Telegram is so much more than just a messaging app.

With the announcement of The Open Network (TON) coin last Tuesday, Telegram users will now be able to send and receive cryptocurrency directly from chats within the messaging app. TON announced this in a post on Twitter, noting that Telegram will enjoy TON coin transactions with no fees charged.

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This photo taken on March 23, 2022 shows the mobile messaging and call service Telegram logo on a smartphone screen in Moscow.

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Revival of an Abandoned Project

Over 550 million users within the Telegram app will enjoy this new feature. They are allowed to send and receive TON with zero transaction fee, which will benefit the blockchain envisioned by the messaging app in the long run.

Although the announcement happened last April 26, it was only launched two days after on April 28, which was also the time when TON was made available for purchase on OKX, a Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange that was formerly known as OKEx.

TON will serve as the foundation for the development of its blockchain, which in turn allows the crypto infrastructure to be used within the social app. The foundation announced last week that it had collected $1 billion in donations to help them in their development efforts.

After the announcement, Toncoin increased significantly by 14.3%, from around $2.03 on Tuesday to $2.32 by Wednesday. As of writing, the Toncoin only costs around $1.88, according to data provided by Coin Gecko.

It is worth noting that two years ago, Telegram had to shut down its own cryptocurrency operation due to the mounting pressure it handled from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The project was supposed to be called Telegram Open Network (TON), which was developed by the app's CEO Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai in 2018.

However, after a year had passed, the SEC issued an order for Telegram to cancel its sales of Gram, which is the token linked to the TON blockchain, citing the reason that it failed to register the $1.7 billion in sales amassed as part of its pre-Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

Hence, the new TON project is now independent of Telegram, according to Dyrov, the new team heading the project is preparing "something epeic" which can put the platform among the top of social networks and possibly compete with Elon Musk's era on Twitter.

The CEO of the messaging app believes that TON is "years ahead" of its competitors, but at the same time, their new cryptocurrency system will still have a lot of work and polishing to prove the worthiness and potential of TON, especially with its fresh revival.

How to Send and Receive Cryptocurrency on TG?

Upon opening the app, make sure that you have the Wallet support bot. You can access the feature here.

Here are the following steps:

1. Open the Wallet bot and type "/start."

2. The feature will send you several options such as the "Cheques" and "My Wallet", but first and foremost, you must add Wallet to the app's Menu.

3. Wallet will be successfully added and ready for use.

4. Look for the profile or person whom you want to send a TON coin to.

5.Tap the wallet in the menu and input the amount of money that you will be sending.

6. After that, your TON will be automatically sent.

However, it is worth reminding that you check how much the TON coin costs every now and then before receiving or sending it. You can check its value in real time at Coin Gecko.

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla