Cloud-based messaging app Telegram is reportedly testing out the beta version of its blockchain dubbed Telegram Open Network (TON), with access granted to a handful of global programmers, according to a report on Apr 11.

Prior to the launch, Telegram has amassed $1.7 billion funding from two private initial coin offering (ICO) rounds, both going towards the development of TON, backed by Telegram’s native token called Gram, and the app itself.

According to Vedomosti, two anonymous developers informed of several Russian dev teams working on the blockchain node setup, allegedly remarked on TON’s “extremely high transaction speed”, though they could not reveal the specific indicators as the blockchain is on closed trials.

Established since 2013, Telegram had seen over 200 million users by March 2018, and allegedly held strong while Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp underwent major outages this March, according to Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov on the day of the event.

Now in its beta phase, however, neither the official launch date nor the present development of TON Blockchain has yet to be disclosed.

In mid-March, Xena has launched the first-ever cryptocurrency-settled derivative contract for the GRAM token, which will allow TON project investors to trade these derivative contracts before any GRAM tokens are issued, as The Crypto Sight reported.