An independent chatbot called Wallet on the Telegram messaging platform now allows users to directly pay merchants in cryptocurrency. The wallet is built on the TON blockchain originally developed by Telegram and facilitates storing, trading, and transferring the cryptocurrencies Toncoin, Tether’s USDT, and Bitcoin.
The Wallet chatbot team has introduced a new feature called Wallet Pay API that enables merchants on Telegram to receive cryptocurrency payments directly. This is an unofficial integration not developed by Telegram itself.
TON stands for The Open Network and is a blockchain protocol Telegram initially built but abandoned in 2020 after legal issues with the SEC in the US. Toncoin is the native token of TON used to pay fees on the network.
The Wallet chatbot provides a way for Telegram users to use cryptocurrency seamlessly within the messaging app, although not officially supported by Telegram.
How to receive crypto payments on Telegram using the Wallet chatbot:
Merchants need to first register on the Wallet Pay website to start getting crypto payments through Telegram.
According to Decrypt, the chatbot’s team told them that around 200 companies are already lined up to use it, and they expect thousands of small businesses to sign up for Wallet Pay.
Users can add @wallet on Telegram to instantly create a new crypto wallet connected to their account, without needing seed phrases or private keys.
“A Telegram account is required to use Wallet and make basic USDT transfers – this can be a regular number or an anonymous number created by Telegram on TON,” the spokesperson said.
The team added a demo store called Pineapple Store to showcase the user experience. Users can view items and pay within Telegram chat.
On adding new coins, they said “We’re considering adding more essential coins, but our focus is on TON.”
Despite claims that TON integration was a priority, Decrypt’s testing of the Wallet chatbot showed no evidence of TON gas fees being paid in the transaction logs, indicating the payments likely did not occur on that network.
