Today in the Connected Economy: Telegram OKs Crypto Payments, Bored Ape Sells Metaverse Land

Today in the connected economy, messaging service Telegram announces plans to let its users send and receive payments using cryptocurrency.

Also, Yuga Labs — makers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club — prepares to sell $300 million worth of virtual land in the metaverse, while Western Union expands its partnership with the U.K. postal service to allow cross-border payments.

Following Growing Social Media Trend, Telegram Adopts In-App Crypto Payments

Messaging service Telegram will let its 550 million users send and receive payments using the Toncoin cryptocurrency in real time.

With the help of a new digital wallet, Telegram members can send TON coins “directly within Telegram chats … without transaction fees to any Telegram user,” the company said on Twitter. “With this service, you’ll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations.”

This move is the latest example of social media companies embracing crypto payments. Among them is Meta’s two-billion-customer WhatsApp messaging service, which began supportingr the Paxos stablecoin in December, after Meta abandoned its Diem stablecoin project.

Bored Ape Yacht Club Preps $300M Metaverse Land Sale

Yuga Labs, founders of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, says it expects to generate up to $300 million in cryptocurrency by selling land in the metaverse this weekend.

The sale, set to kick off Saturday, is expected to be the largest-ever launch of non-fungible tokens, with Yuga selling NFT deeds for at least 55,000 plots of land in the Otherside, its soon-to-launch metaverse game.

When the sale begins, each deedholder will gain rights to land that costs 305 ApeCoin — the cryptocurrency Yuga debuted in March — or more than $6,000. These bidders will be buying land in game that has not yet been released and has yet to be widely previewed. It allows players to play as characters they own within the metaverse, though details of the game are so far unclear.

Western Union Expands UK Post Office Partnership

Western Union says it is expanding its partnership with the U.K. Post Office to offer retail cross-border money transfers.

The company says postal customers in the U.K. will be able to send money to friends and family in other countries through Western Union’s digital services or in-person at 4,000 post offices across the nation.

With this the expanded partnership, due to launch in autumn 2022, customers can have their funds paid out in cash, onto a card, into a mobile wallet or into a bank account through Western Union’s global network, the company said.