Telegram rolls out a crypto wallet called Money to an audience of over a billion people

Telegram is putting a crypto wallet in front of its whole audience. Walt, the trading wallet inside Telegram, said on X on October 9 that the in-app wallet used to be available to only some Telegram users, is now called Money, and is being rolled out widely to an audience of over a billion people.

Money is a non-custodial wallet, meaning users hold their own keys. It stores and sends Gram, the token that was called Toncoin until June, and can be used to buy digital gifts and collectible usernames, according to The Crypto Times and TokenPost. Trading and investing stay in Walt, the renamed Wallet in Telegram, which offers more than 300 assets including crypto, tokenized stocks and metals. Transfers from Walt to Money are instant and carry no network fees, Walt said.

The Crypto Times noted that Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov had said the wallet would roll out gradually over several weeks, and that its sources did not confirm every user already has it.

Traders reacted. Gram rose about 8.7% on Friday to about $1.47, giving it a market value of about $4.1 billion, The Crypto Times reported, citing CoinGecko data at 18:25 UTC.

What to watch: how many users switch the wallet on, and whether Telegram publishes figures.