Unconfirmed: Telegram’s TON Testnet Blockchain Light Client Uploaded to GitHub

A GitHub user seeming uploaded the first version of the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain light client on May 25.

Per the readme information file on GitHub, the client — if configured properly — connects to a full node for the TON blockchain testnet and sends some queries to it. The apparent existence of a testnet is in line with reports released in April, according to which Telegram opened access to a testing version of the TON Blockchain to a limited number of global developers, including Russian development teams.

The document also refers to what appears to offer the same content of the GitHub repository present on the test.ton.org domain. This domain has been registered with privacy-protecting options, so the identity of the registrar cannot be found in the ICANN archive.

The developer who created — and the only user who contributed — to the repository in question goes by the nickname Kiku Reise. According to his GitHub profile, he is based out of Ukraine and he previously contributed — among others — to the mobile and windows versions of proxy software shadowsocks.

A link to the website has also been posted by a Telegram channel dedicated to TON, but the authenticity of the repository has not been officially confirmed. Kiku Reise has told Cointelegraph that the material is most likely leaked and that he does not work for Telegram.

What he did, according to him, is create a backup of the aforementioned test.ton.org domain on GitHub. Still, he concludes:

“I think that there is a small chance that this could be a fake. We will analyze the code and find out for sure.”

The repository also contains an introduction to the new programming language dedicated to creating smart contracts for the TON blockchain, the existence of which had been first rumored earlier this week.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, Michael Novogratz, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, has suggested that one of the crypto assets created by social media giants — like Telegram and Facebook — will succeed.