Telegram Plans Native Gram Crypto Wallet for 1 Billion Users
Pavel Durov says Telegram will launch a built-in non-custodial Gram wallet this summer, putting self-custody crypto directly in users' hands.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has announced that the messaging giant will launch a native, non-custodial Gram cryptocurrency wallet this summer — a move that could reshape how more than one billion users interact with digital assets. Unlike custodial solutions where a third party holds funds, a non-custodial wallet places private keys entirely in the hands of individual users, a distinction that carries significant implications for both financial autonomy and regulatory scrutiny.
The scale of Telegram's user base makes this announcement notably consequential. Embedding a self-custody wallet directly into one of the world's most widely used communication platforms could lower the barrier to crypto adoption far more effectively than standalone wallet apps, which typically require users to navigate a separate onboarding process. Distribution, historically one of crypto's steepest challenges, would effectively be solved by default for Telegram's existing audience.
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The Gram branding carries a complicated history. Telegram's earlier Gram token project was shut down in 2020 following a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which argued the token constituted an unregistered securities offering. The revival of the Gram name — now tied to a wallet rather than an initial coin offering — suggests Durov is threading a careful path around that regulatory history, though the legal landscape for crypto remains fluid and watchful.
For the broader crypto industry, a native wallet reaching even a fraction of Telegram's billion-plus users would represent one of the largest single expansions of self-custody infrastructure ever attempted. Whether regulators in the United States, European Union, and elsewhere will scrutinize the rollout as closely as they did the original Gram offering remains an open question — and likely the most important one as summer approaches.
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