The TON Foundation, a non-profit association for The Open Network (TON), has announced the integration of a feature that allows the transmission of encrypted messages over a decentralized blockchain in the event of an “apocalypse”.

The TON Foundation said that the new feature uses end-to-end encryption, so that only the sender and recipient will be able to view the message. The move aims to improve user privacy. The fee for delivering an encrypted message via TON will be around 0.006 Toncoin (TON) per transaction.

The developers hope that due to the low cost, this service will become available to the entire growing user base. Message encryption will be available in future updates for TON mobile wallets and Tonkeeper wallet.

“Even in the event of an apocalypse and the failure of regular messenger servers, you will be able to send messages through the decentralized TON blockchain. These messages will be securely delivered and encrypted,” commented Anatoly Makosov, chief developer of the TON Foundation.

The TON blockchain operates as a community-driven open source project after Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced the end of work on the Telegram Open Network platform a few years ago. The closure of the platform is connected with the lawsuit of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Since then, the TON Foundation has managed to conclude several partnership agreements. So, in November last year, DWF Labs invested $10 million in the development of TON. Recently, TON announced a $25 million fund called the “TON Accelerator Program”. The goal of the program is to invest in the development of blockchain startups from $50,000 to $250,000, as well as provide them with mentoring from TON employees.

Recall that in February, the TON blockchain community voted to freeze 171 inactive wallets that store over 1 billion Toncoins.