Key Takeaways:
Telegram will roll out a native non-custodial Gram wallet to its more than 1 billion monthly active users this summer, founder Pavel Durov said on Tuesday, calling it the "largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history."
"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," Durov wrote on his official Telegram channel. The wallet will be native to GRAM, the token formerly known as Toncoin that was rebranded on June 15 with 81.22% community approval.
GRAM traded at $1.53 as of Tuesday, up 8.4% in 24 hours with a $4.17 billion market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. The token ranks 25th among all cryptocurrencies but remains down more than 54% over the past year. The price move followed Durov's post, which marks his most aggressive step yet toward making Gram the default currency inside the messaging app.
The announcement revives a promise Durov first made in November 2022, when he said Telegram would build non-custodial wallets and a decentralized exchange after FTX's collapse — a version that never shipped at scale. What changed is control: Telegram replaced the TON Foundation as the network's primary steward in May, became its largest validator, and cut transaction fees roughly sixfold. The structural shift means Telegram now owns the validator set, the token brand and the distribution channel, removing the dependency on third parties that stalled earlier efforts.
What the wallet rollout means for GRAM
The new wallet is separate from Wallet in Telegram, the custodial multi-chain product built by The Open Platform that has more than 150 million registered users. Andrew Rogozov, founder of TOP, said the two products will coexist for different audiences. "Telegram Wallet serves as a simple gateway into crypto, whereas Wallet in Telegram is built for users seeking advanced trading, investment, and asset management capabilities," Rogozov told BeInCrypto.
Converting even 1% of Telegram's user base into active wallet holders would produce roughly 10 million participants, a figure comparable to the active user counts of several top-10 blockchain networks. The technical foundation for the zero-fee claim rests on TON's Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade, which went live on April 9 and cut block times from roughly 2.5 seconds to about 400 milliseconds, reducing settlement to approximately one second.
Skeptics remain. Blockstream CEO Adam Back recently questioned GRAM's inflation mechanics after Durov compared the token favorably with Bitcoin. Projected annual inflation rose from roughly 0.6% to about 3.6% following the network changes. Self-custody at Telegram's scale is also untested — whether a billion users activate the wallet rather than simply receiving it will determine the rollout's real impact.
The wallet rollout is plausibly step five of a publicly stated seven-step roadmap that began with the Toncoin-to-GRAM rebrand. Durov has now promised this product twice. The difference is that he finally owns every piece required to deliver it.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
