Key Takeaways:
Telegram opened its self-custodial Gram wallet to select users on Aug. 31, with access due to reach more than 1 billion accounts within weeks.
Network validators approved the smart contract powering the wallet, so future upgrades will not require users to move funds into a new contract, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Monday.
Gram rose about 9 percent to almost $1.45 after the announcement. The rollout follows Durov's July pledge to build a native non-custodial wallet into every version of the app, promising instant, zero-fee transfers. The older custodial service, Wallet in Telegram, rebrands as Walt and moves behind the search function, while Gram handles payments, transfers and purchases of Telegram collectibles including gifts, usernames and phone numbers.
Walt supports more than 300 assets across four blockchains, offering trading in over 200 of them alongside tokenized stocks and metals, according to Andrew Rogozov, founder and chief executive of The Open Platform. The launch closes a loop that opened in 2018, when Telegram raised $1.7 billion for a token it planned to call Gram before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued over the sale.
Telegram settled with the SEC in 2020, returning $1.2 billion to investors and paying an $18.5 million civil penalty. Independent developers kept the network running as Toncoin until Durov took the reins this year, became the network's largest validator in the spring and cut transaction fees, before a community vote in June restored the Gram name.
The two wallets stay linked, with Walt feeding multichain deposits into the Gram side. Scale is the open question: no self-custody wallet has launched with a billion-user distribution channel attached, and analysts have debated how many recipients switch the feature on rather than simply receive it.
The rollout could become part of Durov's "Make TON Great Again" strategy, a seven-step roadmap in which the Toncoin-to-Gram rebrand marked step four. The launch also pressures competing messaging platforms and wallets as Telegram deepens its integration with Web3, with wider access due over the next couple of weeks.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
