The Open Network (TON), a decentralized blockchain initially designed by Telegram, announced this week it is adding a bot that lets Telegram’s more than 550 million users send cryptocurrency to other users via chat. The initial rollout of the “wallet” bot will allow the sending and receiving of Toncoins, which the developers claim will come with no transaction fees.
Telegram has a long history of crypto-related activities.
After Telegram raised $1.7B via a private token sale, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the messaging app in October 2019. The SEC claimed that Gram tokens were not registered securities. Telegram agreed to pay $1.224 billion to investors as part of a June 2020 settlement.
In the process, Telegram handed control of the Telegram Open Network and Toncoin—now the 205th-largest cryptocurrency according to CoinMarketCap.com with a value of $2.83 billion—to The Open Network community, an open-source community dedicated to developing Toncoin and the associated blockchain.
According to The Open Network: To send Toncoin through its new wallet bot, users will need to install the latest Telegram app.
Telegram, like Discord allows users (such The Open Network) the ability to create bots that automate their activities on the platform. While Telegram allows the wallet bot, that doesn’t necessarily mean it endorses it.
Lightning Labs, a group working on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, created a similar tool in 2019. Users could send small amounts (known as satoshis) of Bitcoin to each other via Twitter’s Lightning Torch. Twitter made tipping Bitcoin via the Lightning Network part of its platform in September 2021 and added Ethereum addresses in its Tips feature in February 2019.
Telegram could be on the same track.
“It is hoped that this simplification of the cryptocurrency transaction process will enable greater adoption around the world, and help to embed blockchain payment solutions into people’s daily lives,” a TON Foundation spokesperson said in a press release.
The article is originally published in Gulf Crypto