Although the TON Foundation is more well-known, few are aware of the early contributing team behind it - the NEWTON team (the core TON team) and their remarkable story.
Written by: @drawesomedoge
Compiled by: Nicky, Foresight News
Through voluntary technical contributions, the NEWTON team was recognized by the @Telegram official team in 2021 and successfully completed the technology handover, an event hailed as the most significant "community takeover" in blockchain history.
Introduction: Joining Hands with the NEWTON Team on a Mission
When I joined the NEWTON team, our primary mission was clear and steadfast: to continuously optimize developer tools while maintaining the stability of the TON testnet2 code.
Since we were unable to directly manage the ton-blockchain GitHub repository, but code iteration and upgrades were imperative, we established the NEWTON organization. To ensure a smooth network upgrade, we actively advocated for the community to adopt the validator version developed by the NEWTON team as the standard.
From the establishment of the NEWTON team until June 2021, we achieved numerous groundbreaking results and completed many infrastructure projects. Next, let's delve into the 10 most important contributions to the early development of TON.
1/ mytonctrl: Automated Node Management Tool
Our first contribution was mytonctrl, a powerful automated tool for node installation and validator setup.
It has a series of core functions, such as wallet creation, contract deployment, transaction history retrieval, and even a DNS registration system. It is worth noting that the DNS system at the time was different from the modern NFT-packaged DNS system we see today.
In addition, mytonctrl can also configure validators, light servers, and light clients, making access and parsing of node data easy. By 2021, we had further added CPU-based mining scripts and automated power consumption tests, simplifying the TON mining process.
2/ tonmon: Blockchain Health Visualization Tool
Having nodes and accessing data is not enough, we also need more visualization tools to monitor the health of the blockchain in real-time.
To better monitor the health of the blockchain, we developed the tool tonmon. It can track a series of key metrics, including block creation time, shard state, dPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) election schedule, the number and weight of validators, and the status of mining contracts. These features allow us to quickly respond to any abnormalities in the network.
Earlier, the network was still relatively small, with only about 80 validators running globally.
3/ tonmine: Monitoring Giver Contracts
We developed the tonmine tool to track mining activity on the TON blockchain. Although the TON blockchain initially had both large and small givers, by 2021 only ten small givers remained in operation. tonmine can display daily mining statistics for each contract, with an average daily output of 20,000 TON per individual contract and a total daily output of 200,000 TON across all contracts.
The mining difficulty varies significantly among the givers, mainly depending on the number of miners participating. Some givers have lower difficulty due to a lack of miners, while others have extremely high difficulty due to a large number of miners. tonmine provided us with valuable mining activity data, helping us better understand the TON blockchain's mining ecosystem.
4/ Cross-Chain Bridge
Even before the TON blockchain had established the jetton or Non-Fungible Token (NFT) standard, we recognized the importance of cross-chain compatibility. Therefore, the NEWTON team developed a native TON cross-chain bridge, designed specifically for ERC-20 tokens on EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible chains, and successfully tested it on bridge.ton.org. This innovation enabled seamless asset transfer 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 move assets from one blockchain network to another without compatibility issues, significantly expanding the application scenarios and use cases of the assets. This is of great significance in promoting the widespread adoption and application of blockchain technology.
5/ @cryptobot: Telegram Bot Wallet
In 2021, even before the Telegram mini-app was launched, a member of our team had the foresight to develop the @cryptobot Telegram bot wallet. This wallet initially supported BTC, TON, BNB, and USDT, providing users with a diverse range of asset management options.
Subsequently, with the launch of the Telegram mini-app, 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, providing users with a more convenient and seamless asset management experience.
6/ toncenter: Simplified Blockchain Data Access
The launch of toncenter greatly simplified the process for developers to access blockchain data. They no longer need to set up a full node, delve into liteclient or liteserver, or worry about serialized data formats. toncenter provides an intuitive and easy-to-use public API, allowing various wallets and blockchain explorers to easily access on-chain data.
Although the TON blockchain infrastructure has continued to evolve over time, with the emergence of more API providers like tonxapi.com, toncenter has remained steadfast, continuing to serve developers. This demonstrates the robustness of its design and its important role in the field of blockchain data access.
7/ explorer.toncoin.org: The First TON Blockchain Explorer
The first TON blockchain explorer, explorer.toncoin.org, is a tool embedded within the core code base. While it excels in data retrieval speed and is remarkably impressive, its data presentation is overly professional and technical, making it somewhat challenging for the average user to comprehend.
8/ ton.sh: The Next-Generation Blockchain Explorer
To address the complexity of explorer.toncoin.org, we meticulously crafted ton.sh. After successfully overcoming the challenge of deserializing blockchain data, we launched this public API-equipped explorer.
ton.sh focuses on providing core functionalities, including wallet balance queries, transaction history viewing, and most importantly, the memo feature. Prior to the emergence of TON Connect or complex DeFi contracts, the memo was crucial for early TON users, serving as a command operation, particularly in deposit operations on exchanges.
Although more advanced explorers like TONScan and TONViewer have since emerged, ton.sh remains a significant milestone in the evolution of TON. It not only witnessed the continuous progress of TON technology but also provided us with valuable experience 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 developed TonWeb, a JavaScript SDK that greatly simplifies the process of wallet creation, deployment, and transactions, providing developers with a more convenient and efficient tool support.
Through TonWeb, developers can easily implement various operations on the TON blockchain, without the need to master the underlying technical details of Fift and Func, thereby lowering the development threshold and accelerating the development of the TON ecosystem. The launch of this SDK has 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 it is the first TON wallet I have encountered and used. Surprisingly, it is still in use and maintains good functionality.
Historic Recognition: An Open Letter from the NEWTON Team to the @Telegram Official Team
Summary of the open letter content:
As of June 2021, the NEWTON team has made significant contributions to the TON blockchain ecosystem. We are committed to running public Liteserver, 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, representing NEWTON, wrote an open letter (link: https://github.com/ton-blockchain/TIPs/issues/33) to the TON blockchain team, expressing our deep feelings. 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 our GitHub organization the corresponding permissions, so that we could participate more deeply in the development and maintenance of the project.
The letter specifically mentioned the two leaders and core team members of the NEWTON team.
And yes, I, Dr. Awesome Doge, am also honored to be on the list.
At that time, I only saw this open letter as a good attempt to showcase our contributions to the TON network, and did not have any expectations of receiving a response. However, to our surprise, the @Telegram official team replied on June 30, 2021. This response not only made us feel delighted, but also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the TON blockchain.
Review and Outlook: Developer's Notes
Looking back on this extraordinary journey, the early contributions of the NEWTON team were not limited to writing code. Every line of code, every tool we created, and every sleepless night of maintenance - all these tireless efforts have together laid the brilliant foundation for the current success of TON.
In 2024, TON experienced explosive growth, with thousands of builders flocking to this ecosystem, which strongly proves the potential that we firmly believed in during those challenging early days.
So, where am I now?
The members of NEWTON are now scattered around the world, each contributing to TON in their unique way. As for me, I continue to focus on the needs of developers and the development in the Asian region (as the only team member who speaks Mandarin). Through the team I lead - @TONX_Studio, we are committed to building critical infrastructure for the TON ecosystem: from developer tools to educational platforms, and to customized services for Asian users, we are constantly striving to promote the global adoption and application of TON.
The NEWTON spirit is being passed on. This is just the beginning.
