Despite the TON Foundation being a more recognized name, few are aware of the remarkable story behind its early contributing team—the NEWTON team (i.e., the TON core team).
Written by: @drawesomedoge
Translated by: Nicky, Foresight News
With voluntary technical contributions, the NEWTON team gained recognition from the official @Telegram team in 2021 and successfully completed the technical handover, an event hailed as the most significant "community takeover" in blockchain history.
Introduction: Join Hands with the NEWTON Team on a Mission Journey
When I joined the NEWTON team, our primary mission was clear and resolute: to maintain the stability of the TON testnet2 code while continuously optimizing developer tools.
Since we could not directly manage the ton-blockchain GitHub repository, but code iteration and upgrades were imperative, we established the NEWTON organization. To ensure smooth network upgrades, we actively advocated for the community to adopt the validators developed by the NEWTON team as the standard version.
From the establishment of the NEWTON team until June 2021, we achieved several groundbreaking results and completed numerous infrastructure projects. Next, let’s delve into the top 10 contributions that were crucial to the early development of TON.
1/ mytonctrl: Automated Node Management Tool
Our first contribution was mytonctrl, a powerful automation tool specifically designed for node installation and validator setup.
It features a range of core functionalities, such as wallet creation, contract deployment, transaction history retrieval, and even a DNS registration system. It is worth mentioning that the DNS system at that time was not the same as the modern NFT-packaged DNS system we see today.
Additionally, mytonctrl can configure validators, light servers, and light clients, making access to and parsing of node data effortless. By 2021, we further added CPU-based mining scripts and automated power consumption testing, thereby simplifying the mining process for TON.
2/ tonmon: Blockchain Health Visualization Tool
Merely having nodes and obtaining data is far from sufficient; we also needed more visualization tools to monitor the health of the blockchain in real-time.
To better monitor the health status of the blockchain, we developed the tonmon tool. It can track a series of key metrics, including block creation time, shard status, dPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) election timetable, number and weight of validators, and the status of mining contracts. These features enable us to respond swiftly to any anomalies in the network.
Earlier, the network was relatively small, with only about 80 validators operating globally.
3/ tonmine: Monitoring Giver Contracts
We developed tonmine to track mining activities on the TON blockchain. Although the TON blockchain initially had both large and small givers, by 2021, only ten small givers were still operational. tonmine can display daily mining statistics for each contract, with a single contract averaging a daily output of 20,000 TON, and a total daily output of 200,000 TON across all contracts.
There are significant differences in mining difficulty among givers, primarily depending on the number of miners participating. Some givers have lower difficulty due to fewer miners, while others face much higher difficulty due to a larger number of miners. tonmine provides us with valuable data on mining activities, helping us better understand the mining ecosystem of the TON blockchain.
4/ Cross-Chain Bridge
Before the TON blockchain established jetton or NFT standards, we recognized the importance of cross-chain compatibility. Therefore, the NEWTON team set out to develop a native TON cross-chain bridge, designed for ERC-20 tokens on EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible chains, which has been successfully tested on bridge.ton.org. This innovation allows for seamless asset transfers between TON, Ethereum, and BSC (Binance Smart Chain), greatly enhancing the interoperability and flexibility of the blockchain ecosystem.
Through this cross-chain bridge, users can easily transfer assets from one blockchain network to another without worrying about compatibility issues, significantly broadening the application scenarios and usage of assets. This is crucial for promoting the adoption and application of blockchain technology.
5/ @cryptobot: Telegram Bot Wallet
In 2021, before the launch of Telegram mini-apps, a member of our team foresightedly developed the @cryptobot Telegram bot wallet. This wallet initially supported BTC, TON, BNB, and USDT, providing users with diverse asset management options.
Subsequently, with the launch of Telegram mini-apps, the @cryptobot wallet underwent a comprehensive upgrade. This transformation not only enhanced the wallet's functionality and user experience but also made it more aligned with the usage habits of the Telegram platform, offering users a more convenient and seamless asset management experience.
6/ toncenter: Simplifying Blockchain Data Access
The launch of toncenter greatly simplified the process for developers to access blockchain data. They no longer needed to set up full nodes, delve into liteclient or liteserver, or worry about serialization data formats. toncenter provides an intuitive public API, allowing various wallets and blockchain explorers to easily access on-chain data.
