Pavel Durov's Billion-User Telegram Wallet Boosts Gram 7%

Pavel Durov announced Tuesday that Telegram will roll out a native non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet to all its users this summer. The wallet supports Gram, the messaging app's native token, and offers instant, zero-fee transactions. Durov called it "the largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history."

Telegram's existing wallet bot, @wallet, already has over 150 million registered users. That bot runs partly in custodial mode, meaning a company holds the keys on behalf of users. The new wallet would be non-custodial from the start, baked directly into every version of Telegram rather than something users have to find and activate. @wallet is operated by The Open Platform, a separate company, not Telegram itself. Durov's new wallet would be native to the app.

Gram jumped roughly 7% on the announcement, climbing back above $1.52 at a $4.18 billion market cap from lows near $1.36 the day before. That partially offset a punishing 25% slide the coin posted through most of July, though it still closed the day well short of recovery.

To understand the context, you need the backstory. Telegram created the original network in 2018, raising $1.7 billion from investors for a token it planned to call Gram. The SEC sued, arguing those tokens were unregistered securities. Telegram settled in 2020, returned $1.2 billion to investors, paid an $18.5 million civil penalty, and walked away from the project. Community developers kept the chain alive as Toncoin for years, until Durov retook the reins in 2026.