Telegram Integrates USDT, Letting Users Transfer the Stablecoin Within Chats

Instant messaging platform Telegram now supports the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies with tether (USDT) stablecoin.

In a communication shared with several media outlets, USDT was added to the messaging app’s @wallet bot on Wednesday, reportedly enabling the sending and receiving of crypto through the platform as easy as sending a text message.

USDT is a top stablecoin by market capitalization, facilitating transfers between cryptocurrencies. The digital asset has a market valuation of $77 billion and is designed to maintain its peg to the value of the US dollar. According to industry experts, adding the stablecoin to Telegram is essential in the digital asset space since it is less volatile, unlike the rest of the cryptos.

Telegram entered the blockchain space in 2020 with a proprietary blockchain project dubbed The Open Network (TON). A clash with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forced the British Virgin Islands–based company to abandon the project. The TON foundation kept TON alive before Telegram returned to the project, raising $1 billion worth of TON tokens last year.

TON Crypto Storage

At the start of the year, TON announced another milestone: entering the cryptocurrency storage sector with TON storage. The project allows users to exchange files with financial incentives to nodes hosting the data files.

Also among Telegram’s ambitions is a plan recently announced by CEO Pavel Durov to develop a decentralized exchange and a crypto wallet in the wake of the collapse of FTX.

“Cryptocurrencies should switch to trustless transactions and self-hosted wallets that don’t rely on any single third party,” Durov said during the unveiling.

Last year, Telegram integrated Toncoin, a separate digital asset that can be sent through Telegram chats without transaction fees. Huobi, Bybit, and KuCoin are some of the exchanges supporting the token.