Telegram sells $50 million in usernames

According to Telegram founder Pavel Durov, the company has sold more than $50 million in usernames.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov claimed that in less than a month, the company sold $50 million in usernames on The Open Network, a blockchain developed by the company.

In October, Telegram enabled users to purchase usernames for its app through a blockchain-based platform called Fragment.

The platform allows interested parties to purchase available usernames and secure ownership on its “The Open Network” (TON) blockchain.

When purchasing a domain name, users pay with the TON cryptocurrency, the network’s native asset. Fragment sales have surpassed $50 million in the last four weeks, according to Durov in a Telegram message.

Individual Telegram usernames have made significant money on Fragment. According to data from the official website, the username @news was auctioned off for 994,000 TON, or about $1.7 million.

Durov stated that in the future, Fragment will go beyond usernames and develop a variety of blockchain tools for Telegram, such as crypto wallets and decentralized exchanges.

According to Durov, such services could be accessed from within the Telegram app.