Telegram Integrates Tether (USDT) Payments on Tron Network

Telegram has added a new feature that allows users to send each other the world’s largest stablecoin, tether (USDT).

USDT runs on multiple blockchains, but for now, Telegram has added support for stablecoins only on Tron.

• According to an update on March 22, USDT-TRON – TRC20 – has been added to the wallet functionality of the popular messaging app, thereby expanding its payment capabilities for buying and selling crypto.
• USDT is the third crypto asset to join Bitcoin and The Open Network token as a bot Wallet (TON)-backed asset.
• The Telegram announcement reads,

“Now you can buy, exchange and trade P2P with Tether USDT (TRC20). You can also directly send USDT to your friends with no transaction fees.”

• With the new integration, Telegram is competing with other social media platforms, such as Twitter, which have added support for Bitcoin and Ethereum tips in 2021, in addition to its partnership with Stripe to add payment features via the USDC stablecoin.
• Telegram’s encounter with crypto began in 2018, when the Telegram Open Network (TON) was launched, which was originally designed to be a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform with native tokens with the aim of generating payments on its chat application. However, the launch was not smooth.
• The app’s founder and CEO – Pavel Durov – previously said he had to deal with a lot of scammers and fake accounts on Twitter.
• Furthermore, the project was abandoned by Telegram just two years later after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed the initial coin offering illegal, which forced Telegram to withdraw from the TON project and hand it over to the TON Foundation.
• Last November, DWF Labs announced a commitment to deploy $10 million to support the TON ecosystem.