Pavel Durov intends to deeply integrate the TON cryptocurrency into Telegram
The founder of the messenger was admired by the success of the TON Foundation and shared his opinion that having a Telegram user base, the cryptocurrency could achieve more.
Durov described scenarios such as the transfer of @username's using smart contracts in cryptocurrency, as well as the creation of stickers and emojis, which would form a market based on TON.
In 2020, the US Securities Commission banned the issuance of the TON cryptocurrency. After that, Telegram officially disowned the platform, and stopped participating in its development.
Since then, the TON Foundation has been organized, which officially has no ties to Telegram, although it is apparently in close alliance with the messenger team. The cryptocurrency from this organization is positioned as independent of Telegram and created by the community of enthusiasts in order to circumvent the prohibitions of the American regulator. Telegram intends to integrate TON into its application in such a way that it looks like the TON team independently brings its services to the messenger in a partner way.
Judging by the reaction of users to the post, most do not welcome the introduction of elements of the "Web3" philosophy into Telegram. Earlier it was already proposed to integrate NFT into the messenger, to which the audience of the messenger also reacted negatively.
TON was an original attempt to monetize Telegram. Given that the messenger now has an advertising platform and a paid subscription, it's hard to say how ready Pavel Durov is to go against the interests of users for the sake of another source of income.
