Telegram users can now send crypto through the instant messaging app. The platform has introduced a new feature, ‘Wallet bot’ which enables its users to buy its native cryptocurrency Toncoin) within its messaging app.
The initial rollout of the bot will allow the sending and receiving of Toncoins, which the developers claim will come with no transaction fees.
In June 2020, Telegram agreed to return $1.2B to investors to settle SEC charges after the latter filed a complaint against the messaging app for raising $1.7 billion via a private token sale. The SEC alleged that Gram tokens were unregistered securities
Afterward, Telegram handed control of the Telegram Open Network and Toncoin—now the 205th-largest cryptocurrency 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, those wanting to send Toncoin through the new wallet bot, which it claims has been used by over 800,000 accounts on Telegram since being enabled earlier this week, will need to install the latest version of the Telegram app.
“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.
“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.
