The encrypted messaging app Telegram now allows USDT transactions directly on its blockchain. On Friday, Telegram launched USDT payments on The Open Network (TON), an integrated blockchain network it built that open-source developers now control.

The TON blockchain powers many cryptocurrencies, including Tether's USDT stablecoin. The Telegram app now lets individuals send USDT using this blockchain technology.

Users of the messaging app must utilize the search tool to find the wallet bot and set up a Bitcoin wallet to start transactions. After setup, you can use Tether's token to purchase USDT and transfer money.

Pros and Cons

According to CNBC, this move by Telegram might boost Tether's USDT cryptocurrency, a stablecoin replacing fiat currencies for digital currency transactions. The US dollar serves as a fiat currency for USDT and other stablecoins. To stabilize prices, they keep reserves equal to the token issue.

Stablecoins have benefits, but regulators, investors, and experts have questioned their reserve transparency and sufficiency. Tether's reserve transparency and liquidity crisis resilience have drawn criticism.

Even in volatile times for the market, Tether has continuously asserted that excellent reserves entirely back its token and has fulfilled withdrawal requests.

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Telegram On Track To Hit 1 Billion Users

This comes as Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of the messaging app, expects Telegram to reach one billion active monthly users next year.

"We'll probably cross one billion monthly active users within a year now," Durov told U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson in a video posted on Carlson's X account. "Telegram is spreading like a forest fire."

Russian Durov founded the Dubai-based firm. Durov's 2014 departure from Russia was due to his defiance of orders from the authorities to close opposition groups on his social media site, VK, which he later sold, according to Reuters. 

Despite pressure from certain countries, Durov said Telegram, which has 900 million active users, should remain a "neutral platform" rather than a "player in geopolitics."

Meta Platforms' WhatsApp, Telegram's main competition, has over two billion monthly users. Telegram may be listed in the United States once it becomes profitable, according to the Financial Times in March.

Telegram has more influence than Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat, especially in former Soviet countries.

Telegram has been a prominent source of unedited, explicit, and deceptive material from all sides of the war and politics since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In March, Telegram creator Pavel Durov announced that users could transform their accounts into corporate accounts for a monthly charge.

This update lets users specify their location and hours, which is helpful for small companies like stores and cafés. Durov also mentioned on his channel that Telegram will include commercial features like AI-powered customer care chatbots, as reported by TechTimes.

Pavel Durov said Telegram business accounts let users incorporate AI chatbots "as their invisible secretaries to manage responses to all or specific chats," boosting customer service automation. 

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