stable coins

Story: Telegram’s Gram Wallet Becomes Default, Walt Rebranding Sparks Crypto Buzz

By Sakamoto Nashi

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What happened. Telegram just flipped the switch. The messaging giant — somewhere north of 950 million users at…

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The historical context. Tech giants wading into crypto is nothing new. Facebook tried it.

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Why it matters. Making a self-custodial wallet the default is a bold call.

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What to watch. A few things worth tracking closely. First, user adoption of the Gram wallet over the next 90 days…

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Telegram just flipped the switch. The messaging giant — somewhere north of 950 million users at last count — has made its self-custodial Gram wallet the default option for users…

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The Gram wallet isn't a custodial product where Telegram holds your keys. It's self-custodial, meaning users control their own private keys and, by extension, their own funds.

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Walt, the rebranded version of the old Wallet in Telegram, probably isn't going away. It seems the two products will coexist, serving different user needs.

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Tech giants wading into crypto is nothing new. Facebook tried it. In 2019, the company rolled out the Libra project with enormous fanfare — a global stablecoin backed by a basket…

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Jack Dorsey took a different route. Square — now Block — didn't try to create a new currency.

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Telegram's history with crypto is its own complicated chapter. The company raised $1.7 billion in a 2018 token sale for a project called TON — Telegram Open Network. The SEC sued.

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More context: Polish Scandal: Prime Minister Tusk Links Corruption to $83 Million Crypto Collapse

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Making a self-custodial wallet the default is a bold call. Most fintech products go the opposite direction — they hide the complexity, hold the keys themselves, and make…

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That bet could pay off. Telegram's user base skews toward privacy-conscious, tech-forward demographics — exactly the kind of people who might actually want to hold their own keys.

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But the challenge is real. Self-custody means user error is permanent. There's no customer service line to call when you send funds to the wrong address.

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More context: Webull Launches Crypto Services in Canada Using Coinbases 4,500-Asset Infrastructure

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