USDT has been added to Telegram’s @wallet bot, extending the messaging app’s feature to buy and sell crypto

Telegram users can now send Tether (USDT), the world’s biggest stablecoin in terms of market capitalisation, to each other within chats in the messaging app.

USDT has been added to Telegram’s @wallet bot, extending the messaging app’s feature to buy and sell crypto, as per an email announcement shared with CoinDesk on Wednesday.

Merging crypto payments into messaging apps such as Telegram – theoretically making sending crypto currency as easy as sending a text or picture – should be a highly positive development for mainstream adoption.

In April 2002, Bitcoin (BTC) and TonCoin (TON) were added to @wallet’s marketplace, with the latter also available to send within chat.

Stablecoins such as USDT offer many of the same benefits as other crypto currencies but without the price volatility that often comes with Bitcoin and Ether. They are therefore a vital part for users who want to keep their money in the crypto ecosystem, but without the risk of any steep variations in value.

Therefore the inclusion of USDT could prove to be a major development for Telegram’s crypto service.

The messaging app’s crypto currency journey dates back a few years to the development of its Open Network (TON) blockchain project. Nevertheless, this development was abandoned in 2020 because of a legal fight with the US SEC.

However, TON was kept alive by members of its community, calling themselves the TON Foundation, who have continued to drive the project forward.

Despite not being directly involved in TON, Telegram has maintained an interest in the network, exemplified by the creation of the blockchain-based auction platform Fragment on top of it in late 2022.