The Open Network (TON), a blockchain developed by the popular instant messaging service Telegram has enabled a new crypto payments feature to the messaging app. The feature will allow users to send Toncoin, the organization’s cryptocurrency, to other Telegram users without any transaction fees.
“With this service, you’ll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations,” the Foundation said in a tweet announcing the feature.
You can now send #Toncoin directly within Telegram chats!
It’s a new way to send Toncoin without transaction fees to any Telegram user. With this service, you’ll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations.
Watch the video and test the new feature! pic.twitter.com/EtXSMFtJj6
— TON (@ton_blockchain) April 26, 2022
Telegram, which has about 550 million users, previously dropped its plan for its own token after a legal challenge from the AUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC sued Telegram in 2019 after it raised $1.7 billion to develop its token, calling it an illegal token offering. Telegram later paid a fine to the SEC and agree to return capital to investors. Since then, Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has endorsed a separate spin-off token Toncoin that is apparently independent from Telegram. That is the coin that is now enabled for payments on Telegram, the report said.
“We anticipate that this functionality will extend into the consumer to business payments so that people can easily acquire goods and services by sending toncoin via bots in the Telegram app,” the TON Foundation said.
Recently, Telegram announced another update that brings a host of new features including mute durations, more animated emojis, and improved message translations among other things.
Custom Notification Sounds, this feature enables users to turn any sound into a notification tone, which can be used for creating custom alerts within the app.
Custom Mute Durations, Telegram has also added the ability to pause notifications for a specific duration. Users can choose from a variety of options including one hour, 2 hours, one week, two weeks, three months and so on. Telegram says that each chat has a streamlined menu for modifying alerts.
New auto-delete menu in Profiles, Telegram has also simplified the journey to enable auto-delete message option in individual profiles.
Reply to forwarded messages, with its latest update, Telegram is including reply previews when users forward a message to other chats. This, in turn, gives other users more context into the conversation that other users are having.
