How does TON’s dynamic sharding actually work in production?

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TON uses Infinite Sharding, where the blockchain can split into up to 2³² workchains, each subdivided into shardchains. Unlike static sharding models, TON shards dynamically based on load, allowing throughput to scale horizontally without manual intervention.

In practice, shard splits and merges are governed by validator consensus and load metrics. State is distributed deterministically, and shard transitions are cryptographically linked to ensure atomicity. This design minimizes congestion and allows TON to maintain low fees even during traffic spikes, such as Telegram-integrated app launches.