Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that a marketplace based on the TON blockchain could be launched to sell usernames, links to channels and groups within the messenger.
He noted that he is “impressed” by the TON team’s recent auctions for selling domain names. Wallet.ton sold for 215 250 Toncoin (~ $260 000), while casino.ton fetched around $244 000, he said.
“Imagine how successful Telegram could be with its 700 million users if we auction reserved user IDs, links to channels and groups. In addition to the millions of catchy handles like @storm or @royal, all four-letter names could be available for sale (@bank, @club, @game, @gift, etc.),” Durov said.
On the new platform, owners of names would be able to transfer them to interested parties in secure blockchain-based deals via “NFT-like smart contracts,” the entrepreneur explained.
According to him, later the marketplace may host other elements of the messenger’s ecosystem, including channels, emojis and stickers.
“When it comes to scalability and speed, TON probably has the best technology for delivering such decentralized sales,” said Durov.
He noted that it was Telegram’s team that created TON’s smart contract language. This was one of the reasons the messenger decided to test the network as a base for a trading platform.
“Let’s see if we can add a touch of Web3 to Telegram in the coming weeks,” concluded Durov.
In May 2020, he announced the closure of the Telegram Open Network (TON) project following a legal clash with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a ban on token distribution.
After the closure of TON, several independent teams continued to work on the blockchain based on the project’s code. Among them are Free TON (renamed to Everscale), a Chinese project from TON Community and NewTON.
The latter launched the test network NewTON Blockchain in May 2020. In August 2021 the TON team handed over the domain ton.org and the project’s GitHub repository to the project, which renamed itself The Open Network.
In December, Durov publicly backed the developers of this network.
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