Telegram’s User Count Reaches 950 Million, Aims to Unveil an App Store

The communication platform Telegram is on the brink of hitting 1 billion active users, as announced by its founder Pavel Durov. Currently standing at 950 million users, the milestone is expected to be reached within this year, as shared on Durov’s channel this Monday.

Additionally, Durov revealed plans last week to introduce an app marketplace and an integrated web browser that will be compatible with web3 sites, anticipated to be launched soon.

By March, the service had welcomed over 900 million users. In a discussion with the Financial Times, Durov expressed the company’s aspirations for financial gain by next year, accessible here: Financial Times Interview.

The adoption of web3 technologies is gaining momentum on Telegram. Despite a past stumbling block with its initial coin offering in 2018, the company has been a long-term supporter of cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. Notably, in December 2022, Telegram initiated the auction of usernames via the TON blockchain.

Since then, Telegram has diverted its focus to aiding developers in the creation of mini-apps and games that facilitate transactions using cryptocurrency. In an effort to support channel owners this year, Telegram began distributing ad revenue through the provision of toncoin (the TON blockchain’s token). Furthermore, the platform recently enabled channel owners to exchange stars for toncoin to leverage discounts on ad purchases or for cryptocurrency trading.

However, the prevalence of fraudulent activities and scams has been a persistent issue for Telegram. A surge in such schemes, specifically aimed at misappropriating toncoins, has been noted since November 2023, as documented by Kaspersky here: Kaspersky Report. In a recent statement, Durov addressed these concerns and outlined steps the company is taking to combat these issues.

Durov also mentioned forthcoming features to enhance security and verification on the platform. These include displaying the registration date and primary country of public accounts, mirroring Instagram’s approach, and the introduction of a decentralized marketplace through which organizations can label channels using their mini apps for third-party verification.