TON crypto announces a global hackathon

The TON crypto foundation, a non-profit association of developers and enthusiasts that exists to promote The Open Network (TON), has announced a global hackathon in collaboration with DoraHacks. 

The latter is a leading global hacker organization that serves as a bridge, connecting hackers to business challenges and entrepreneurial ideas. The Open Network (TON) is a revolutionary technology to unite all blockchains and Internet Web2 into a single open network. 

TON’s layer 1 architecture is designed to scale up to 2 to the power of 32 blockchains, each of which can be split up to 2 to the power of 60 shard-chains. Thus, it can support millions of transactions per second almost instantaneously.

Hack-a-TONx DoraHacks and crypto projects on TON 

Titled Hack-a-TONx DoraHacks, the virtual hackathon will offer a total prize pool of $180,000 in Toncoin (TON). Participants compete to build a myriad of projects on TON, a revolutionary technology to unite all blockchain and Web2 Internet into one open network. So, the goal is to empower billions of Telegram users with a true Web3.

Justin Hyun, Head of Incubation at the TON Foundation, said on the subject: 

“This is a major global hackathon, enabling top talent from around the world to build on TON. We are confident that this event will engage thousands of Web2 and Web3 developers from the TON ecosystem and beyond, showcasing the many possibilities to build on TON. It’s time to join the movement.”

Specifically, the hackathon will kick off on 30 January 2023 with tracks that will include Decentralized finance (DeFi), Social/Decentralized Identifier (DID), Non-Fungible Token (NFT)/Soulbound Tokens (SBT), Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), games, Web3 services (Metaverse) and Web 2.5 (The Ultimate Challenge). 

Hackathon: everything there is to know 

The hackathon, which will be live-streamed on YouTube, Binance Live and Bilibili, will showcase the depth of global talent building in the TON ecosystem. The event will conclude on 31 March 2023 with a closing ceremony and announcement of the winners, where prize money and gifts will be distributed.

Hyun, in particular, confirmed: 

“Funding from the TONcoin Fund will also be up for grabs to the teams that emerge victorious, providing a generous opportunity from a $250 million ecosystem fund dedicated to supporting founders building on The Open Network.”

The hackathon will also benefit applications for The Open Challenge (TOC), a metrics-based TON awards program. In addition, teams that make it to the competition finals may have the opportunity to travel to Dubai for a trip and meet with the TON Foundation‘s management team and investors.

More news on the TON crypto: Telegram’s marketplace 

Telegram, the popular messaging app, has developed a new marketplace that does not involve the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In October, the platform said it was ready to launch its marketplace for selling unique usernames for various socials, an idea that was first proposed in August.

In an official announcement on its Telegram channel, the company said that the development phase of the marketplace is nearing an end and that it will be based on its native blockchain, called The Open Network (TON).

The idea was first put forward in August this year by Pavel Durov, the company’s founder, when he proposed a marketplace capable of using NFT-like smart contracts to auction off highly sought-after usernames. 

Durov made the proposal after the success of The Open Network’s (TON) domain name auctions, as anticipated the layer-1 blockchain originally designed by Telegram’s team.

At the time, Durov said that a new marketplace, in which username holders can transfer over interested parties through protected agreements, could become a required service in Web3. 

He added that other elements of the Telegram ecosystem, including channels, stickers or emojis, could also later become part of this marketplace. However, like many other platforms from the era of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Telegram also had problems with US regulators due to the unregistered sale of its Gram token.

Thus, after losing a court battle in 2020 against the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Durov walked away from the project to focus on Telegram. Since then, open-source developers have relaunched the project under the banner of The Open Network (TON).