Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has hinted at a brand new non-fungible token (NFT) characteristic for its lately launched “Gifts” platform, permitting customers to transform digital reward pictures into NFTs.
These “Gifts” are artworks or animated pictures that customers can ship together with personalised messages for holidays or particular events.
Recipients can show the pictures as profile photos or convert them into in-app forex known as “Stars,” which can be utilized to buy digital gadgets like e-books, on-line programs, or gadgets in Telegram video games by way of bots.
In a message shared on October 5, Durov revealed that by the top of this 12 months, Telegram customers will be capable of convert these reward pictures into NFTs on the TON blockchain.
As soon as transformed, customers can have the choice to public sale or commerce the tokenized pictures exterior of the Telegram platform. This is able to open new avenues for a way customers work together with the presents they obtain, shifting past the app’s ecosystem.
Plans to tokenize Telegram stickers and emojis utilizing NFTs on the TON community have been pre-announced in April on the Token2049 occasion in Dubai, the place Durov described the transfer because the “next step” for the platform.
Nonetheless, this isn’t Telegram’s first exploration of NFT-related options.
Telegram has additionally beforehand ventured into the NFT house in 2022, when Durov hinted on the creation of a market that may use “NFT-like smart contracts” to public sale widespread usernames. The thought led to the launch of Fragment, the place customers can commerce Telegram usernames, comparable to “@storm” or “@royal,” utilizing Toncoins because the forex.