Telegram moving closer to WeChat's decentralized model

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Telegram moving closer to WeChat's decentralized model

Telegram, the messaging app with 800 million monthly active users globally, is inching closer to adopting an ecosystem strategy that is similar to WeChat's super app approach. Telegram's crypto partner TON Foundation and WeChat's owner Tencent will be decentralized with the help of two powerful individuals: Telegram's cryptocurrency partner TON Foundation and WeChat's owner Tencent.

Telegram is relying on a network of infrastructure partners from the established tech world and the crypto space to build this super app platform. The Open Network Foundation, which lays the blockchain groundwork for Telegram, is an independent organization.

This week, TON Foundation announced that it's partnering with Tencent Cloud, which has already successfully supported TON validators and plans to expand its services further to help meet TON's high compute intensity and network bandwidth needs. In web3 lingo, validators are participants that help authenticate transactions in a blockchain network.

While China's tech industry is slowing, Tencent is stepping up its overseas expansion efforts. In recent months, its cloud computing industry has exploded at tech events, such as crypto conferences. Tencent could gain a lot of advantages from the partnership if Telegram's mini-app marketplace continues to take off like its Chinese counterpart.

WeChat has pioneered the mini app model in China and now powers millions of them, serving various functions such as payments, food delivery, e-commerce, and ride-hailing, to name a few. With a decentralized payment network, Telegram's mini-app ecosystem has the capacity to expand to a broad spectrum of users across the globe.

TON Foundation CEO Justin Hyun, head of growth at TON Foundation, said that s cloud service will begin to build on TON.

It is uncertain how many developers working for WeChat's China users are able to capture the diverse needs of Telegram's international community. Many of the creators of mobile games have the most transferrable abilities, given that many are already marketing in overseas markets. If Telegram is banned in China, many developers will have to familiarize themselves with the app before they can develop meaningful applications for the platform.

The developers would also need to learn the programming languages of blockchain apps, which might actually be an easier hurdle to overcome than the process of understanding the economic incentives that facilitate decentralized applications.

However, a collaboration with Tencent could provide insights into enticeping people to use a messenger for a variety of other purposes. The payment feature was instrumental in WeChat's rapid rise, as it led to a habit among users to make daily transactions through the chat app.

Telegram has integration with 20 payments solutions and takes no commission, making WeChat's in-house payments system the default option for Tencent. Telegram recently welcomed a self-custodial wallet that was independently developed by The Open Platform using the TON blockchain. Having a cryptocurrency wallet can offer a variety of transaction options to regions where centralized online payment systems are not available.

It will be fascinating to witness what lessons Telegram and TON have learned from WeChat and how a mini-app platform with a decentralized twist blossoms.