Telegram Turns Messaging App into Crypto Gateway with 1 Billion Users

Telegram's messaging app has become a crypto gateway by building a blockchain infrastructure layer directly inside its platform. The Open Network (TON) is now the exclusive engine for payments, mini apps, and digital asset transactions across Telegram's over 1 billion monthly active users.

The story began in 2018 with the launch of Telegram Open Network, a Layer-1 blockchain that extended the app beyond messaging. However, after the SEC challenged Telegram's private token sale, a US court blocked distribution of the original 'Grams' token in 2020.

Despite this setback, independent developers revived the codebase as The Open Network, and the TON Foundation brought the mainnet online while Telegram continued separately. In January 2025, the TON Foundation announced that TON became the exclusive blockchain infrastructure powering Telegram's Mini App ecosystem.