Author：@FINT1121

Translator：@Chendashan_pat

What should we do if there is a next bull market?

Time flies, and it is the end of the year. Looking back, it has been a rough year for the crypto market. Not only has it been affected by macro markets, but there has been several black swan events internally.

The most recent event was that the FTX collapsed because SBF has a business network that spans half of the cryptocurrency world. In terms of the news, the systemic risk posed by this black swan event to the cryptocurrency community has not yet been fully released.

Earlier, in July-October, mainstream tokens such as ETH and BTC would follow the traditional market fluctuations, and the positive correlation in the market was very high. However, after the FTX collapse, this positive correlation plummeted, causing the cryptocurrency market to start going on its independent risk-absorbing market.

Most of the previous bull market return strategies and experiences may fail in this market situation. As an average retail investor who believes in decentralization, the most effective thing you can do during the bear market is not to chase highs or track hot spots but to look for opportunities to buy at the bottom. After all, those who choose the wrong tokens will most likely miss the bull market.

The "New Trends" section of the following weekly report will show some projects are noteworthy. Three pre-conditions should be stressed.

• decentralisation will gain mass adoption in the future, i.e., another crypto bull market will exist.
• The ability to endure a long and difficult bear market without significant adverse effects on your personal life.
• Do not blindly chase up when the reason is unknown;

TON: The Open Network

The Open Network (TON) is powered by the famous chat app Telegram, which tops the instant messaging category in several national app markets.

However, while it is the crypto community's most favoured instant messaging medium, compared to Twitter, it has neither the stock (which has been delisted since Musk's acquisition) nor the 'Web3' hype theme of token/NFT. Telegram, an APP that straddles the Web2 to Web3 community, has and only has a TON to be hyped.

TON has not been listed at centralized exchanges. (TON was listed in FTX before)

The history of TON

TON and the telegram have a very close relationship. However, due to the SEC, they are like Romeo and Juliet, maintaining contact very subtly.

But since FTX announced the launch of TON in November last year, the relationship between the two has become more public. Several actions of Telegram show the association - its official account constantly advertises TON in social chats; it uses TON to pay for Telegram's personalised domain names; uses TON to pay for Telegramme memberships (Premium) , etc.

As mentioned above, TON has only received attention after listing at FTX. The TON project started in 2017 already. I will try to explain the twists and turns that TON has undergone over this period based on the information from the Alpha Ton community.

In 2017, a team led by Durov, the owner of Telegram, decided to design their L1 as the L1 blockchain could not support Telegram's hundreds of millions of users at that time.

In January 2018, GRAM, a POS coin running on the Telegram Open Network, was launched. Relying on a 23-page white paper and a 132-page technical paper, it raised $1.7 billion for Blue Plane in a bidding process between February and March.

In January 2019, Blue Plane launched the TON test network.1 In October of the same year, Blue Plane sent a letter to investors containing a link to the TON key generator. However, the US SEC clamped down on the key generator, which provides access to Gram tokens, the week before the launch. SEC required them to delay sending the tokens, leading to a delay in the overall launch.

On 24 March 2020, the court ruled that Gram violated the Securities Act and granted the SEC's order "prohibiting the delivery of Grams to initial purchasers". In response, Telegram sought clarification that the court doesn’t prohibit initial foreign purchasers, but the court denied the request.

In May 2020, the Telegram team ceased developing TON and support for the test network, paying a settlement of $18.5 million and agreeing to return $1.2 billion in funds to investors.

The public doesn't know that the project is not dead but is slowly reborn with new blood.

After the verdict was announced, the enthusiasts forked TON. The development process of TON continues with developers around the world who are not affiliated with any commercial organisation and do not include any former or current Telegram employees.

In July 2021, the TON Foundation packaged the results of this period and sent a request to Telegrame for transfer.

On 2 August 2021, Telegram appreciated the work done by the TON Foundation and agreed to the transfer of all information.

Next, some community memebrs went from open source for CPU mining code, private GPU mining, and open source for GPU mining code and eventually entered the era of mining pools.

It is easy to see that a series of late operations by the TON Foundation was designed to comply, resulting in several ghost mines.

After a period of inactivity, exchanges such as FTX and OKEX have listed TON. Currently, the Pow Giver contract for distributing PoW rewards has dried up, meaning that TON has become the only POS coin that is both energy efficient and free.

Strategies

If you do not have a short-term need to trade Tokens purchased on CEX, you must bring them to the chain. The following is a method to store TON on-chain.

The official Telegram custody wallet is the bot @wallet. Once you have followed the prompts to create your wallet, the bot will send you a ton chain address. Fill in this address into the withdrawal field on the exchange, and you can withdraw your TON tokens to the bot wallet.

This method is very convenient. As an official channel, it can already support money transfers. In the future, the official will further improve its function. However, the security limit of this method is limited by the security of the user's Telegram account, and there is a risk of leaking Telegram login phone number. Also, third-party malware for account logins can threaten this method, so please ensure to get the APP from the official channel.

Domain Name and Username

Ton’s domain name is similar to ENS and can be used to transfer funds. At the same time, the holder will receive the domain name under the name xxx. ton.VIP. It is a bit pricey, though, and its pre-sale price at the time of its launch bid is as follows.

Domain name over five characters: 0,01TON

Four-character domain name: 49 TON

Three-character domain name: 249 TON

Two-character domain name: 999 TON

One-character domain name: 2999 TON

Ton's Username holders can have a simple sharing link like "xxx.t.me". This differentiates it from the default "t.me/xxx". In terms of perception, the former is superior to the default format and is aimed at a broad range of people who are famous or do formal businesses.

Moreover, both domain names and usernames are currently available at low prices on Getgems, the secondary NFT marketplace.

TON Roadmap

To be clear, the TON project is more than just the Ton Blockchain. It also has a unique network technology, the Ton Network.

The TON network protocol was created specifically for the TON blockchain to enable nodes to communicate with each other and exchange data. The TON network is a fully decentralised, secure, private computer network, similar to TOR or I2P (Invisible internet project).

Future updates to TON will also focus on network communication, which aims to create a peer-to-peer network without centralised servers. The nodes that go offline will have no impact on the functionality of the network and guarantee the anonymity of the user IPs.

On top of the TON network, the TON proxy, TON site and TON Storage will be created. In 2023, cross-chain systems for BTC and EVM will also be introduced. Thus, TON will not only connect different blockchains but will also innovatively revolutionise the existing Internet landscape.

Risks and Summary

You don't have to worry about TON going bankrupt. Unlike most cryptocurrency projects, TON is backed by hundreds of millions of daily Telegram users.

The experience of using this app surpasses that of all similar competitors, including those already on the market and have excessive market capitalisation. From this perspective, TON has taken centre stage in the industry.

Having combed through this, I'm already overwhelmed with the desire to go for TON. But we must calm down!

We must be clear that FTX was the most frequently traded place for TON spot before it collapsed. This will lead to huge selling pressure when the bankruptcy of FTX is settled.

In terms of price, the impact on TON prices after the FTX collapsed was insignificant. This is something to worry about because it indicates that many tokens are still held by whales and may not produce low-price opportunities until the next collapsing moment.

Finally, the original purpose of this series is not to let you buy impulsively but to let you pay more attention to the market and be aware of the existence of TON Token.

In the end, it requires your wisdom to decide whether to buy or not at the bottom.