Telegram, an instant messaging software, has begun accepting crypto payments in the form of Toncoin (TON).

To utilize the tool, users must first sign up for Telegram’s official Wallet Bot, which enables them to buy bitcoin using a bank card, swap it, and move it to other wallets. They may then transmit Bitcoin (BTC) or Toncoin to certain other users by clicking on the “Wallet” symbol in direct messaging, according to the startup.

Telegram launched The Open Network (TON) Blockchain Project in 2017 as a proof-of-stake method for decentralized services like as decentralized storage, anonymous networks, DNS, rapid payments, and others.

While only Toncoin (TON) may be transferred within the app, users can buy bitcoin (BTC) using the “@wallet” bot.

Those wishing to transfer Toncoin using the new wallet bot, which The Open Network claims, has been used by over 800,000 users on Telegram since its activation earlier this week, must install the most recent version of the Telegram app.

The goal is to make transferring Toncoin “look like sending a text,” according to the TON Foundation, the Telegram cryptocurrency project’s steward.

“It is believed that this simplicity of the Telegram cryptocurrency transaction procedure would enable broader global acceptance and assist to incorporate blockchain payment systems into people’s daily lives,” a TON Foundation representative stated in a news statement.

“We believe that this capability will expand the accessibility to consumers to company payments, allowing users to quickly obtain products and services by transferring Toncoin via bots inside the Telegram app,” the Foundation stated.

Telegram agreed to repay $1.2 billion to investors in June 2020 to satisfy SEC charges when the latter filed a lawsuit against the messaging service for earning $1.7 billion through a private token sale. Gram tokens, according to the SEC, were unregistered securities.

Following that, Telegram handed up ownership of the Telegram Public Network and Toncoin—now the 205th-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $2.83 billion—to The Open Network community, a transparent community devoted to developing Toncoin and the accompanying blockchain.