The Open Network (TON) Foundation, the organization that oversees the Telegram-centric blockchain network TON, has introduced future infrastructure that will enhance Bitcoin utility on the platform.
A new infrastructure called TON Teleport BTC connects transfers between Bitcoin and TON. It aims to improve Bitcoin’s use cases in the TON ecosystem for decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and other DeFi utilities.
“You can now use TON Teleport to send Bitcoin to TON and back again,” TON’s technical lead Anatoly Makosov said in a statement. “This decentralized and secure technology works without intermediaries or restrictions. All transactions are executed via smart contracts and verified by TON blockchain validators. Storing and using Bitcoin in TON is as secure as on the Bitcoin network itself, but much cheaper and more convenient.”
TON has seen a significant increase in users thanks to Telegram-based mini-games such as Hamster Combat, Katizun, and Natcoin, and as of July 16, the number of active addresses reached 470,000.
Toncoin is the 9th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The token was trading at $7.29 as of 11:32 am ET (15:33 UTC), down 1.25% over the last 24 hours, according to The Block’s TON price page.
The block has asked TON for comment.
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About the Author
MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020, joining just before Bitcoin first broke $20,000. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering all aspects of crypto news but with a penchant for NFTs, metaverse, web3 games, fundraising, crime, hacking, and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.