Telegram’s $TON Foundation Launches Bridge For Ethereum $ETH

The TON Foundation, a non-profit organization of developers and enthusiasts supporting The Open Network (TON), has announced the rollout of a two-way bridge to enable the transfer of ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum to natively wrapped fungible tokens (Jettons) on TON.

This bridge aims to establish a seamless transactional interface between Ethereum and TON, marking a significant milestone for the TON ecosystem’s evolution.

The Open Network (TON) is an innovative technology designed to unite all blockchains and Web2 internet into a single open network. Initially introduced by the Telegram team to empower billions of Telegram users with genuine Web3, the project has been run as an open-source community endeavor since 2020. TON’s layer-1 architecture can scale up to 2^32 workchains, each of which can be subdivided into up to 2^60 shardchains, supporting millions of transactions per second near-instantly.

The launch of the $TON to $ETH bridge comes less than a mnonth after Telegram introduced a feature that enabled users to send Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, on the Tron blockchain. The feature expanded the messaging app’s crypto payment capabilities, allowing users to buy, swap, and engage in P2P trades with TRC20, as well as send USDT directly to their peers without incurring transaction fees.

Dubbed the “first unlimited bridge,” the new offering will initially allow users to bridge Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Tether tokens (USDt), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI). The TON Foundation has expressed intentions to make more tokens available for bridging in the near future.

In 2022, white hat hackers were invited to test the security integrity of the unlimited bridge through a hackathon. Additionally, prominent blockchain security firms CertiK, Quantstamp, and Hexens conducted audits on the bridge, while validators voted on its formation.

Commenting on the development, Justin Hyun, Head of Incubation at TON Foundation, shared:

“We are delighted with the introduction of this two-way bridge, the first unlimited bridge to go live on TON. We anticipate that this bridge will bring a host of new users to the TON ecosystem. By entering into closer proximity with other layer one blockchains through such bridges, our users will experience the advantages that TON holds over its competitors.”

The introduction of the two-way bridge on TON supplements the Ozys’ Orbit Bridge, a cross-chain platform developed by Ozys, a leading blockchain firm in South Korea.

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