Telegram intends to compete with the crowdfunding platform Patreon and the OnlyFans service. This was stated by the messenger’s founder Pavel Durov at the TOKEN2049 cryptocurrency and blockchain technology conference in Dubai.

“The reason we love blockchain is because it’s a technology of freedom. We care about freedom,” he said on the stage of an event in Dubai, “We believe deeply in giving people the freedom to create their own tools, their own apps, their own businesses on Telegram.

During the event, Pavel Durov announced upcoming changes to Telegram. For example, 70% remuneration from subscriptions will soon be introduced for digital content authors.

As another future step, the messenger’s founder announced the tokenization of stickers and emojis.

“Stickers are very, very popular. More than 700 million times a month, stickers are shared on Telegram,” explained Pavel Durov. “Emojis can also become NFTs.

Also, during the TOKEN2049 event, it was announced that the USDT stablecoin will be integrated into the TON blockchain, and it will be possible to buy goods or subscribe to content authors directly on Telegram.

By the way, Pavel Durov recently said that Telegram could reach 1 billion users within a year.