TON Telegram integration highlights the synergy of the blockchain community

As a result of a recent wallet bot upgrade, users of the Telegram app can now buy and sell cryptocurrencies without leaving the application. The wallet bot was developed by The Open Network (TON, formerly Telegram Open Network) in April. The bot originally enabled users to buy, sell and trade Toncoin (TON) within the Telegram app, but a new update has added a fully functional cryptocurrency wallet to the application.

An independent team of TON developers created the wallet bot to facilitate crypto transactions for Telegram users. A representative from the TON Foundation told Cointelegraph, “The creation of the wallet bot is handled by an independent development team, and we are absolutely delighted that more and more projects are choosing TON as a basis for creating new products,” continuing to say:

“TON is meant for millions of users, and one of our goals is to make using blockchain no more complicated than using applications that users are used to.”

The wallet bot also acts as a fiat ramp, allowing users to purchase TONs using their credit cards within the Telegram app. The currently supported fiat currencies for buying and selling Toncoin are US Dollar, Euro, Ukrainian Hryvnia, Belarusian Ruble and Kazakh Tenge.

In the case of transactions within Telegram, the exchange service that facilitates them also acts as a guarantee and resolves any necessary conflicts that may arise between the two parties involved in the transaction. The other party can carry out the transactions in complete anonymity; Nevertheless, users must provide the robot with their mobile phone numbers before they can participate in cryptocurrency-related activities made available by the application.

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The wallet bot does not charge any fees for buying crypto through Telegram, but sellers will be charged a commission fee equal to 0.9% of the selling price for each completed transaction. Currently, the app can only be used to buy Toncoin (TON) and Bitcoin (BTC). However, the TON Foundation plans to expand the number of cryptocurrencies available for purchase. Additionally, to transfer crypto through the peer-to-peer functionality on Telegram, users must register with The Open Network.

When transferring crypto to another person, users send the coins to the recipient’s Telegram handle instead of their address. Highlighting this feature, the TON Foundation representative said: “The @wallet bot team is making great progress in this direction, as you can now buy, exchange and send Toncoin to your contacts without leaving Telegram. There is no need for long addresses or special applications. We believe that the future lies in projects like this.”

The story of Telegram and The Open Network

Telegram Messenger grew massively in popularity in the crypto community due to its encrypted messages and ability to create group chats. The bot functionality also makes it easier to automate tasks within the groups and chats. For example, bots can ban users, answer questions, and connect users to useful resources for a project.

In 2017, Telegram started monetizing the application since it did not use ads. As part of this plan, the Telegram Open Network, or The Open Network, was founded by Telegram founders Pavel and Nikolai Durov, and the white paper was released in January 2018. The open network was developed as a platform for decentralized apps and an alternative payment processing network to large networks such as Visa.

To raise funds for the development of TON, Telegram held a private sale for GRAM, which investors could exchange for the TON token once it launched. However, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission will later classify the token sale as an unregistered securities offering. As a result, Telegram decided to end its active involvement with TON in 2020.

On June 11, 2020, Telegram and the SEC entered into an agreement in which Telegram agreed to repay $1.22 billion as a termination fee in GRAM purchase agreements and pay an $18.5 million fine to the SEC. Telegram also agreed to provide the SEC with advance notice if the company planned to sell digital assets within the next three years.

On May 7, 2020, Free TON was launched as an independent venture to continue the development of the Telegram Open Network, using its freely available source code. The community later grew to over 30,000 members by January 2021, and the Telegram team later transferred the ton.org domain and GitHub repository to the TON Foundation by August 4, 2021.

The TON Foundation has assumed responsibility for the Telegram token’s underlying cryptocurrency (TON). Before this, users of the apps collaborated on a fundraising campaign for the cause. As a result, they contributed more than $1 billion to the growth of the TON ecosystem, which was made possible by their donations.

What the future holds for TON and Telegram

It’s possible that TON Foundation’s new Telegram bot update could pave the way for a global cryptocurrency payment service. Furthermore, since the app has over 500 million active users globally, it could act as a catalyst for further crypto adoption if the wallet bot proves to be popular.

When asked about the future of Telegram and The Open Network, a representative from the TON Foundation told Cointelegraph, “Telegram is an easy-to-use platform for everyone in the Web3 world – both for communication and developing products using their disruptive technologies. Furthermore, it allows open platform developers create working products with real use cases that can be deployed in the app.”

“The wallet bot, based on TON, is a good example of this. There are also many services on Telegram that already use TON, such as donate, mobile and others,” they stated, adding, “A significant development is the launch of the Telegram username auction, which is a great demonstration of how the simplicity of tokenization on TON can open up many real-world examples of the use of blockchain technology.”

In addition to the wallet bot, The Open Network has developed several Telegram bots that serve different purposes. The donation bot allows creators to post messages accepting donations via special action buttons that will facilitate a payment process in the Telegram application. The process works by a user contacting the donation robot and following the instructions.

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The user must also add the bot as an admin on the channel and submit payout information so they can receive the donations. The mobile bot allows users to access the internet when Wi-Fi is unavailable. The Telegram Username Auction allows users to buy and auction their Telegram handles for TON tokens.

The recent update to Telegram’s wallet bot could open up a wider audience to cryptocurrency usage. It could also further strengthen Telegram’s reputation as one of the go-to apps for blockchain-based projects seeking to build a community, especially if additional tokens are added to the platform. Telegram already has much of the crypto community using the application, and the ability to buy and transfer crypto could bring non-crypto users into the market.