in this will be played by the connection with Pavel Durov.

Durov's comments on cryptocurrency

Founder of the project Pavel Durov
Not much has been said openly about the new project by Pavel Durov.

He made his main statement at the very beginning of the project, after Iran blocked Telegram and cut off more than 40,000,000 users from communication.

Then Durov said that the new project is designed to eliminate any blocking and sanctions in the future thanks to its own system implemented on the blockchain.

The second official statement from Pavel came at a time when the hysteria that the currency had already entered the market was at its peak, the ICO had started and Pre-Sale had reached its climax. The final chord of rumors and speculation was the appearance of the GRAMM cryptocurrency on the Yobit exchange, which, as it turned out, has nothing to do with the TON network.

Then Durov stated that information that is subject to perception by users who are interested in the project is published only on the website telegram.org and no other sources, including the team’s own accounts or Pavel Durov himself, will be 100% truthful.

How much to hang in GRAMs

TON of problems: what else threatens Pavel Durov’s cryptocurrency

He will have to pause the issuance of digital money or conduct an ICO outside the United States

Investors of Pavel Durov's Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain platform decided not to demand a refund after the decision of the US Securities Commission (SEC) to stop the ICO. That is, the launch of GRAM is postponed until April 30. Some experts have suggested that the main holders of existing cryptocurrencies and mining companies may not be interested in launching GRAM. However, the experts interviewed by Izvestia, on the contrary, spoke positively about it, justifying their position by the lack of overlap with the Bitcoin, Monero, Zcash and other cryptocurrencies used.

As reported by Durov’s team, generating GRAM through classical mining will not be possible. After the launch of the Network, only a certain number of validators will be able to mine cryptocurrency. And the composition of participants in POS mining (the ability to mine coins without purchasing expensive equipment - Izvestia) will change monthly. Thus, the emergence of GRAM will not affect the current market in any way.

Tone_3

Photo: Getty Images/Chesnot

GRAM will occupy its own niche, says mining specialist Mikhail Pluzhnikov.

“The launch of a new cryptocurrency will not affect the Bitcoin rate in any way,” the expert is convinced. - Nobody uses it for small transactions - for example, paying for a movie that can be watched via the Internet, or buying a new weapon for the game. Bitcoin is needed to transfer large amounts of money or for savings. Essentially, this is a cryptocurrency deposit. GRAM will be used in a completely different area.

This information was confirmed to Izvestia by a source from the largest mining company in the world.

CEO of the mining pool Sigmapool Jakhon Khabilov

From a technical point of view, Bitcoin and GRAM do not overlap at all. If Bitcoin is mined on machines, then this is not expected in Durov’s project

The crypt was opened: In the Russian Federation they began to determine the official price of bitcoins

This is necessary for paying taxes and legal proceedings involving digital assets

The CEO of the Sigmapool mining pool, Jakhon Khabilov, shares a similar opinion. From his point of view, a slight negative impact on the cryptocurrency market is possible if Durov and the SEC do not agree. Otherwise, the Bitcoin rate will even rise.

— From a technical point of view, Bitcoin and GRAM do not overlap at all. If Bitcoin is mined on machines, then this is not expected in Durov’s project,” the specialist said. — The only thing that unites them is decentralization, the principle of blockchain. On the other hand, we see that if two or three years ago similar news could affect the price of Bitcoin, now the correlation has decreased. That is, external factors, in fact, have almost no influence on it.

Khabilov also drew attention to the similarity between Durov’s cryptocurrency projects and Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum. In his opinion, Durov is playing on the fact that “ether” could not withstand a large volume of transactions, because it turned out to be inconvenient and slow. A new version of “ether” is currently being prepared, and theoretically, rivalry could arise between it and GRAM. However, until both cryptocurrencies start working, nothing definite can be said about this.

Tone_1

Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Rules of good TONa: the founder of Qiwi will not demand money from the Durovs

However, the owners of the Telegram messenger will have to pay millions in fines to banks and brokers, lawyers are sure

GRAM will not compete with Mark Zuckerberg’s new cryptocurrency Libra (GlobalCoin, formerly called Facebook Coin), testing of which began on June 18 of this year, since Libra suggests the possibility of blocking accounts. This fundamentally distinguishes it from Durov’s cryptocurrency. Therefore, according to Mikhail Pluzhnikov, many will use GRAM.

“Nobody likes the idea that your money could be blocked,” he noted.

It turns out that on the stage of the “cryptocurrency theater” there is a separate cozy place reserved for GRAM.

Forecast for 2020

Any user who is interested in cryptocurrencies wants to invest at least a small amount in this project. Other projects that simply have to chew out every investor and client on the trading floors of a huge number of competitors are amazed at how calmly the project endures all the excitement and does not postpone the timing of raising finance to an earlier period. The kick cryptocurrency, whose forecast is not so reassuring, also tends to grow.

This is a definite plus for the project and continues to fuel interest in it.

However, not everything is as rosy as it might seem at first glance. Thus, the Gram asset, which is planned to be used as a means of payment in the messenger, and Gram, which acts as a speculative asset on trading platforms, may conflict with each other. Confusion about this is beneficial only to speculators, but not to Telegram users, since the increase in value will require a revision of the tariffs and prices set by those who plan to sell goods or services within the network.

We can only hope that Pavel Durov and his team will bring sufficient clarity to all controversial issues when the time comes for this.