How valuable is your digital identity to you? How much money would you want to give up your usernames? These questions will soon be answered on Telegram. Telegram is conducting a study to make usernames available for sale with cryptocurrencies.
Telegram will sell usernames for Toncoin
In an official statement by the company, it announced that it is ready to launch an auction platform for usernames on The Open Network, developed and operated by Telegram. Said transactions will be made with Toncoin, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain.
In August, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that he would make such an attempt himself after seeing how much cryptocurrencies were made from auction wallets and domains on legacy blockchains. Just 2 months after this announcement, Telegram came up with this plan.
Telegram founder Durov states that ownership of usernames will be “secured” on the blockchain, similar to NFTs. It is also stated that other elements of Telegram such as stickers, channels and even emojis may go up for auction. In addition to existing usernames, Telegram can also auction non-permitted 4-letter usernames.
Of course, Telegram won’t be the first company to auction off usernames. Usernames on the Ethereum blockchain have also been sold for a long time through the Ethereum Name Service. In addition, such name changes are very popular in games played over the internet.
Telegram is thought to host over 500 million annual active users. Among so many users, many will want to change their digital identity. This also means a great source of income for Telegram.
Let’s see how Telegram’s attempt to sell usernames with cryptocurrencies will turn out. So what do you think about Telegram’s new initiative? You can share your views with us in the comments section.
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