✈️ Happy birthday, Telegram!

⚫️ Telegram turns 13 today. As Pavel Durov noted, for most of its history, Telegram has ranked among the world’s ten most downloaded mobile apps.

⚫️ For us, as for many TON enthusiasts, this day is special for another reason: without Telegram, TON would probably not exist in its current form. Over the past few years, Telegram has gone from an outside observer to the main force shaping the ecosystem, and now it is preparing for its next big step — launching the native self-custodial Gram Wallet.

⚫️ We still don’t know what comes next for MTONGA. But TON itself is already being prepared for the additional load. Two days ago, Anatoliy Makosov said that collators will go live on August 17 — dedicated nodes that will assemble blocks while validators focus on verifying them.

⚫️ According to Makosov, the upgrade should increase network throughput. And the timing is no coincidence: once the self-custodial wallet launches inside Telegram, developers expect a noticeable increase in onchain activity.

⚫️ So on Telegram’s birthday, we hope it stays the best app for messaging — and eventually helps TON reach a similar position in crypto.

@thedailyton