Telegram Plans Zero-Fee Gram Wallet for 1 Billion Users

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on July 21 that the company will embed a native, non-custodial Gram wallet into all of its apps this summer. The rollout will reach more than 1 billion users, giving them a way to send and receive crypto instantly. Durov wrote in his Telegram channel that the transactions will carry zero fees and that the launch will be the largest non-custodial crypto wallet rollout "in human history."

GRAM, the token that powers the wallet, rose 8.5% over 24 hours after the announcement to about $1.53, according to CoinMarketCap data. The token had previously jumped 13% on June 15, 2026, when Toncoin was rebranded to GRAM.

The wallet is non-custodial, meaning the private keys stay with the user, not Telegram or any third party. If Telegram is breached or goes offline, the funds are not Telegram's to lose.

In May 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission forced Telegram to return $1.22 billion to Gram investors and pay an $18.5 million penalty. The court ruled that the Gram token sale was an unregistered securities offering. The ruling forced Telegram to abandon the original TON project. Independent developers kept the blockchain alive as The Open Network, a proof-of-stake chain that supports smart contracts.