Telegram founder Pavel Durov has announced a new internal currency designed to buy digital goods and services in Telegram mini-apps in a cryptocurrency-based ecosystem, Decrypt media reports.
The Stars currency will be available for purchase through in-app purchases on iOS and Android or on Telegram itself. Stars can then be used to purchase digital products in Telegram mini-apps such as Notcoin.
“With fast, user-friendly payments for digital goods and services, the bot and mini app platform will allow new types of businesses to reach over 900 million potential customers inside Telegram,” the company writes in its blog.
Soon, according to Durov, Telegram developers will be able to convert Stars to Toncoin (TON). These transfers will take place through Fragment, Telegram's in-app advertising marketplace.
Developers and suppliers will be able to exchange their TONs for other cryptocurrencies, including USDT, using the Telegram Wallet bot.
In April, Durov announced that Telegram was partnering with Tether, the issuer of USDT, to significantly increase the attractiveness of doing business on the messenger.
At the TOKEN2049 crypto conference in Dubai, he also said that Telegram would soon support in-app purchases of digital goods and services, with developers receiving 70% of the revenue from such transactions.
Durov also said that Telegram will subsidize ads purchased with Stars to encourage the use of the currency and prevent Apple and Google from re-imposing 30% fees on new purchases in the Stars app.
Recently, TON reached its highest price ever at $7.76. The token is now on the verge of reaching a market capitalization of $18 billion, making it the tenth most valuable cryptocurrency on the market.