The cryptocurrency payment industry continues to evolve with a new cryptocurrency payment option coming to the cryptocurrency-enabled messenger Telegram.
Wallet, a Telegram bot that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), has launched a crypto payment solution based on The Open Network (TON) blockchain.
Called Wallet Pay, the new service provides crypto payment transactions between users and retail businesses, allowing direct payments within the Telegram interface.
Announcing the news on July 13, Wallet told Cointelegraph that the new payment feature is immediately available in all jurisdictions supported by the wallet service.
At the moment, this list of jurisdictions supported by Wallet Pay includes most countries except the United States and those on the Financial Action Task Force's blacklist, a Wallet spokesperson said. For example, Wallet Pay does not serve countries like Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea.
Since some countries where the Wallet bot operates do not allow residents to pay with cryptocurrency, the wallet service places the responsibility for compliance on local businesses. The representative for Wallet stated:
"Businesses must decide if they are allowed to do business within their jurisdiction before applying to use Wallet Pay."
The list of jurisdictions that do not allow their residents to pay for products and services with cryptocurrencies includes countries like Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, Egypt and others. Russia, which officially banned domestic crypto payments starting in 2020, is the second largest country in terms of Telegram downloads, second only to India. according to the Statista data. Indonesia, Egypt, and Vietnam are also among the top 10 countries for Telegram app downloads.
The Wallet representative noted that the platform does not know which merchants would be the first to test its payment feature because the company has not yet launched the Know Your Business (KYB) procedure. The spokesperson said:
"Our support team collected a few hundred requests, but we didn't start the KYB procedure with these requests before launch, so we don't know yet who will be the first to implement the feature."
The Wallet representative also emphasized that the firm runs its operations independently from Telegram. The bot and the Wallet app are based on the open protocol called Telegram Web Apps, which allows developers to create their own apps and services on Telegram.
The payment service is available through a dedicated bot on Telegram or through the official Wallet Pay website. Users should make sure to validate the bot's source if they plan to test it.
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The new Wallet payment feature supports three cryptocurrencies that are currently featured in its wallet service. These cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Tether (USDT) stablecoin and Toncoin (TON).
Unlike self-custodial or non-custodial wallets like MetaMask, the Telegram Wallet Bot operates a custodial wallet and has its own fee structure.
โAs of today, Wallet is a custodial solution,โ the Wallet spokesperson told Cointelegraph. The representative added that fees for crypto payments โwill vary from 1% to 3% during the beta period.โ
According to data from Wallet Support, the Telegram Wallet bot is also currently you accept a fee of 0.0004 BTC ($12) for withdrawing the cryptocurrency from your custodial wallet. The USDT and TON withdrawal fees amount to 2 USDT and 0.05 TON, respectively.
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