Users had been required to use their mobile phone number to sign up for Telegram, similar to other end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp. While Telegram maintains that your phone number is never visible to unknown people, it’s still an identifier that inherently stops you short of full anonymity.
To get an anonymous number, you need to go purchase one through the Fragment blockchain, which you pay for using Toncoin — an offshoot from Telegram’s halted crypto…