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Accounts

In TON, an account is an actor - an isolated computational entity that communicates exclusively through message passing. This design follows the actor model of concurrent computation, which is based on:

  • Actor isolation - accounts cannot access each other’s internal state.
  • Asynchronous communication - interactions happen through messages that may be delivered and processed at different times.
  • Universality - any computational abstraction can be implemented as an actor.

Structure​

Each account consists of:

  • Properties — basic information about an account. These properties let users track their funds and activity.
  • Data — storage, holding contract-specific information. This is where an account keeps its custom data.
  • Code — the logic that determines how the account reacts to incoming messages and generates outgoing ones. This defines the account’s behavior on the blockchain.
note

Accounts that include both code and data, in addition to their properties, are considered smart contracts on the blockchain.

Properties​

TON accounts store information in a structured format to ensure accurate tracking of balances, states, and transactions.

Each account contains several key elements:

  • Address - the unique identifier of the account.
  • Balance - the amount of Toncoin held by the account.
  • State - defines the account’s behavior, including its code and data.
  • Logical time of the last transaction - tracks the sequence of updates to the account.
  • Storage statistics - information about how much space the account uses on-chain.

State​

Every account in TON has a state that reflects its readiness and activity on the blockchain:

StateDescription
UninitializedThe account exists but has no code or data yet. It may hold a balance but cannot process messages.
ActiveThe account has deployed code and data. It is a fully initialized smart contract, ready to process incoming messages.
FrozenThe account’s code and data are removed, but a hash of the previous state is kept. It cannot be used, but it can potentially be restored.

See also​

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