Telegram founder Pavel Durov has announced plans to integrate a native, non-custodial GRAM wallet directly into the Telegram messaging platform this summer, describing the initiative as the largest rollout of a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet in history.

In a statement posted to his personal Telegram channel, Durov said the feature will enable instant, zero-fee digital asset transactions for more than one billion users across all versions of the application.

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!

— Pavel Durov (@durov), July 21, 2026

The move deepens Telegram's engagement with blockchain infrastructure. By embedding a non-custodial wallet natively into the app, Telegram would allow users to retain direct control of their private keys without depending on an intermediary custodian. Durov characterized the integration as a watershed moment for mainstream cryptocurrency accessibility, emphasizing that every Telegram user would gain immediate access to self-custodied digital asset management.

The pledge is consistent with the platform's longstanding interest in cryptocurrency payments. Telegram's original blockchain project, the Telegram Open Network, launched with a $1.7 billion token sale in 2018 but was halted after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the offering as an unregistered securities sale. Telegram ultimately settled with the SEC in 2020, returning $1.2 billion to investors and paying an $18.5 million civil penalty, and formally withdrew from the project. The network was subsequently continued by independent developers under The Open Network name.

Complementary Services and Ecosystem Rebrand

The forthcoming native wallet will operate alongside Wallet, the existing custodial multichain service offered within Telegram by third-party firm The Open Platform. That product currently serves more than 150 million registered users and provides a broader suite of financial functions, including spot and perpetual trading, tokenized assets, and yield-bearing Earn instruments.

The two offerings are positioned as complementary rather than competitive. The existing Wallet will continue to function as a feature-rich multichain gateway, while the new native integration will focus on straightforward, non-custodial GRAM transfers.

The announcement follows a broader identity shift within The Open Network ecosystem. In June, the community voted to rebrand the network's native token from Toncoin to GRAM — a change Durov identified as the fourth step in a seven-stage initiative titled "Make TON Great Again." The underlying blockchain network retains its original name.

Durov did not specify an exact launch date, detail which additional assets might be supported, or outline the technical architecture for private-key management. Given the history of regulatory scrutiny around Telegram-associated token projects, the rollout is likely to draw attention from financial regulators evaluating whether embedded wallet functionality at this scale triggers additional compliance obligations. Nonetheless, the commitment to embed a non-custodial wallet into one of the world's most widely used messaging platforms represents a significant push toward mass-market cryptocurrency adoption.