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The popular messaging app Telegram has developed a new marketplace that doesn\u2019t involve nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The social messaging platform said that it is all set to launch its marketplace for auctioning unique usernames for social platforms, an idea first floated in August.<\/p>\n
In an official announcement on its Telegram channel, the firm said that the development phase of the marketplace is near its end. The marketplace is based on its native blockchain called The Open Network (TON).<\/p>\n
The idea was first teased by the company founder Pavel Durov in late August this year when he proposed a marketplace that could utilize \u201cNFT-like smart contracts\u201d<\/a> to auction highly-sought after usernames. Durov made the suggestion after the \u201csuccess\u201d of domain name auctions by The Open Network (TON)<\/a>, a layer-1 blockchain originally designed by the Telegram team.<\/p>\n Durov said at the time that a new marketplace, where username holders could transfer them to interested parties in protected deals \u2014 with ownership secured on the blockchain via NFT-like smart contracts \u2014 could become a sought-after service in Web3. He added that other elements of the Telegram ecosystem, including channels, stickers or emojis, could later also become part of this marketplace.<\/p>\n Telegram didn\u2019t respond to Cointelegraph\u2019s requests for comments at the time of publishing.<\/p>\n