Telegram Looks into Auctioning Usernames with NFT-like Smart Contracts

The creator of the secure messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, has proposed the concept of a marketplace that might employ “smart contracts like NFTs” to auction off highly desirable usernames. Durov made this recommendation after the success of The Open Network (TON), a layer-1 blockchain first created by the Telegram team. In mid-July, the blockchain project introduced the TON DNS service, which enables users to create websites, smart contracts, and human-readable names for cryptocurrency wallets. On August 23rd, he wrote to his private Telegram channel, “Durov’s Channel,” to express his admiration for the achievement of the most recent TON auction for their domain/wallet names. He stated, “Imagine how successful Telegram could be with its 700 million users if we put the @ username, group, and channel links reserved for auction. This will create a new platform where username holders can transfer them to interested parties in protected deals – with secure ownership on the blockchain through smart contracts such as NFTs.” TON DNS Went Live on First Auction On July 30th, the first auction on TON DNS went live, and, like the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) “.eth” domain, the “.ton” version enables users to access decentralized apps more easily. The TON network uses the FunC programming language for the TON virtual machine to launch individual smart contracts on the blockchain. They would probably be built to this standard if Tel...