History of mining

Toncoin was distributed by PoW Givers which are smart contracts with certain amount of Toncoin assigned to them.

Toncoin mining is now over

In June 2020, all of the available Toncoin tokens (98.55% of the total supply) became available for mining. The tokens were placed in special Giver smart contracts, allowing anyone to participate in the mining — up until 28 June 2022. Users mined around 200,000 TON daily.
Today, two years later, the last Toncoin was mined, signaling the successful closure of TON’s initial distribution.

The phenomenon

Mining on the proof-of-stake TON blockchain was a unique phenomenon to behold. Blockchains of older generations, such as Bitcoin, use a proof-of-work consensus algorithm. For these kinds of networks, mining is an integral and vital component. Thanks to miners, the network stays online, new blocks are created, and new coins are released, which are collected by the miners themselves as a reward for their services.
Fresh new coins can only be obtained via mining. When considering anyone can become a miner, this creates a more honest and even distribution of tokens among the network’s participants.
Next-generation blockchains operate by using a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. For these networks, mining is unneeded, effectively making blockchains substantially quicker and more affordable to transact. On PoS blockchains, however, their teams of developers issue the tokens initially. Usually, they oversee the distribution and sale of their tokens to investors, funds, and users. This is a centralized distribution strategy that contradicts the spirit and tenets of decentralized technologies.
The TON blockchain was the first-ever to combine the two consensus algorithms. The blockchain runs on proof-of-stake technology, making it fast and cheap, but the initial token distribution was enabled by mining, which was decentralized and had the same conditions for all who participated.
This approach, which we’ve dubbed initial proof-of-work (IPoW), provides immediate advantages — it will undoubtedly be used for future crypto projects. On TON, many solutions and functionalities have been created, and one of them is IPoW.

Accidental invention

Mining on TON commenced spontaneously and randomly.
In 2020, after its court case, the Telegram team agreed on a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was forced to cease its work on The Open Network.
In order to finally stop their involvement in the project and, at the same time, allow enthusiasts to continue studying the technology, the Telegram team put all the available coins of the network into smart contracts, which anyone could mine on equal terms.
July 6, 2020, is considered to be the day TON mining was born; that’s the exact time when the miner code was published in the repository, and a guide on how to mine was posted on the project’s website.
At that time, the blockchain was still in its testnet, and the tokens had no value and could only be used for testing purposes. The most surprising thing to happen was that a year after mining began, an entire Toncoin mining industry flourished.

Distribution

The final result was all tokens were distributed among tens of thousands of miners. The TON project chose not to hold an ICO, IEO, or any other type of token sale. Its growth was organic much like Bitcoin’s.
Naturally, just like in any other project, those who started mining early on had little to no competition. What you’ll notice, however, is that these early miners happen to be the most passionate about the projects and technology they follow.
A case in point is all the donations from TON miners that led to the creation of the TON Foundation and the TON Reserve, both of which will be relied upon to develop the network.
Although all PoW Giver smart contracts have been completely emptied and TON mining is no longer available in a classical sense, the TonWhales team has developed a fascinating solution for miners who want to continue mining Toncoin: a pool for perpetual Toncoin mining called Infinity TON Mining Pool.
Learn more

What’s next

After the initial distribution of coins, TON enters a new stage, increasing the number of validators and coins involved in validation, which leads to strengthening the stability and security of the network.
TON is a proof-of-stake blockchain, which means special nodes are in place to ensure the network runs smoothly — operated by validators.
As the network hums along, new Toncoin is created as a reward to validators for their work. Every year, about 0.6% of the total supply is created. Anyone can become a validator — you just need a powerful server and a rather large amount of Toncoin to stake.
The TON ecosystem has nominators, a tool that allows stakers to lend tokens to validators for staking while sharing the income.
Learn more
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