TON Pay Joins the Race to Build the Crypto ‘Everything App’
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TON Pay’s launch puts Telegram squarely in the race to build an everything app — one that blends messaging, payments, and commerce in a single interface.
X is building X Money. Coinbase is turning its wallet into a social, payment-enabled Base app. Now TON is embedding crypto payments directly into Telegram’s ecosystem.
But TON still carries baggage: critics point to centralization concerns, governance questions, and scam activity tied to unofficial projects. The Foundation insists the network is open and permissionless — while acknowledging that merchants must follow Telegram’s platform rules.
TON Pay is a test of whether crypto payments can scale inside a dominant platform — and whether convenience can outweigh lingering trust concerns.