Technically already exists through payment bot api

But who knows that? It's poorly documented, obviously, as I'm a big Telegram fan, and this is the first I've heard of it.

Telegram's documentation is fantastic. Everything is updated, and their API allows building your own app. It's that open

https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments

^ first result for telegram bot payments

Nice, I hadn't seen this before. Thanks!

As comment below noted they do have payments integrated which nobody uses, however, two main issues are that: from Durov's vocal libertarian leaning stems their attempt to launch TON blockchain network (that was stopped by SEC) and also a sizable userbase proportion uses it for shady stuff (e.g., lotta Russians buy drugs with Bitcoin bought via exchange bots). Had they succeeded at this it would've brought together two sides of not only drug markets but like all kinds of shit (think everything not deemed appropriate by Visa/MasterCard) on a convenient platform with plenty of features.

Sad to see those plans gone but what else there is to expect from authorities if you're about to make their jobs 10x harder.