Telegram launches in-app browser and mini-app store in new update

08/14/2024 21:24
Telegram launches in-app browser and mini-app store in new update

Telegram launched an in-app browser supporting decentralized webpages, a mini-app store and other improvements in a July 31 update. 

Crypto Ecosystems • July 31, 2024, 6:10PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

  • The messaging platform Telegram launched an in-app browser supporting decentralized webpages, a mini-app store and other improvements in a July 31 update. 

The crypto-friendly communications platform Telegram has launched a browser and mini app store along with other updates.  

Users can switch between websites and platform messaging with the browser, which includes decentralized websites called TON +8.74% Sites, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on the messaging app.

"Telegram's browser supports decentralized websites hosted on TON — in all mobile and native desktop apps. This makes Web3 immediately available to our almost one billion monthly users," the Telegram team wrote in a Wednesday blog post. 

Telegram users can also send Stars, units of the mini-app payment system, to their friends, in addition to improvements to the platform's app store such as search options, previews of the app from developers and sharing mini apps into a user's content called Stories. 

Durov initially announced plans to implement the in-app browser and mini-app store on July 19. Many games on Telegram took off this year, such as web3 tap-to-earn game Catizen, which amassed $16 million in in-app purchases. 

Catizen and Telegram's other top game Hamster Kombat use The Open Network's native cryptocurrency Toncoin (TON), which traded at $6.79 after seeing a 1.05% increase in the past 24 hours, according to The Block Prices. 


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About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.

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