Key Notes
- Telegram is widening access to Money, its non-custodial Gram wallet, after an initial release to selected users.
- Money supports Gram transfers and purchases of Telegram gifts and collectible usernames, with fee-free top-ups from Walt.
- Walt remains a separate trading platform, while the wider Money rollout has no published country-by-country schedule.
Telegram is expanding access to Money, its built-in, non-custodial Gram wallet, bringing cryptocurrency transfers and purchases of digital gifts and collectible usernames directly into the messaging app.
Walt, the crypto platform formerly known as Wallet in Telegram, announced the wider rollout on October 9. Money was previously available to selected users and is now being introduced more broadly across Telegram’s audience of more than a billion people.
According to the announcement, the Money section appears after a user receives a transfer. Once it is available, users can add Gram from their Walt account in a few taps. Walt describes those top-ups as instant and free of network fees.
Walt’s announcement explains Telegram’s wider Money rollout and how users can fund their Gram wallet.
— Walt (@walt_io) October 9, 2026
A Gram Wallet Inside the Messenger
Money gives Telegram a native interface for holding and sending Gram, the current name of the TON blockchain’s native currency. Its stated uses focus on transfers and Telegram’s own digital economy, including gifts and collectible usernames.
The naming follows a separate change to the cryptocurrency itself. Pavel Durov announced the return to the Gram name in June, while specifying that TON would remain the name of the blockchain. CoinScreamer covered that token rebrand as Telegram expanded its involvement in the network.
The wallet rollout also follows Durov’s earlier announcement that a native, non-custodial wallet would be integrated into Telegram’s applications. In an August 31 update, he said Gram Wallet was ready for a selected group and would gradually reach more users. He also said its smart contract was designed to support upgrades without requiring wallet migrations.
Gifts and Usernames Provide Existing Uses
Telegram already has a market for digital items that users can display, transfer or trade. Its collectible gifts feature, introduced in January 2025, lets gifts receive distinctive appearances and attributes before being transferred to other users or auctioned on NFT marketplaces.
Collectible usernames serve a different purpose: they can be attached to accounts, groups or channels and function as searchable identities with links outside the app. Telegram’s original username announcement says ownership is secured by TON and the names can be bought and sold.
Money therefore connects token balances to uses that already exist within Telegram, rather than introducing collectibles for the first time. The rollout announcement identifies purchases of gifts and usernames, but does not establish that every item or marketplace transaction follows the same payment process.
Self-Custody Comes With Recovery Choices
The non-custodial design places control of the wallet’s signing keys with the user. Telegram’s official interface text offers more detail on how the company intends to make that model work inside a mainstream messaging application.
On its translation platform, Telegram describes an encrypted key backup divided into three parts stored across three continents. The text says those parts can be reassembled only on the user’s devices and that Telegram itself cannot access the key.
Other official interface strings describe a passcode requirement for sending funds and warn that deleting wallet backups can remove access if the owner has not saved the wallet’s secret phrase. These descriptions explain the intended recovery model; they are not an independent audit of its implementation.
The practical distinction is that convenient access through a Telegram account does not eliminate the importance of wallet recovery credentials. Backup settings and the handling of the secret phrase remain relevant even when transfers are presented through a familiar app.
Money and Walt Have Separate Roles
Walt’s September 28 CEO letter describes the two products as complementary. Money is the simpler entry point for Gram and Telegram-native activity, while Walt provides broader trading, investing and access to assets across multiple networks.
The former Wallet service has changed its name, logo and social accounts. Walt says existing accounts, funds and settings remain in place, with no migration required for the rebrand. Moving funds into Money is consequently distinct from being forced to move an existing Walt balance.
Telegram’s press information says the messenger passed one billion monthly active users in 2025. That gives Money a substantial potential distribution channel, although a messaging audience is not the same as a count of funded wallets.
The latest announcement does not provide a country-by-country availability list, a completion date or wallet adoption figures. For now, the confirmed development is a broader rollout of self-custody and Gram payments inside Telegram, alongside Walt’s separate financial products.
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