Telegram announces username auctions on TON blockchain • TechCrunch

Telegram announced today that it will hold an auction for usernames – for both individual accounts and channels – through a marketplace built on top of the TON blockchain.

In August, Telegram founder Pavel Durov first mentioned the idea, noting the possibility of adding “a bit of Web 3.0 to Telegram in the coming weeks.” At the time, he said he was impressed by the success of the TON Foundation’s domain name auction.

“I am really impressed with the success of the auction TON recently conducted for their domain/wallet names. Wallet.ton was sold for 215,250 Toncoin (~$260000) while casino.ton was sold for ~$244000.

If TON has been able to achieve these results, imagine how successful Telegram with its 700 million users can be if we auction off reserved @ usernames, group and channel links,” he said. Now the company is rolling out this plan in life.

Telegram and the TON Foundation use a separate website Fragment.com as a hub for these auctions. Users will be able to log into the site using Telegram, the tonkeeper app or their TON-based wallets. The site will also help users connect their Telegram accounts to the handles they have purchased.

At launch, the chat app will auction off four- and five-character handles that will be available to everyone. Telegram users can also auction their own existing handles. Each handle put up for auction ends in one week with an additional hour for final bidding. The company sets a minimum auction value for four character handles at 10,000 toncoins – which converts to roughly $18,400 at the time of writing.

“For the first time, social media users will be able to transparently prove that they own their handles thanks to their tokenization on the TON blockchain,” said Andrew Rogozov, founding member of the TON Foundation in a statement

Telegram had big ambitions in the web3 world, but it had to drop those ambitions. In 2018, the company drew up plans for the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain project and an initial coin offering (ICO). The project was backed by major investors, including Benchmark and Lightspeed Capital, which provided $1.7 billion. However, after a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Telegram was forced to abandon the project.

After Telegram stopped working with TON, various independent groups continued development with Toncoin that received support from Durov and won the rights to the ton.org website in 2021. But the Telegram founder has tried to distance himself from direct involvement in the project.

Telegram has tried various methods of making money to keep the company sustainable. Last year, it introduced ad slots on public channels. Earlier this year, the company introduced a paid plan that allows large file transfers, exclusive stickers and reactions, and the ability to convert voice messages to text. The new announcement of username auction on the blockchain is another step to get some more moolah in the bank.