The messaging platform Telegram plans to launch a mini-app store with support for web3 pages, according to Pavel Durov, the company’s founder and chief executive.
Mini-apps run inside Telegram and can be linked for payments with 20 different payment providers.
Durov says on his Telegram channel that 2024 will be remembered as the year “when hundreds of millions of people became familiar with blockchain.”
“We’re proud that Telegram is at the epicenter of this societal transformation. To keep the fire going, this month, we will introduce a mini app store and an in-app browser with support for Web3-pages.
We will also step up our efforts to fight the scammers seeking to defraud new entrants into the crypto realm. Soon, Telegram will begin displaying the month of registration and principal country for public accounts (similar to Instagram). We will also allow organizations to use their mini apps to issue labels for channels, creating a decentralized marketplace for third-party verification.
Thanks to more transparency and decentralization, Telegram users will know more about the opportunities and the dangers of this new world.”
Telegram used to be officially linked with the layer-1 blockchain Toncoin (TON), but it parted ways with the project in 2020 following a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Open Network, an open-source community of developers, took over management of the technology that year.
TON, however, can still be sent by Telegram’s 900 million users within the platform without entering long wallet addresses.
Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inboxGenerated Image: Midjourney