“The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralisation but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power.”
Earlier this week, Telgram's CEO, Pavel Durov said the company will build a decentralised exchange and non-custodial wallet.
Hmm, that’s a new one
Not exactly as Telegram, which has over 700 million active users, isn't new to the blockchain game. In 2018, the company raised $1.7 billion from investors like Sequoia and Lightspeed to build a blockchain called the Telegram Open Network (TON)
Telegram abandoned the project under regulatory pressure in 2020 and later returned to after its community kept it alive. $TON, the native token of the network, has a $2 billion market cap today.
A crypto play by Telegram which is one the biggest messaging apps in the world could be a huge boost for the crypto ecosystem.
Zoom out: Recently, the TON foundation announced a $126 million rescue fund to support crypto projects weathering the fallout of the FTX collapse.
As the cryptocurrency industry reels from the collapses of some of its former leading companies, Telegram is looking to capitalise on the growing distrust in centralised intermediaries.
In other related news, Stripe launched a new product that makes it easier to hold cryptocurrencies without signing up to a cryptocurrency exchange.
