According to Protocol, popular messaging app Telegram now accepts cryptocurrency payments after abandoning its own token. The feature could help crypto payments become more mainstream on messaging services.

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Telegram's Own Token Was Dropped

Telegram, which has around 550 million users, earlier abandoned the notion of its own cryptocurrency following a legal challenge from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As reported by Coin Telegraph, The Open Network (TON) was developed by Telegram in 2017 as a proof-of-stake system for decentralized services such as decentralized storage, anonymous networks, DNS, instant payments, and others. Telegram abandoned TON in May 2020 following a lengthy dispute with the SEC.

Protocol mentioned that Telegram was sued by the SEC in 2019 after raising $1.7 billion to create its coin, which the SEC called an illegal token offering. Telegram eventually agreed to pay a fine to the SEC and refund funds to investors.

The verdict came after the SEC claimed that the company used its initial coin offering to sell unregistered securities to the general public. A New York judge had earlier ordered that the company could not distribute Grams, a token similar to TON from the then-Telegram Open Network, to investors outside the U.S.

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What's Plan B?

Since then, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has promoted Toncoin, a new spin-off token that appears to be independent of Telegram. This is the coin that could now be used to make Telegram payments.

 The Ton Foundation just announced that it has raised $1 billion from users for the project, Protocol reported.

What Are the New Features?

The report also noted that the TON Foundation, which oversees the Toncoin token, has allowed fee-free payments in the app, allowing users to transfer crypto to other users. The app now includes the ability to purchase bitcoin.

Through the messaging app, the new payments service opens up the possibility of a global crypto payments service. Many in the crypto community are working on ways to mainstream crypto payments as a low-cost, quick alternative to conventional payments, especially for cross-border transactions.

There are initiatives to do so using Bitcoin, Ethereum, or new Layer 1 protocols, but many of these efforts face the issue of establishing a worldwide user base and a viable product to enable crypto payments. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, attempted to develop such a service but recently abandoned it. Telegram already has a global user base and a product that could quickly make cryptocurrency payments commonplace.

How To Access the New Feature?

To use the feature, as per Coin Telegraph, users must first sign up for Telegram's official Wallet Bot, which allows them to buy cryptocurrency using a bank card, convert it, and move it to other wallets. They can then transfer Bitcoin (BTC) or Toncoin to other users by clicking on the "Wallet" symbol in direct messages.

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