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

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 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. 


Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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.

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Lawrence Lewitinn at
[email protected]