Telegram Plans Native Non-Custodial Gram Wallet for Its Global User Base

Native wallet differs from Telegram’s existing service

The announced wallet is separate from the existing @wallet service available through Telegram. The current product is a bot built and operated by The Open Platform, a company separate from Telegram, and users must locate and activate the service before using it.

The existing @wallet product has more than 150 million registered users and operates partly through a custodial structure in which a service provider may hold keys for customers. Although the product includes access to a self-custody layer, custodial functionality remains the default unless users deliberately switch to the non-custodial option.

Durov’s proposed wallet would begin as a non-custodial product, making direct user control the standard configuration rather than an additional feature. Telegram has not clarified whether the native wallet will replace the @wallet bot, coexist with it or connect to it through a shared interface.

Telegram has not released details about private-key generation, device migration, lost credentials, recovery phrases or account restoration. Those design questions are particularly relevant for users unfamiliar with self-custody because losing the required credentials may permanently prevent access to funds.

The company has also not said how the product will address scams, compromised accounts, mistaken transfers or fraudulent payments when Telegram does not control the underlying keys. No information has been released about which cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or other blockchain assets the wallet will support beyond Gram.

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Telegram renews its blockchain strategy

The wallet initiative follows Telegram’s earlier attempt to develop the Telegram Open Network. The company began work on that project in 2018 and raised approximately $1.7 billion from investors for the blockchain and a proposed token called Gram.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later sued Telegram, alleging that the token sale constituted an unregistered securities offering. Telegram settled the dispute in 2020, returned approximately $1.2 billion to investors and agreed to pay an $18.5 million civil penalty.

Telegram subsequently ended its direct role in the original project. Independent community developers continued building the network, with development later proceeding under the TON Foundation. The asset became widely known as Toncoin while the network operated outside Telegram’s direct control.

A community vote held in June 2026 approved renaming Toncoin to Gram, with 81% of participants supporting the change. The move restored the name Telegram originally intended to use for the asset during its initial blockchain project.

The rebranding was part of Durov’s broader “Make TON Great Again” campaign, which included network-performance upgrades, efforts to reduce transaction costs and plans for closer integration between Telegram and the blockchain ecosystem.

Durov said on April 9 that the TON blockchain had become 10 times faster following an upgrade and that its block rate had increased sixfold. He said transactions had become instant and subsecond and identified a sixfold reduction in existing transaction fees as the intended next step.

Gram price rises after wallet announcement

COIN360 data showed the Gram price rose approximately 7% following Durov’s announcement, climbing above $1.52 after trading near $1.36 the previous day.

The Gram price remained below its 200-day exponential moving average, which smooths longer-term price information to indicate the broader direction of a market trend. The measure remained well above the token’s reported trading level, leaving Gram within the broader bearish trend identified in the supplied market information.

The immediate crypto price response reflected interest in the prospect of distributing Gram through Telegram’s existing application base. However, the announcement did not establish how many users would activate, fund or regularly use the wallet after it becomes available.

Telegram’s total user base therefore should not be treated as the product’s eventual active-wallet count. The company has not disclosed adoption targets, expected transaction volumes or projections for the number of funded accounts.

The existing @wallet registrations demonstrate substantial cryptocurrency interest within Telegram, but a registered account does not necessarily represent an active, funded or regularly used wallet.

Distribution could reduce cryptocurrency onboarding steps

Embedding the wallet into Telegram could eliminate the need for users to install a separate application before receiving or transferring cryptocurrency. Users could potentially access blockchain payments through the same service they already use for messaging, communities, media and commercial communication.

The planned interface could also allow merchants, independent sellers and small businesses to communicate with customers and receive Gram through one application. Telegram has not described specific merchant tools, checkout functions or commercial integrations connected to the wallet.

The initiative’s execution will depend on whether Telegram can make key management and recovery understandable to a mainstream audience while preserving non-custodial control. Technical availability across Telegram’s application base would not by itself establish widespread adoption or recurring use.

Telegram has not disclosed the product’s final interface, security architecture or release sequence. The company also has not confirmed whether all users will receive identical functionality when the wallet begins rolling out.