Telegram’s TON Flies on Planned Ad-Sharing Program

Telegram, a messaging app with 800 million users, will start distributing rewards in TON, the blockchain developed by the company.

Telegram will start distributing its TON token to channel owners via its Telegram Ads platforms starting March. Channel owners will receive 50% of any revenue that Telegram makes from displaying ads in their channels, in TON.

“To ensure ad payments and withdrawals are fast and secure, we will exclusively use the TON blockchain,” said Telegram founder, Pavel Durov today in his channel.

Along with the rest of the crypto market, TON soared today after the announcement. It spiked by almost 12% after Durov’s statement.

According to Durov, broadcast channels on Telegram generate 1 trillion views monthly. However, only 10% of these views are monetized with Telegram Ads–a promotion tool designed “with privacy in mind,” he said.

The TON program aims to incentivize cryptocurrency advocates who today aren’t using Telegram for broadcasting purposes to start focusing on the app to monetize their content.

The program also has the potential to onboard part of Telegram’s millions of users onto crypto.

Telegram began developing TON in 2018, although abandoned these efforts after the SEC blocked its public sale, dubbing the token a security. TON continued operating after members of its community created the TON Foundation, which later signed a partnership in Sep. 2023 to become the messaging platform’s official Web3 infrastructure.