Market Analysis Report (23 Aug 2022)

Pavel Durov, the CEO of messaging service Telegram, has proposed — in a Monday post to his personal channel — that the platform bring reserved usernames and channel links to market as NFTs. Durov says that reserved Telegram addresses could be auctioned as digital assets on the blockchain.

“This would create a new platform where username holders could transfer them to interested parties in protected deals – with ownership secured on the blockchain via NFT-like smart contracts,” he explained.

Durov continued by sharing that he was inspired by The Open Network’s (TON) recent sale of over 2,000 .ton domain names. The sale totalled 2,392,002 Toncoin (TON), each of which trades for $1.31 at writing time, netting approximately $3 million.

“If TON has been able to achieve these results, imagine how successful Telegram with its 700 million users could be if we put reserved @ usernames, group and channel links for auction,” argued the CEO. “In addition to millions of catchy t.me addresses like @storm or @royal, all four-letter usernames could be made available for sale (@bank, @club, @game, @gift, etc.).”