Fragment, a public blockchain platform that automates the transactions of collectibles, has recently recorded thousands of bids for unique Telegram handles.
Telegram, the private messaging service platform, leverages blockchain and smart contract functions to enable users to access rare handles in the form of NFT and sell them for profit.
They launched a marketplace for this activity in October 2022, and the token that will power each purchase is Toncoin.
The coin is the native token of Open network, a blockchain platform created by Telegram in 2020; they backed off the project after probing by US SEC.
Telegram chose Fragment to auction the bids in October; interested individuals can go to the website and select a preferred alphabet character, usually about 3 or 4.
The individuals can also auction their current handles or latch pre-bought ones onto off-chain accounts.
Initially, the platform auctioned about 4-5 character handles and placed its price at a minimum of 126 Tons or 200 US dollars.
However, some unique handles, such as casinos, banks, and so on, cost much more than others. Its auction price was 30,000 Tons and above.
Nevertheless, the price was flexible; most times, if no one purchased a handle at its auction price, the price was dragged down gradually until it was purchased.
The auction prices have surged from just a few hundred or thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a few weeks. The current highest bid for the handle King.t.me on Fragment is over $781,000.
In October, when the sale started, Telegram rolled in a profit of $ 3 million worth of TON, with sporadic increases in the price of auction bids and many bidders. Currently, the profit the platform will make will most certainly surpass it by a lot.
The many advantages of the arrangement were that individuals can now prove ownership of their social media accounts, all thanks to blockchain technology.
