TON or Telegram Open Network used to be extremely hyped back in 2017 after it successfully collected $1.7 billion from ICO participants. At the time, everybody thought Telegram would be able to take on Ethereum and other popular smart contract platforms. TON itself never really had an official website before it announced the testnet back in September last year.
However, Telegram found itself in big trouble with the US SEC after the SEC claimed that Telegram’s TON ICO was illegal. Due to the ongoing legal battles, Telegram eventually agreed to shut down its TON network, and they also agreed to refund all ICO participants. And now, with the recent update, they also publicly stated that they would turn off TON testnet next month (August 2020).
