Telegram Beats Twitter, Microsoft As It Debuts Feature That Allows Users To Send Crypto Via Chat

Telegram, a freemium, cross-platform, encrypted, cloud-based and centralized instant messaging service, blazed the trail for sending cryptocurrency via chat when it introduced a new feature that enables users to send and receive Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, through the app's @wallet bot.

Telegram has further dipped its feet into the cryptocurrency space aside from adding support for crypto payments in April last year. It now has added Tether in its @walletbot, which allows its messaging app to expand its crypto service offering.

With this latest integration, users of Telegram's messaging app can easily send and buy crypto – an impressive breakthrough since users can do it like sending a text message or a photo to a recipient.

The new feature also enables users to easily access and manage their crypto holdings, conduct P2P transactions using USDT, and eventually boost mainstream adoption of the stablecoin.

This is, however, not Telegram's first foray into the world of cryptocurrency since last year it added Bitcoin (BTC) and Toncoin (TON) to its @walletmarketplace.

"You can now send #Toncoin directly within Telegram chats," Telegram tweeted last April, adding, "It's a new way to send Toncoin without transaction fees to any Telegram user. With this service, you'll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations."

Twitter, the social media giant currently run by tech billionaire Elon Musk, has a similar feature but it depends on third-party payment services like the Strike app.

Musk mentioned during the Morgan Stanley (MS.N) investor conference that he wants to transform Twitter as "the biggest financial institution in the world, just by providing people with convenient payment options."

Unfortunately, he did not mention his previous plan of integrating crypto into the platform, something which disappointed a lot of crypto enthusiasts since the tech billionaire has been teasing about it since last year.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is exploring integrating a crypto wallet on Edge based on the recently discovered beta build of its official browser.

The screenshots of Edge's beta build showed a user interface of the supposed crypto wallet, a decentralized app explorer, a news feed, and the user's ability to purchase crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum through centralized crypt exchange platforms like Coinbase and Moonpay.

"This is a non-custodial wallet, meaning you are in complete control of your funds. We will not have access to your password and recovery key. It is embedded in Edge, making it easy to use without installing any extension," one of the screenshots shared on Twitter read.