Telegram creator Pavel Durov has shared his thoughts on a marketplace that can use smart contracts similar to NFT to sell coveted usernames.
He shared the idea in his Telegram channel called “Durov Channel,” with more than 500k subscribers. He wrote that Telegram which has about 700 million app users, could make a lot of profits if the platform auctioned limited usernames, channel links, and groups.
Telegram Invented Layer-1 Blockchain
The Telegram founder observed this following the good reception that The Open Network (TON) auctions for domain names got. This is a layer-1 blockchain that the Telegram team made for the first time in the industry. The blockchain venture introduced the TON DNS service, which made it possible for users to use names that are readable to human beings on websites, smart contracts, and crypto-wallets. This technology was launched in the middle of July.
In his channel, he said he was fascinated by the success of the domain auctioning project. He said that Telegram could utilize the same technology to develop a new marketplace where the platform users could trade popular t.me domain addresses such as @royal or @storm and all usernames with four letters.
New Platforms For Selling And Buying Usernames
He added that by doing so, this service would evolve into a different platform where users who have usernames can exchange them with interested buyers in secured transactions. The ownership will also be protected on the blockchain through NFT-based smart contracts. With time, other components of the Telegram system could be added to this marketplace, including emojis, stickers, and channels.
TON DNS auctions started on 30th July. The domain .ton functions just like the Ethereum Name Service .eth and enables users to easily use decentralized applications without the need to write numerous digits and letters from their wallets.
The TON system uses the programming language called FunC to add certain contracts into the blockchain and for the TON virtual machine. Supposing Telegram launches NFTs; the NFTs could operate the same way as the TON network.
Telegram would have an easy time making this feature because the Telegram developers designed Telegram Open Network, which is now referred to as TON when they made the app in 2018.
Durov also mentioned that they could use TON as the blockchain for Telegram’s next marketplace because they are the ones who came up with TON’s smart contract codes.
TON Originally Designed As An Online Payment Platform
In the beginning, TON was created to act as Telegrams online payment platform, but the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) banned it due to the initial sale of gram tokens worth $1.7 billion, which the platform did illegally.
Telegram lost the case in the middle of 2020. After that, the founder concentrated on improving his platform. Open source developers revamped the project dubbing it The Open Network. This system uses a PoS consensus system and is compatible with features like decentralized applications, NFTs, and staking.
The price of Toncoin or TON, its original asset, is on an upward trend and has settled at $1.33. Meanwhile, Ethereum and Bitcoin are recovering, XRP is consolidating, and CHZ and EOS prices are rising steadily.