Button Wallet becomes first company to offer fiat buy-in capability on Telegram

Los Angeles. May 31st — Button Wallet, the Venmo app for cryptocurrency, today announced US customers can use fiat currency to quickly and securely buy digital assets, making Button the first company or bot to enable users to buy-in with fiat on Telegram.

Button’s multi-currency crypto wallet is built and comes pre-installed on Telegram messenger. The fiat capability, which makes crypto even more accessible to a larger swath of the population, has been made possible by implementing Wyre technology in a way that has never been done before. Previously, purchasing crypto was confused and time-consuming; it could take up to three weeks for a new user to be verified to purchase crypto with fiat within the US. With the integration of Wyre into Button Wallet, users in the US can become verified to purchase cryptocurrency with a debit card usually within one hour.

“Since launching last year, we rapidly gained over 100,000 users; users who rely on Button Wallet to quickly and easily make payments and split finances using cryptocurrencies,” says Alex Safonov, CEO of Button Wallet. “Letting users buy-in with fiat just as quickly and easily will only make crypto even more appealing and accessible for more people. They will be able to trade BTC, BCH, ETH, ETC, LTC, Waves, Dai and ERC-20 tokens without external fees, and will be able to pay friends and clients alike for everything from freelance gigs to split Coachella expenses.”

The addition of Wyre is particularly advantageous to TON investors, as anticipation for the release of TON (Telegram Open Network) grows. Telegram Group recently raised $1.7 billion from private investors to build TON. TON’s cryptocurrency, Gram, will be integrated into Button’s wallet during the third quarter. The Button team has also worked hard to blend Telegram’s KYC process, Telegram Passport, into its ecosystem, making it as simple as possible for users while remaining compliant. Once users create their KYC within Telegram Passport, they don’t need to do it again for any other applications or bots within Telegram. Button is also the only Telegram wallet that doesn’t store user info, passwords, or QR codes.

“90% of crypto holders have used Telegram, and Button already created a wallet and exchange right where they are, without requiring external software,” says Rachael McCrary, CCO of Button Wallet. “Now, more Telegram users will be able to get in the game. Once users can buy-in with fiat currency, there are endless possibilities: have a friend pay you in Ethereum and exchange it for Bitcoin, tip someone simply by finding their username in Telegram, and more.”

Button, which is based in Moscow and Los Angeles, was developed by a team of hackers who have won countless hackathons around the globe. The Button team was part of the most recent cohort of the Silicon Valley incubator ETC Labs and graduated from accelerators MIT Play Labs and StartupBoost LA. The team has also won 15 engineering awards and hackathons, including ETHSanFrancisco, ETHSingapore and ETHDenver, where they received five nominations (more than any other company). Last week, they attended Consensus and ETHNewYork, winning hacker nominations at the latter from Binance, Matic, and Wyre.