Telegram is set to debut a paid subscription plan for users later this month, the messaging app’s co-founder said Friday (June 10).
Writing on the company blog, Pavel Durov said Telegram Premium would offer subscribers a higher limit for chats and file and media uploads.
“The only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option,” Durov said.
Durov added that all existing features would remain free, with other new free features set to be unveiled. And even users who don’t sign up for Telegram Premium will be able to enjoy some of its benefits, the founder added.
“For example, they will be able to view extra-large documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or tap to add Premium reactions already pinned to a message to react in the same way,” he said.
See also: TikTok Debuts Subscription Comedy Series
The announcement comes one week after another social media giant, TikTok, announced it was rolling out a subscription comedy series, a move that came soon after the company said it was going to test a program to allow viewers to pay to subscribe to specific streamers.
According to its website, Telegram has 500 million monthly active users and is among the world’s 10 most downloaded apps.
Learn more: Following Growing Social Media Trend, Telegram Adopts In-App Crypto Payments
In April, the company began allowing its users to send and receive payments using the Toncoin cryptocurrency in real time.
With a new digital wallet, Telegram users can send TON coins “directly within Telegram chats … without transaction fees to any Telegram user,” the company said on Twitter. “With this service, you’ll no longer need to enter long wallet addresses and wait for confirmations.”
Toncoins can be purchased directly with a debit card or via crypto exchanges, or transferred from other digital wallets, the company said.
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