Telegram has begun rolling out its native, non-custodial Gram Wallet, giving users self-custody over crypto directly inside the app for the first time. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced the debut alongside a rebrand of the app’s separate trading hub, which is now called “Walt.” Gram Wallet lets users send GRAM tokens, make payments, and buy in-app items like usernames and premium numbers directly inside chats, with no fees and no KYC requirement.

How the Gram Wallet Rollout Is Structured

The rollout is happening in two stages. A limited group of users already has access, and Telegram plans to expand that access gradually to its user base of more than 1 billion people over the coming weeks. 

Users can check their account settings to see whether Gram Wallet has been activated for them yet. Once live, Gram Wallet will sit as the default self-custody option in Telegram’s settings menu, while Walt will need to be found through the app’s search bar.

Durov said validators have already approved the smart contract powering the wallet, meaning future upgrades won’t require users to migrate to new wallet contracts. Durov has called it the largest non-custodial crypto wallet launch in history, and the rollout follows an announcement earlier this summer that laid out Telegram’s plans for the wallet across all of its apps.

Why Telegram Split the Wallet From the Trading Hub

Keeping self-custody and trading under one roof created a regulatory headache in Europe. Walt is Telegram’s multi-chain trading platform, built for buying, swapping, and holding assets across 4 blockchains, with access to over 200 assets including 300-plus tokens, tokenized stocks, ETFs, yield programs, and perpetual futures. 

By spinning out the non-custodial wallet under its own name and keeping Walt as the clearly labeled trading and exchange product, Telegram is positioning itself to meet the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework without the drawn-out regulatory disputes that have hit other platforms mixing custodial and non-custodial services.

The Bigger Bet Behind the Move

The rebrand is one piece of a longer roadmap from Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, an initiative he’s called “Make TON Great Again,” or MTONGA. The seven-step plan aims to turn the TON network into Telegram’s core financial layer. 

An earlier step in that plan saw the TON network’s token reclaim its original “Gram” branding, a name it had dropped years earlier after a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Telegram has not officially tied the wallet rebrand to MTONGA, but the timing lines up with the broader push to make TON, and now Gram and Walt, central to how the app’s user base moves money. For more on Durov’s earlier comments on the wallet, see our previous coverage of the Gram Wallet announcement, and also check our crypto news hub for ongoing updates. 

What This Means for You: Gram Wallet is rolling out gradually, so it may not appear in your Telegram settings yet. If it does, it’s non-custodial: you hold your own keys, and there’s no support line if you send funds to the wrong address or lose access, unlike an exchange account such as Coinbase, where the company holds the assets for you.