The popular messaging app Telegram launched its internal token in early June 2024. In this post, we will explore the importance of Telegram Stars, the benefits they offer to any business, and the ways to buy, earn, and spend this in-app currency.
- What are Telegram Stars?
- Why use Telegram Stars?
- Why businesses should use Telegram Stars?
- How does Telegram Stars currency work?
- How to buy Telegram Stars
- How to create a paid post in your Telegram channel
- How to get Star reactions
- How to integrate Telegram Stars payment to your chatbot
- How to use Telegram Stars
- Final thoughts
What are Telegram Stars?
Telegram is expanding its ecosystem to offer users easy access to a variety of services, from basic communication to commercial activities. For this purpose, the developers have introduced an internal currency called Telegram Stars.
According to the official announcement, Telegram is rolling out Stars to enable payments for digital goods and services. Users can buy Stars through in-app transactions via Apple, Google, or PremiumBot and then use Stars to purchase digital products offered by bots, such as eBooks, online courses, or items in Telegram games.
In short, Telegram Stars is a virtual currency designed to simplify transactions within the messaging app that is now available to all users.
Why use Telegram Stars?
The main advantage of Telegram’s internal currency is its versatility. Telegram Stars work in every country where the app is available, allowing users to make payments without leaving the app, clicking on external links, or using bank cards.
Essentially, users can now top up their account balance with in-app currency and freely use it within the platform. The development team envisions using Telegram Stars for:
- purchasing eBooks, paying for online courses, or accessing games and multimedia content;
- donating to favorite creators or using chatbots to pay for additional features or exclusive content;
- buying items, characters, or upgrading skills in online games.
The developers ensure that all transactions are secure and payment data is kept confidential. Notably, the Play Market and App Store have officially recognized Telegram Stars. Despite strict regulations, these platforms permit using Telegram Stars for payments.
Why businesses should use Telegram Stars?
Telegram Stars is a valuable asset for businesses looking to monetize their offerings through the messaging app, whether as a primary or additional communication channel. Let’s look at the Stars’ main benefits.
Direct monetization
Selling services and products on Telegram has become more accessible thanks to simplified payment options. Customers have less time to raise objections, as transactions are processed quickly within the system.
Audience engagement
Telegram Stars enable creators to share premium content without depending on paid channels. This introduces a new way to monetize content on Telegram. It’s especially beneficial for owners of smaller channels building their personal brands, as attracting followers to a paid channel can be challenging. Now, creators can make a public community and restrict access to certain content.
User-friendly experience
Integrating Telegram Stars into a bot or channel is straightforward, which enables you to manage sales in one place. While it’s unlikely that this internal currency will replace other payment methods like bank transactions, using Stars can enhance the overall profitability of your business.
How does Telegram Stars currency work?
Telegram has recently adopted approaches and technologies from the digital asset space. It incorporated a blockchain-based financial infrastructure that provides a reliable, transparent, and tamper-proof way to make, record, and verify all transactions. The developers have also implemented smart contracts to automate predefined actions based on specific conditions, particularly to manage transactions and distribute rewards.
In this landscape, Telegram Stars are tokens that act as the platform’s internal cryptocurrency, and each Telegram user has a crypto wallet for their tokens, making it easy to buy, spend, and sell Stars.
A blockchain is a digital chain of information blocks that enables secure and transparent data management without requiring a centralized intermediary.
Cryptocurrency refers to digital money that runs on blockchain technology.
A token is a digital asset that has value and operates within its native blockchain network, similar to a bonus or reward.
How to buy Telegram Stars
There are several ways to purchase Telegram’s internal currency. Let’s break down each method.
Google or Apple in-app purchase system
It is the most straightforward method. Go to your account settings and find the My Stars section. Choose the number of Stars you want to buy, select the payment method, and confirm your transaction. The Stars will be credited to your internal account balance.
Fragment
Fragment is a trading platform within Telegram that allows users to buy, sell, and exchange unique digital assets associated with the messaging app. Before using it, you should set up a Telegram wallet and sync it with the platform.
You’ll also need to deposit funds in your wallet by purchasing Toncoin, the cryptocurrency and native token of The Open Network (TON), initially developed by Telegram.
Once you’ve completed these steps, go to the Telegram Stars purchase menu. Enter the recipient’s username and specify the number of Stars you wish to purchase. Then click “Buy” and confirm your transaction.
PremiumBot
Telegram Premium users can purchase Stars using the PremiumBot. To do this, open the bot’s menu and select the command /stars. Then, specify how many stars you’d like to buy and who should receive them. Payment can be made by credit card. You can send the purchased stars to yourself or to any other Telegram user.
How to create a paid post in your Telegram channel
Choose the content you wish to publish in your channel. Press the “Send” button as you normally would to set a specific sending time. From the menu, select the “Make This Content Paid” option.
After that, specify the number of Stars needed to access your content, and press “Make This Media Paid.”
As a result, only those subscribers who pay the necessary amount of Telegram Stars will be able to unlock the post.
Once a subscriber pays for a post, your Star balance will be updated.
How to get Star reactions
Telegram developers introduced Stars in August 2024. Now, subscribers can support their favorite channels with special reactions to posts. To do this, subscribers simply select the star symbol. The number of paid reactions is visible to the whole audience. Here’s how it appears under a post from a popular channel.
To activate the option, go to your channel settings, select the “Reactions” section, and choose “Enable Paid Reactions.”
100% of the Stars received are credited to the channel owner. Telegram does not charge any commission.
How to integrate Telegram Stars payment to your chatbot
You can easily add Stars payment to the chatbot you use to communicate with customers and process orders. Here’s how to get started.
Choose a platform for bot development
SendPulse offers a simple and intuitive chatbot builder that allows you to create various communication scenarios without any technical skills. With SendPulse, you can train your chatbot to respond to FAQs, offer welcome bonuses, accept orders, and more.
Create a chatbot and set up Telegram Stars payment
Design the communication algorithm you need and add a “Pay” button. In settings, choose Telegram Stars as the payment method and specify the cost in Stars. It can be either fixed or variable within specified limits.
Integrate your chatbot with Telegram
Follow the guide to add your chatbot to your Telegram channel. Make sure to test how the Stars payment works using another account. Afterward, you can announce the new payment method to your subscribers.
How to use Telegram Stars
Now that you’ve received Stars from users, what’s next? You have two options:
- Convert your stars to Toncoin 21 days after they show up in your balance. You can then sell the cryptocurrency to receive funds in traditional currency.
- Use Telegram Stars to promote your channel through Telegram Ads.
Currently, there’s no direct way to cash out Stars in US dollars or other currencies, but the platform’s developers have foreshadowed that this feature will be available in the future.
Final thoughts
Telegram Stars is a cutting-edge financial tool that could potentially transform payment operations within the messaging app over time. However, it’s important to remember that modern businesses need to establish communication across multiple channels to succeed.
SendPulse offers everything you need to build a strong customer communication strategy, including tools for email campaigns, push notifications, pop-ups, websites, courses, and more.
Create your free account and give our all-in-one sales and marketing automation toolkit a test run!
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