Within Telegram chats, users can now send tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, to one another.
According to an email sent on Wednesday, USDT has been added to the @wallet bot on Telegram, expanding the messaging app’s facility for buying and selling cryptocurrencies.
Integrating crypto payments into messaging applications such as Telegram, which would make sending cryptocurrency as simple as sending a text message or a photo, is a highly positive development for mass adoption.
Bitcoin (BTC) and toncoin (TON) were introduced to @wallet’s marketplace in April 2017, with toncoin being available for sending within conversations.
Stablecoins, such as USDT, offer many of the same benefits as other cryptocurrencies but without the price volatility that frequently plagues cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether. So, they are crucial for people who want to keep their money in the crypto ecosystem without putting it at risk of significant price changes.
Therefore, including USDT could significantly develop Telegram’s cryptocurrency service.
The development of the Open Network (TON) blockchain initiative began the messaging app’s foray into cryptocurrency several years ago. Due to legal conflicts with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, however, this project was abandoned in 2020.
However, members of the TON community, who call themselves The TON Foundation, have kept the initiative alive and advanced it.
Telegram maintains an interest in the TON network, as evidenced by the fact that it built its blockchain-based auction platform Fragment atop it late last year.