Telegram Users Opened 700,000 Self-Custodial Wallets in 48 Hours, but Gram Is Still Down 29%

Telegram users created more than 700,000 self-custodial wallets in just 48 hours, according to founder Pavel Durov. The figure, shared on November 9, is the clearest sign yet that the native Telegram wallet he promised in July is reaching ordinary users at scale.

Durov said adoption is spreading “virally,” because a wallet activates the moment someone receives Grams, the network token formerly known as Toncoin. That design turns every payment between friends into a potential new crypto account.

The token itself has not followed the user numbers higher. Gram traded near $1.04 on November 10, down about 29% over 30 days. That gap between adoption and price is the most interesting part of the story.

From Promise to 700,000 Wallets

On July 21, Durov said Telegram would deliver “the largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history.” He promised a native Gram wallet in every Telegram app and “instant zero-fee crypto transactions for over a billion users.”

A non-custodial, or self-custodial, wallet means the user holds the keys. Telegram does not control the funds. This is the same principle Bitcoin holders have defended for more than a decade: if you do not hold your keys, you do not fully own your coins.

Durov’s latest update is short on detail. He did not say how many wallets hold a balance, how many were funded more than once, or how many came from a single campaign. Still, 700,000 new wallets in two days is a pace few crypto apps have ever matched.

Telegram’s reach explains why. The messenger has hundreds of millions of monthly users. Even a small share of them opening a wallet produces numbers that dwarf most standalone crypto apps.

Why Receiving Is the Real Growth Engine

The key line in Durov’s post is that a wallet “activates the moment someone receives Grams.” Users do not need to download a separate app, write down a seed phrase first, or visit an exchange.

That lowers the hardest barrier in crypto onboarding. Most people never buy their first coin because the setup feels technical. Here, the first step can be a payment from a friend inside a chat they already use.

It also explains the speed. Each new user can send Grams to several contacts, and each of those contacts gets an active wallet. Growth compounds through the social graph rather than through advertising.

The risk is that easy creation can inflate headline totals. A wallet that received a tiny amount once is not the same as an active user. Investors should watch for follow-up data on balances and repeat transactions before treating 700,000 as 700,000 customers.

Gram Price Has Not Caught Up

Market data tell a more cautious story. According to CoinGecko, Gram traded at $1.43 on the day of Durov’s July announcement. By November 9, the day of the 700,000 update, it had fallen to $1.02.

The token peaked near $1.78 on July 7 and briefly rallied above $1.60 in late September. It then slid through October and early November, losing roughly 12% over the past week alone.

Gram rose about 3% in the 24 hours after Durov’s post, but it remains far below its all-time high of $8.25 from June 2024. Its market value now sits near $3 billion.

Daily trading volume has stayed modest, at about $30 million for most of the period, apart from short spikes. That suggests the wallet rollout has not yet pulled in large new buying from traders.

Bitcoin Still Sets the Pace

The contrast with Bitcoin is striking. Rebased to July 1, Bitcoin stood at 128 on November 10, a 28% gain. Gram stood at 69, a 31% loss over the same stretch.

This pattern is familiar. In this cycle, capital has favoured Bitcoin over smaller networks, a trend also visible in Bitcoin dominance above 60%. User growth on a single platform has not been enough to reverse that rotation.

For Bitcoin holders, the Telegram rollout is still welcome news. Every person who learns to hold their own keys, send a payment, and check a balance becomes easier to bring into the wider crypto market later. Self-custody habits travel well.

Stablecoins are already doing similar work. As we noted in our look at how stablecoins now equal 19.5% of Bitcoin’s market value, the dollar tokens sitting on crypto rails act as dry powder that can move into Bitcoin quickly.

Self-Custody Comes With Responsibility

Holding your own keys also means carrying your own security. A lost recovery phrase cannot be reset by customer support. Phishing links shared in group chats are a well-known threat on messaging apps.

Wallet infrastructure can also fail in ways users do not expect. Our report on LNbits ordering Lightning wallet servers offline showed how quickly operators must react when attacks appear.

New users should back up recovery phrases offline, verify any link before connecting a wallet, and start with small amounts. Those basic steps matter even more when wallets can be created in seconds.

What to Watch Next

The next useful data point would be activity rather than creation. Figures on funded wallets, repeat transfers, and average balances would show whether the 700,000 number reflects lasting use.

Traders will also watch whether Gram can hold the $1.00 area. The token touched about $1.02 on November 9 and bounced, but a sustained move would likely need clear evidence that new wallets are turning into steady demand.

For now, Telegram has shown that crypto onboarding can be as simple as receiving a message. That is good news for the whole industry, and it puts more people one step closer to Bitcoin.