Telegram messenger has officially launched its own non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, Gram Wallet. Currently, it is available to a limited number of users, but in the coming weeks, the feature will become available to the platform's entire billion-strong audience.
Telegram messenger has officially launched its own non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, Gram Wallet. Currently, it is available to a limited number of users, but in the coming weeks, the feature will become available to the platform's entire billion-strong audience.
The launch of the new tool was announced by the CEO and founder of the messenger, Pavel Durov, on his Telegram channel.
The new Gram Wallet will be the main crypto wallet in Telegram settings. It is focused primarily on making payments, fast transfers between users without commissions, as well as purchasing digital gifts and internal collectible assets (for example, unique usernames). The main feature of the service is its non-custodial nature - users will have full control over their keys and assets.
According to Durov, the developers managed to solve one of the main problems of such services. Thanks to the approval of the smart contract by validators, future wallet updates will be painless, without the need to migrate assets. “This is just one of the innovations we created to make non-custodial wallets convenient to use,” the company’s CEO emphasized.
The launch of the new tool is accompanied by a large-scale rebranding. The previous Wallet in Telegram service, which previously worked in the messenger, is changing its name to Walt and will no longer be installed by default.
As Andrey Rogozov, founder and CEO of The Open Platform (and Walt), noted, the product has outgrown the concept of a regular wallet. Walt will focus on more complex tools for investment and trading. It currently supports over 300 crypto assets on four blockchains, and also offers staking programs (Earn) and tokenized real assets (RWA). The Walt application will continue to be available in the messenger via search.
The market reacted to the news with growth: against the backdrop of the announcement, the GRAM token increased in price by more than 2%, reaching $1.40 (at the time the price was reaching $1.45). At the same time, the trading volume of the asset increased by 137%.
