Messaging Giant Telegram Adds Features that Allows for Sending Crypto

Encrypted messaging platform Telegram has added a new function that allows it's half a billion users to send Bitcoin (BTC) and the token behind its own affiliated crypto project, The Open Network (TON).

Telegram users can now add their TON wallet to their Telegram chats and use it as a widget to send crypto to other users. Only TON can be sent through the app, but it is also possible to purchase Bitcoin using the @wallet bot.

"We anticipate that this functionality will extend into consumer to business payments so that people can easily acquire goods and services by sending toncoin via bots in the Telegram app," the foundation said.

TON is a three-layer network made up of its masterchain, workchains, and shardchains. Based on proof of stake (PoS) algorithm, TON aims for ultra-tiny fees, high-speed transactions, and solid security.

Through a P2P protocol, TON aims to be purely decentralized and resistant to censorship and attacks.

The TON ecosystem has several interesting components that aren’t yet ready and still on its roadmap. These include TON Storage, which is essentially a decentralized version of DropBox, TON Proxy, which is a decentralized VPN and anonymizer tool, and TON Payments, which can be used to set up micropayment channels.

TON was originally abandoned by Telegram in 2020 when it was faced with a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The project is officially not connected to Telegram, but is endorsed and supported by the company and its CEO Pavel Durov.

Last week, TON secured over $1 billion worth of TON in donations from its supporters. According to CoinDesk, the huge donation came from just 176 separate entities, with most of them coming from large holders. 18 donations were over 10 million TON and 37 of them were over 4 million.

Benjamin Rameau, Managing Partner of TONcoin Fund said:

“The Open Network offers tremendous opportunities to achieve mass adoption of blockchain technology. TON may become the first blockchain network accessible to millions of users thanks to the Telegram integration efforts by the community via in-app bots as well as native interface proposals. TONcoin Fund is very excited to support the first decentralized exchanges, stable coins, NFT projects and other dApps building on TON.”

TON is currently priced at $2.29, with a total supply of 5.05 billion coins, according to data from CoinGecko. Its ranking is 4,484 according to CoinMarketCap.