Although the infrastructure of the TON blockchain has continuously evolved over time, with more API provider options like tonxapi.com emerging, toncenter remains steadfast, continuously serving developers. This proves its robust design and its important position in the field of blockchain data access.
7/ explorer.toncoin.org: The First Blockchain Explorer for TON
The first blockchain explorer for TON—explorer.toncoin.org—is a tool built into its core codebase. Although it performs excellently in data retrieval speed, its data presentation is overly professional and technical, making it somewhat difficult for most ordinary users to understand.
8/ ton.sh: Next-Generation Blockchain Explorer
To address the complexity of explorer.toncoin.org, we meticulously crafted ton.sh. After successfully overcoming the challenges of deserializing blockchain data, we launched this public API-equipped browser.
ton.sh focuses on providing core functionalities, including wallet balance inquiries, transaction record viewing, and, importantly, a memo feature. Before TON Connect or complex DeFi contracts emerged, the memo feature was crucial for early TON users, serving as a command operation, especially in deposit operations on exchanges.
Although more advanced explorers like TONScan and TONViewer have since emerged, ton.sh remains a significant milestone in the development of TON. It not only witnessed the continuous advancement of TON technology but also provided us with valuable experiences and insights.
9/ TonWeb: An Indispensable JavaScript SDK
Given that TON smart contracts use the relatively complex programming languages Fift and Func, the NEWTON team created TonWeb. As a JavaScript SDK, TonWeb greatly simplifies the processes of wallet creation, deployment, and transactions, providing developers with more convenient and efficient tool support.
With TonWeb, developers can easily perform various operations on the TON blockchain without needing to deeply understand the underlying technical details of Fift and Func, thereby lowering the development threshold and accelerating the growth of the TON ecosystem. The launch of this SDK laid a solid foundation for the widespread application of the TON blockchain.
10/ ton wallet: My First TON Wallet
This TON wallet originated from the Telegram era and was the first TON wallet I encountered and used. Surprisingly, it is still in use today and maintains good functionality.
Historic Recognition: An Open Letter from the NEWTON Team to the @Telegram Official Team
Summary of the open letter:
As of June 2021, the NEWTON team had made significant contributions to the TON blockchain ecosystem. We were committed to running public Liteservers, DHT servers, and archive nodes to ensure the stable operation of the network and the secure storage of data.
During this period, our team member tolya-yanot wrote a heartfelt open letter on behalf of NEWTON to the TON blockchain team (link: https://github.com/ton-blockchain/TIPs/issues/33). In the letter, we thoroughly reviewed the efforts and achievements of the NEWTON team in the TON blockchain field over the past year and sincerely requested the TON blockchain team to grant us the corresponding permissions for the GitHub organization so that we could participate more deeply in the development and maintenance of the project.
The letter specifically mentioned two leaders and core team members of the NEWTON team.
And yes, I, Dr. Awesome Doge, was also honored to be included.
At that time, I merely viewed this open letter as a good attempt to showcase our contributions to the TON network, without any expectations of receiving a response. However, unexpectedly, the @Telegram official team replied on June 30, 2021. This response not only surprised us but also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the TON blockchain.
Reflection and Outlook: Developer's Notes
Looking back on this extraordinary journey, the early contributions of the NEWTON team were by no means limited to writing code. Every line of code, every tool we built, every sleepless night of maintenance—all these relentless efforts have collectively forged the glorious foundation of TON today.
As we enter 2024, TON is experiencing explosive growth, with thousands of builders flocking to this ecosystem, strongly validating our belief during those challenging early days—that the potential of TON is worth our relentless pursuit.
So, where am I now?
Members of NEWTON are now spread across the globe, each contributing their strength to TON in their unique ways. As for me, I continue to focus on the needs of developers and the development of the Asian region (as the only member of the team who speaks Mandarin). Through the team I lead—@TONX_Studio—we are dedicated to building critical infrastructure for the TON ecosystem: from developer tools to educational platforms, and tailored services for Asian users, we are constantly striving to promote the global adoption and application of TON.
The spirit of NEWTON lives on. This is just the beginning.
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