> Instead of my transaction being between myself and a merchant it's me, the merchant, and Telegram. The part about a transaction being between you and a merch

> Instead of my transaction being between myself and a merchant it's me, the merchant, and Telegram. The part about a transaction being between you and a merchant is true only if you use cash and only if you physically buy something with a physical receipt or no receipt. If you use any digital payments, then the transaction metadata is known to several parties (beyond your card issuer and the merchant’s bank). If you buy something online, usually your email provider also has access to your entire purchase history. So the main question is whether you trust Telegram more or less than your email provider and/or all the parties who get your transaction data.