Development of Telegram bots for NFT marketplaces

At the end of 2021, the NFT project market grew by 300%, and this figure continues to grow. Many popular NFTs sell out almost instantly, often in the millions of dollars.

By definition, NFT, or Non-fungible token, is a digital non-fungible token that confirms a person’s right to own a virtual or real asset: a photo, music, video, program code, and anything else. At the same time, unlike conventional cryptocurrencies, one NFT is not identical to another. This means that such tokens cannot be used for trading or equivalent exchange.

Also, they cannot be traded on traditional cryptocurrency exchanges. Instead, special platforms are used to buy and sell them – NFT marketplaces.

Most often, NFT marketplaces are presented in the form of a website or a mobile application for a smartphone, however, the latest Telegram updates make it possible to create a full-fledged platform for buying and selling NFTs directly in the messenger, using specially programmed bots. In this article, we will look at how this can be implemented in practice.

A Telegram bot is a separate Telegram account that interacts with the user on its own. Modern bots are able to become a full-fledged replacement for the site, they can perform any operations inherent in their functionality.

Here are a few reasons why you should use Telegram to create an NFT marketplace:

• Security – Telegram uses its own reliable encryption algorithm, the effectiveness of which is constantly being improved by the developers of the messenger itself.
• Convenience — the bot provides quick access to all the features of the trading platform at any time of the day.

• Crypto payments – the bot can act as a full-fledged cryptocurrency wallet, which is necessary for buying and selling NFTs.
• Accessibility — the trading platform is fully integrated into the interface of a familiar messenger, so users do not need to master the functionality of a separate site.
• Notifications – the bot allows you to carry out mass segmented mailings using internal messages that can be of any length.
• Multilingual – the language of the bot can be automatically set in accordance with the one that is in the messenger by default.

To create an NFT marketplace in Telegram, different technologies can be used, which are selected by developers depending on the characteristics of each specific project. In particular, the technology stack can be as follows:

• Programming languages: Python, PHP, JavaScript, Java.
• Frameworks: Yii, Laravel, Django, Flask, etc.
• Blockchain: Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, etc.
• Smart-contracts: Ethereum Virtual Machine or BSC Virtual Machine, etc.

In addition, certain token standards are used to launch blockchain-based non-fungible tokens, which guarantee the correct operation of the asset. Today, there are three most common standards for NFTs:

• ERC 721. The most requested standard in the Ethereum blockchain, which is designed to uniquely identify each token. It currently supports billions of dollars worth of NFTs, is capable of working with smart contracts, and uses the transferFrom protocol to transfer assets between users.
• ERC 1155. Another Ethereum blockchain standard, according to which identifiers are responsible not for one unique asset, but for a whole class of tokens. This means that if a user wants to sell 50 NFTs of the same class, he will need to create only one smart contract, which is much more convenient compared to ERC 721, where 50 separate contracts would have to be created for the same purpose.
• BEP-721 and BEP-1155. The standards for the BSC blockchain, which was launched by the major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In fact, they are analogues of the standards for Ethereum ERC 721 and ERC 1155, respectively.

Developing a platform for trading non-fungible tokens based on the Telegram messenger is a complex process that involves a whole team of specialists. Consider the main stages of which it consists:

• Collection of information. Work on the project begins with an analysis of customer requirements and an assessment of the possibility of technical implementation of the project.
• Technical documentation. When the goals and objectives of the project are defined, the technical documentation of the trading platform is drawn up, which includes a description of the functionality, technology stack, development plan, and other important aspects. Based on the results of this stage, the timing and cost of the project implementation are also calculated.
• Engineering and design. The interface of the NFT marketplace in Telegram is limited by the requirements of the messenger itself, so developers need to create the most efficient bot structure with an attractive appearance that will inspire user confidence and meet usability.

• Backend development and programming of smart contracts. At this stage, the server part of the Telegram bot is created, which processes all transactions, is responsible for the logic of the entire functionality and interacts with the blockchain.
• Testing. Before being published in Telegram, the finished NFT marketplace undergoes multi-level testing in the QA department, where specialists check the correct operation of each function, the convenience of the interface, the performance and security of the project. This allows you to make sure that the bot works correctly even before the release.

Creation of blockchain solutions of different levels of complexity is one of the main specializations of AVADA MEDIA.

To work on such projects, we have already formed teams of specialists with experience in joint project implementation.