Telegram users in the U.S. can now send, receive, and manage cryptocurrency directly inside the app — no downloads, extensions, or separate logins required.
TON Wallet is built into Telegram's interface and is beginning its U.S. rollout this week. It is a self-custodial crypto wallet in which a user controls their own private keys.
The service, developed by The Open Platform, which is known as TOP, and built on the TON blockchain, allows users to send stablecoins and other digital tokens to their contacts as easily as sending a message.
The company says it's the first time a self-custodial crypto wallet has been embedded into a mainstream messaging platform in the U.S. market.
The wallet has already seen broad international adoption, with more than 100 million users globally having activated their wallets in 2024. The U.S. launch had been delayed amid regulatory uncertainty. Andrew Rogozov, CEO of TOP, said that began to shift over the past year.
"We started considering the U.S. as a more interesting opportunity for us," Rogozov told CNBC, citing a shift in regulatory conditions and Telegram's user growth.
He said there are a lot of crypto users on the platform, and described the wallet as "the fundamental part of this infrastructure," giving users a way to store assets and interact with Telegram's growing ecosystem of Mini Apps.