With 950 million active users, messaging app Telegram is planning to launch an in-app browser that supports Web3 along with an app store, according to founder Pavel Durov. Telegram, which launched in 2013, is expected to surpass 1 billion users this year and may hit profitability in 2025, Durov has said. Though the global platform is known for encrypted private communications, it has recently seen a surge of growth among mini-apps and games and has a thriving community built around crypto rewards. Now, Binance Labs has led an investment in Pluto Studio, developer of the Telegram-based game “Catizen.”

“Telegram seems to be accelerating adoption of Web3 tech on its platform,” writes TechCrunch, noting that “the company has long supported cryptocurrency and blockchain initiatives, but its own efforts to enter the space slowed down after its initial coin offering failed in 2018.”

While Telegram’s currency, Toncoin, has had regulatory setbacks, the company has not abandoned it, nor the TON blockchain.

The platform has been encouraging channel-owners to build activities that transact in Toncoin, and this year began sharing ad revenue (in Toncoin), among other incentives.

“Launched in March 2024, ‘Catizen’ is a Telegram-based gaming bot integrating with the TON blockchain,” writes DailyCoin, noting that “the platform features several minigames, attracting over 26 million players and earning $16 million from in-app purchases.”

DailyCoin calls the gamification paired with crypto rewards “a powerful combination,” adding that Telegram “makes crypto games easy to use, requiring virtually no user setup.” The outlet cautions, however, that it does not think games alone can be a primary driver for Web3, whose broader adoption “will likely require more diverse and robust applications.”

But while Telegram’s crypto games may be easy to play, blockchain integration poses challenges for coders, according to Cointelegraph, which writes that “the complexity of onchain interactions requires expertise and resources that many developers lack,” and details obstacles.

For its part, Binance Labs — the venture capital and incubation arm of the Binance crypto exchange — says in a blog post that Pluto Studio has “the potential to onboard billions of users into Web3.”

Telegram, which TechCrunch says has “long suffered from scams and grifts,” appears to be cleaning up the neighborhood in time for Web3’s potential mainstream moment.

The company will soon “begin displaying the month of registration and principal country for public accounts (similar to Instagram)” and “will also allow organizations to use their mini apps to issue labels for channels, creating a decentralized marketplace for third-party verification,” Durov wrote in a message on his Telegram channel, according to TechCrunch.