The instant messaging app, Telegram, announced that it will allow its users to buy and sell unique, recognizable usernames on the platform based on the TON blockchain, as well as bid on channels, stickers or emojis.
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov highlighted days ago the success of TON in domain name auctions and exposed some examples: the domain “Wallet.ton” was sold for 215,250 Toncoin, equivalent to $260,000, while the domain “casino.ton” was sold for $244,000.
Pavel Durov expounded the following on his Telegram channel:
“If TON has been able to achieve these results, imagine how successful Telegram could be with its 700 million users if we put the reserved @usernames, group and channel links up for auction. In addition to millions of catchy t.me addresses like @storm or @royal, all four-letter usernames could be available for sale (@bank, @club, @game, @gift, etc.).”
Telegram therefore announced that it will allow users to buy and sell domain names and announced that the development phase of the protocol is “almost finished” and that it will soon (although it did not disclose a date) launch an auction platform.
TRON Marketplace
Telegram recommended users to acquire “more valuable” usernames now and secure their intellectual property on the ledger of its TON blockchain. For its CEO,
The platform argues that the name trading protocol would create a new platform where holders of usernames could transfer them to interested parties in protected deals, with ownership secured on the blockchain through smart contracts similar to NFTs.
He further notes that other aspects of Telegram’s service that could be protected with its TRON blockchain are channels, stickers, emojis, which would open the door for the eventual opening of a marketplace.
Telegram’s CEO clarified the following:
“When it comes to scalability and speed, TON probably has the best technology to host such decentralized sales. Our team can write bulletproof smart contracts for TON (since we were the ones who invented its smart contract language), so we are inclined to test TON as the underlying blockchain for our future marketplace.”
Weeks ago, Telegram launched a service to buy and sell cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies worldwide, except in some countries such as Venezuela, where it is not yet available.
At the moment, it only allows exchanging TON and BTC, for fiat currencies such as the US dollar (USD), the euro (EUR), the Russian ruble (RUB), the Ukrainian hryvna (UAH), the Belarusian ruble (BYN) and the Kazakh tenge (KZT).
Telegram revealed in August some figures from the first week of auctions, where more than 2,184 domain names were sold for a total of 2.392 million Toncoin ($3.349 million.
The highest auction was for the name wallet.com for over $300 thousand, while casino.ton sold for $280 thousand.
A few months ago, all these statements were only a long-term project, but now they have announced that they have finished the development phase and the auction platform will be launched soon.
At the moment, the exact launch date for Telegram’s auction marketplace is unknown. The company asked its users to subscribe to the official channel to stay informed.
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