Telegram Employs Blockchain-Based Mechanism to Auction Usernames

The Telegram messaging application, one of the top 10 most popular apps globally is yet again breaking ground in the blockchain ecosystem by organizing a bid for unique usernames that are not in use to interested users.

Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov gave the news in a statement made through the company’s official channel. 

Telegram users will be allowed to buy and sell unique preowned usernames in protected contracts by using the Telegram Open Network (TON). The company concluded using TON since it is fast and highly scalable and TON was previously used by Telegram for conducting an auction sale for domain/wallet names where they recorded a huge success. Casino.ton was sold for approximately $244,000, Toncoin was sold for approximately $260,000 while Wallet.ton was sold at approximately $215,250.

According to Durov, “the development phase is almost over, and the auction platform will be launched soon. Make sure you don’t miss your chance to acquire the most valuable usernames and secure your ownership of them in the TON blockchain’s immutable ledger”. 

“This marketplace might also include other Telegram ecosystem components like channels, stickers, or emojis”, Durov added.

What has been going on with Telegram

Telegram published the TON testnet explorer and node software in 2019. Soon after, the iOS alpha version of the Gram token wallet was made available. Since the TON network is interoperable with the Ethereum network, users were able to transfer their Ethereum smart contracts over to it.

In 2020, Durov made an announcement to abandon TON and Gram token wallets as a result of a protracted legal dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The CEO of Telegram further stated that he feels US courts are abusing their power over the dollar and going beyond their purview of domestic law to decide what is best for the rest of the globe.

In recent news, Telegram with its 700 million users is now able to trade Toncoin and Bitcoin using Wallet Bot. Users of Telegram can buy the two cryptocurrencies and send them to one another over chat messages.

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