Overview
- Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced on Tuesday that the company will roll out a native, non‑custodial Gram wallet across every Telegram client this summer and promised instant, zero‑fee transfers.
- A non‑custodial wallet means users hold their own private keys rather than Telegram holding them, a contrast with the existing @wallet bot that defaults to custodial mode and has about 150 million registered users.
- Telegram has not published a launch date, a list of supported assets, details on key management or recovery, or an explanation of who will underwrite the network costs that fees normally cover.
- Markets reacted immediately: GRAM’s price rose roughly 7–8% after the announcement, and analysts say on‑chain activity and Q3 adoption metrics will determine whether the price move reflects lasting usage or short‑term hype.
- The plan follows Telegram’s recent reassertion of control over the TON network and the June rebrand of Toncoin to Gram, and it revives the project’s complicated regulatory history with the U.S. SEC that ended the original Gram effort in 2020.