Telegram’s Durov Pledges Native Gram Crypto Wallet for Over a Billion Users

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the messaging app will build a non-custodial Gram wallet into its app this summer, a move that could put self-custody crypto in front of more than a billion people at once.

Durov made the pledge on Tuesday, offering few specifics beyond a timeline and a promise of free transactions. “This summer will see the largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. “Instant zero-fee crypto transactions for over a billion users are about to become reality.”

Gram rose over 8% after the post from about $1.4362 to $1.5554, before paring some of its gains to most recently trade at $1.5203.

The announcement is the latest step in Durov’s push to fold crypto deeper into Telegram. The Open Network’s token, Toncoin, rebranded to Gram last month after Telegram took over the network’s development in May, replacing the TON Foundation as its lead steward and validator.

Meanwhile, Telegram already has an in-app self-custody wallet called Wallet, which reported over 150 million users earlier this year.

The plan revives an ambition Telegram first chased in 2018, when it launched the TON project and sold Gram tokens, only to abandon the effort amid a Securities and Exchange Commission suit that forced it to halt the sale for violating U.S. securities law.

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