News

Telegram Is Getting Ready To Paywall Some Features

The good news is that the premium subscription won’t limit non-premium users in any way because all existing features will remain free.

Published

2 years ago

June 17, 2022

David Morelo

telegram is getting ready to paywall some features

Since its launch in 2013, cross-platform messaging app Telegram has gained over 550 million monthly active users. To continue providing unrivaled limits on chats, media, and file uploads, Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, has recently announced the plan to launch a paid premium subscription plan.

According to Durov, a portion of Telegram’s user base has been asking for even higher limits than what the messaging app currently offers. Unfortunately, that’s not something Telegram can afford to do for all of its 550 million monthly active users because its infrastructure expenses would skyrocket.

“After giving it some thought, we realized that 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 explains. “That’s why this month we will introduce Telegram Premium, a subscription plan that allows anyone to acquire additional features, speed, and resources.”

The subscription plan should be available later this month, and some of the features it will unlock were previewed in a recent version of Telegram. According to information obtained by people who analyzed the beta version, the plan should cost $4.99 a month, which is only half of what Discord charges for its Nitro subscription.

Also Read: Instagram’s Amber Alert Feature Is Coming To The UAE

The good news is that the introduction of the premium subscription won’t limit non-premium users in any way because all existing features will remain free. What’s more, they will be able to view extra-large documents, media, and stickers sent by premium users, and more.

As such, the introduction of the premium subscription plan seems like good news all around because it enables Telegram to become an even better version of itself without depending solely on ad revenue, which would give advertisers the power to indirectly influence the future of the messenger. Would you pay for the Telegram premium subscription?

News

Binance Receives Virtual Assets License To Operate In Dubai

As its user base nears 200 million, CEO Richard Teng believes crypto adoption will soar over the next half of the decade.

Published

1 hour ago

April 19, 2024

Nour Nasir

binance receives virtual assets license to operate in dubai

Global crypto exchange Binance has been granted a full operational license in Dubai, in a move that’s expected to accelerate digital asset adoption and strengthen the UAE’s regulatory landscape.

The virtual asset service provider license (VASP) was granted by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and will allow Binance to extend its current range of services to retail investors, the company announced yesterday.

The move by Dubai authorities will be critical to Binance’s strategy of growing its user base globally. The crypto exchange expects to pass the 200 million user mark “quite shortly”, according to Richard Teng, the company’s CEO.

Once that milestone is achieved, Binance will have around twice as many users as rival platform Coinbase. Meanwhile, Crypto.com, another popular exchange with 80 million users, received a Dubai VASP license last week.

“We’re seeing much greater institutional adoption and institutional money coming into this space [along with] much greater regulatory clarity and a lot more jurisdictions approving [digital asset] products that bring in new investor classes,” Binance’s Richard Tang explained, adding: “As of now, we stand at about 5% crypto adoption globally, but that will become much faster moving forward”.

Also Read: Microsoft Invests $1.5 Billion In Abu Dhabi AI Tech Firm G42

Dubai and the UAE are extremely supportive of technologies like digital assets, and have already launched initiatives to boost adoption. The UAE has ambitious plans to become a world leader in the crypto economy of the future, with Dubai in particular being noteworthy for passing a new law to regulate virtual assets to support investors and exchanges.

“Global crypto regulation is currently showing diverging signs. Some developed countries have long suffered from crypto-related frauds and illegal exchanges. On the other hand, emerging nations like the UAE and Singapore have enacted crypto laws at faced pace,” said Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Dubai-based Century Financial.

As the UAE gears up to become one of the fastest-growing crypto capitals worldwide, investors and talent are flocking to places like Dubai. During 2023, the Emirates as a whole realized $204 million in capital gains from cryptocurrency investments, according to blockchain data analysts Chainalysis.