_Update as on 22nd June 2020: Telegram terminated the further development of Telegram Network and Gram token. The article is only for informative purposes and gives an overview of the project. _
Gram — the official token of Telegram raised up by 201% for the pre-sale. Being sold at a price of $1.33 on the private sale, Gram cost hiked to **$4 **on the threshold of the pre-sale stage.
10th of July, Telegram is going to start sales of an unspecified number of coins through the partner’s exchange platform “Liquid by Quoine” based in Japan. Almost everyone who wants to buy Gram can get access through the Liquid platform.
However, Grams will start to get delivered to the holder’s wallets only from October 2019 after the official launch in batches. The total amount of Grams will be available for trade in a span of 18 months. It is worth the wait?
Telegram Network
Pavel Durov has launched Telegram with a major emphasis on anonymity and secured communication. The self-exiled entrepreneur is currently developing Telegram Open Network, TON in short, to empower the messaging app by integrating it with the blockchain technology.
As per the Whitepaper of TON, it is a fast, secure, scalable blockchain network which is both user-friendly and service provider-friendly. It aims at creating an interface to be used by everyone. TON also claim that it would be capable of handling millions of transactions per second and assures that the transaction speeds will be on par with those of Visa and MasterCard.
Recent reports suggest that TON includes support for third-party dApps, smart contracts, decentralized VPN, payments and a few other services. The platform will supposedly be launched in the third quarter of 2019.
What is Gram?
Gram, the native token for TON in-development blockchain platform by Telegram. We have all witnessed the hype this yet-to-be-released token has created lately, in its first ICO Telegram raised more than a billion dollars for Gram token and by the end of the second ICO, the total valuation has reached $1.7 billion.
Gram is denoted by the TON triangular symbol. It is the principal cryptocurrency for the in-app economy and can be used outside the TON platform as well. Telegram’s native token will be available to its 260 million active users this year. Taking the huge user base into consideration, Gram is anticipated to become one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, as well as potentially the most adopted cryptocurrency on the planet in the near future.
According to the Gram’s distributor official website, it can be used for a variety of services on TON, such as:
- Commission (“gas”) paid to TON nodes (“validators”) for processing transactions and smart contracts;
- Stakes deposited by validators to be eligible to validate transactions and generate new blocks and coins;
- Capital lent out to validators in exchange for a share of their reward;
- Voting power required to support or oppose changes in the parameters of the protocol;
- Payment for services provided by apps built on the platform (TON Services). Payment for storing data securely in a decentralized way (TON Storage);
- Payment for registering blockchain-based domain names (TON DNS) and hosting TON-sites (TON WWW);
- Payment for hiding identity and IP addresses (TON Proxy);
- Payment for bypassing censorship imposed by local ISPs (TON Proxy);
Gram will also be available for use outside of TON like any other cryptocurrency currently in the market.
Gram pre-sale insights
For the first time ever, the public will have a chance to buy Gram in a sale beginning on July 10th! The sale will take place in the Liquid platform, with a price of $4 per piece. Gram will be not sold in the U.S, Korea, Japan and a few other countries, but it seems that the demand will be skyrocketing despite these restrictions.
How to buy Gram
Gram can be bought on Liquid’s official website in three simple steps:
- Create an account in Liquid and verify your identity using passport/ID, selfie and proof of address to take part in the Gram sale;
- Fund your account either with USD or USDC;
- Buy Gram tokens from the sale page, starting from 8 am UTC on July 10th.
Grams can be bought on Liquid using USD and USDC only. For the pre-sale, Grams are priced at $4 per token but if you are a holder of Liquid’s QASH (native token) then you will be eligible for 12% discount and pay as little as $3.50 per piece.
How to prepare for the sale?
After registering, you need to fund your account either with USD or USDC to take part in the Gram token sale. Funding with USD if possible only via Bank transfer, which may be inconvenient for some users.
The easiest way to get Gram would be through USDC: you can get USDC by using ChangeHero exchange platform. USDC could be bought on ChangeHero with credit or debit card and traded against 140+ crypto. Visit changehero.io website to get more USDC before going for Gram pre-sale!
Scepticism towards Gram
Despite the high interest of the community, there are quite a few catches for the Gram pre-sale. Firstly, the sale is not going to be conducted by Telegram, but Grams that will be sold are held by Gram Asia, which claims to be the largest holder of Grams in Asia.
Secondly, users will not be able to lay their hands immediately on Grams they bought but must wait till the actual launch date October 31st, 2019. Tokens are not tradable before. Grams will be delivered in four equal-sized tranches within 18 months after the launch according to the official Liquid website.
Although, Kayamori, CEO of Liquid assured that the pre-sale is a part of TON strategy to get feedback from the community and predict the demand.
Telegram is all set to take advantage of its massive user base and diversify its eco-system similar to WeChat in China, but with the incorporation of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Unlike Facebook’s Libra, Telegram’s native token Gram is not pegged to any assets and one can rest assured that the authorities can’t keep track of their transactions. With a full release scheduled in October, way before Libra, Telegram might be able to steal some market share.
All the features of TON seem to be promising and it definitely has the potential to create an impact in the crypto industry. Though the upcoming sale seems to be dubious, it would provide Telegram with a chance to find the pulse of the buyers before the actual release.
ChangeHero team believes that the Telegram token, Gram would bring a real benefit for the crypto community. We are eagerly waiting for Gram release and looking forward to making it available for trade and purchasing with the credit card on our platform. We keep track of all the Gram news and share them with our community.
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