Telegram to Ship a Native Gram Wallet to Over a Billion Users

Durov says Telegram plans a native Gram wallet

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on 21 July that the messaging app plans to add a native, non-custodial Gram wallet to every version of Telegram this summer. A non-custodial wallet lets users hold their own private keys, rather than trusting a company to hold them. Durov said the wallet would support instant, fee-free transfers of Gram, the token formerly known as Toncoin.

"This summer will see the largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history. Instant zero-fee crypto transactions for over a billion users are about to become reality.", 21 July 2026. — Pavel Durov, Founder, Telegram

The wallet would reach more than one billion users

Telegram reported more than one billion monthly active users in 2025, the figure Durov now cites as the wallet's potential reach. No self-custody wallet has launched to an audience of that size. Even limited uptake could introduce millions of people to peer-to-peer crypto transfers. Durov made a similar promise in 2022, pledging non-custodial wallets that never shipped at that scale. This time Telegram controls the token brand, the validator set, and the app itself. Whether a billion users activate the wallet, rather than simply receiving it, will decide the rollout's real impact.

The new wallet differs from Telegram's existing Wallet

The planned wallet is separate from the existing Wallet in Telegram, a product built and operated by The Open Platform, a company distinct from Telegram itself. That product defaults to custodial mode, meaning a third party can hold the keys, and more than 100 million users activated it in 2024. The Open Platform brought the wallet to users in the United States in 2025, after holding it back over regulatory uncertainty. Andrew Rogozov, chief executive of The Open Platform, said the two wallets would coexist for different audiences. The difference Durov describes is one of scale and default: a wallet every user already has, rather than one they must find and switch on.

Gram trades higher but stays far below its peak

Gram, the native token of The Open Network, rose about 7% in the 24 hours after the announcement, trading near $1.53, according to market data reported at the time. The move followed a steep decline. The token had fallen roughly 25% over the course of July and sat well below its levels from May. The short-term jump did little to close that gap.

The plan extends Telegram's takeover of the TON network

The wallet plan extends a broader effort to route The Open Network through Telegram. Durov has branded the effort "Make TON Great Again," a seven-step plan that has already cut network fees and sped up the blockchain. In June, the network renamed its token from Toncoin to Gram after an 81% community vote, reviving the name from Telegram's 2018 white paper. Telegram has since become the network's largest validator and replaced the TON Foundation as its main steward. Telegram first raised $1.7 billion for the project in 2018, then abandoned it in 2020 after settling with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. It returned $1.2 billion to investors and paid an $18.5 million penalty.

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