Durov Announced Auction of Short Telegram Usernames

Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, announced that Telegram addresses linked to channels that were empty or inactive will be gradually reintroduced into public use, while the highest-valued short usernames will be distributed via auction.  

According to Durov's latest post in his Telegram channel, until recently, 70% of all Telegram usernames had been reserved in inactive channels by cybersquatters from Iran. This hampered the development of the platform since there was a graveyard of dead usernames that cluttered search results and prevented millions of Telegram users from selecting appropriate public addresses for their accounts, groups and channels.

Thus, many users who wanted to acquire these reserved usernames often received no response or ended up being scammed. Now, here comes the solution to this issue.

In mid-August, we withdrew all public Telegram addresses linked to channels that were empty or inactive for the last year. We will gradually reintroduce 99% of these addresses into public use, this time with algorithmic and geolocation limitations so that more users, and not just a select few, can benefit,

Durov wrote in his recent post.

As for the highest-valued short usernames, Durov says they will be distributed via auction, as was the case with TON domain names. In this way, those who acquire these links will be motivated 'to put them to good use and bring value to the users with original content hosted at recognizable t.me addresses'.

I don't doubt that those who hoarded Telegram usernames are disappointed, but this change will benefit the vast majority of our users. I look forward to seeing how millions of great Telegram addresses will be revived and finally start serving our community.

CEO of Telegram also announced the platform added support for dedicated links like username.t.me for every username on Telegram (in addition to t.me/username).