Key Highlights
- Pavel Durov announced that Telegram will roll out a native non-custodial Gram wallet to its 1+ billion users.
- The wallet will enable instant, zero-fee crypto transactions directly within the Telegram app.
- GRAM rose nearly 7% following the announcement, with trading volume surging as investor interest increased.
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov announced plans to roll out a non-custodial crypto wallet integrated directly into the Telegram app. The native Gram wallet will enable instant zero-fee crypto transactions for the platform’s global user base of more than one billion people.
In the official announcement, Durov said, “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. We’re bringing a native non-custodial Gram wallet to every Telegram app!”
The announcement prompted a rise in GRAM, the native token associated with The Open Network (TON) ecosystem.
GRAM price surge after the announcement
Following Durov’s announcement, GRAM climbed over 6.9% over the past 24 hours to trade at approximately $1.52, according to CoinMarketCap. The token experienced a vertical spike in evening trading, briefly approaching the $1.54 range before some profit-taking. Following the announcement, GRAM rose $1.4 to $1.52.
The 24-hour trading volume exceeded $79 million, reflecting market interest. GRAM’s market capitalization reached $4.15 billion, with a fully diluted valuation near $7.94 billion. The circulating supply stands at roughly 2.73 billion GRAM out of a total supply of 5.21 billion.
Price charts show GRAM breaking out sharply after weeks of consolidation. The token had been trading in a lower range earlier in the day before Durov’s announcement catalyzed a powerful green candle, pushing it well above recent resistance levels.
Despite the latest rally, GRAM remains down about 6.6% over the past seven days.
Rollout may face implementation challenges
While Pavel Durov’s announcement lifted market sentiment, the planned rollout of a non-custodial wallet to more than 1 billion users could face operational and regulatory challenges. Integrating self-custody features into a widely used messaging platform may require addressing security, compliance, and jurisdiction-specific regulatory requirements.
Telegram and TON have previously faced regulatory scrutiny in some jurisdictions, and future regulatory developments could affect the availability of wallet services in certain markets.
Moreover, the zero-fee model, while attractive, may prove unsustainable at large scale and could invite malicious activity or network congestion. GRAM’s volatile price action, still far below its all-time high, highlights speculative risks, with the possibility of a sharp correction once initial hype fades.
Also Read: Robinhood Chain Tops $700M On-Chain Just Weeks After Launch
