Messaging app Telegram allows users to buy ads using Toncoin (TON) along with a revenue share program that rewards channel owners.
According to an announcement made yesterday, Telegram users will be able to buy platform ads with a budget starting from “a few Toncoins” to promote bots and channels.
Advertisers can choose the exact channel on which Telegram ads will appear, and channel owners with more than 1,000 subscribers will receive 50% of the revenue from ads appearing on their channels.
The launch of Toncoin payments for ads on the platform follows the announcement earlier this year of Telegram's advertising revenue sharing program, where revenue will be distributed to channel owners in the cryptocurrency.
Telegram advertising platform. Image: Telegram
According to Sunday's announcement, monetization for channel owners will be available on the Telegram Fragment exchange “in the coming weeks.”
“Channel owners can redeem their rewards at no charge — or invest in Telegram ads, collectible usernames or premium gifts,” the company wrote.
Ton originally stood for Telegram's open network, while Telegram engineers worked on the Ton blockchain platform and the Gram cryptocurrency was built on top of it. However, the company abandoned its network plan after a dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that the $1.7 billion ICO for Gram was an illegal securities offering.
After Telegram pulled out of the project and returned money from the token sale to investors, a group of non-commercial community developers continued to open source the project and turn it into an open network, making Toncoin the next-generation currency. The TON blockchain has subsequently been used to power projects such as the gaming and meme coin NotCoin.
Telegram said it chose to use Toncoin for advertising payments on the platform because of its “low fees” and “high transaction speed.”
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