Telegram launched the ‘Stars’ token, allowing users to avail digital goods and services from the social platform’s numerous mini apps. Stars is an in-app asset that ensures users can pay for services effortlessly through the app.
Mini-app developers can exchange the Stars for Toncoin (TON) – the native asset of the TON chain, a blockchain network developed and powered by Telegram. They can exchange the tokens on Fragment, a platform on which Telegram users often buy and sell usernames.
Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO, mentioned in a post, “With Telegram Stars, mini apps can now accept payments for digital services using the simplest payment method possible – in-app purchases on Android and iOS”. He added, “Mini app developers can withdraw their Stars via Fragment using TON. They can also use Stars to further promote their apps on Telegram — on preferential terms!”
Since Stars is an in-app token, acquiring it on Telegram will incur a 30% commission paid to Apple or Google, depending on the device used. Telegram will offer subsidized advertising on the platform as a benefit for developers paying for the advertisements in Stars, taking advertising-related commissions close to 0%.
With future updates, Telegram will add new functionalities to Stars, letting content creators monetize their work on the platform using the token. Its introduction can bring numerous monetization models within Telegram’s social layer and its burgeoning mini-app ecosystem. This, alongside the advertising commission subsidies, will incentivize developers to build the next generation of apps in the Telegram ecosystem.
In the same post introducing Stars, Pavel said, “The recent mini app boom has already made Telegram the main destination to launch new apps. Stars and ad subsidies bring this to a new level – unprecedented in the history of social media.”
Telegram is making tremendous strides in the decentralized space. Notcoin, a mini app launched on the platform, was in the news recently for making massive noise in the community. Users can earn the NOT token by interacting with the app’s social challenges through its ‘tap-to-earn’ model. The TON blockchain is also facilitating the development of various Web3 use cases, with the Toncoin’s market cap now in the tens of billions.
