Telegram plans 'largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history'

Telegram plans to bring a non-custodial crypto wallet to its roughly 1 billion users this summer, the company's CEO said Tuesday.

CEO and founder Pavel Durov posted an announcement in Telegram, saying the company will initiate the "largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history."

Durov's push to make crypto more accessible to his many users comes after last month, the tech founder unveiled that The Open Network's native cryptocurrency Toncoin was rebranding to GRAM. As part of a plan to boost growth across the messaging app's crypto aspirations, Telegram also replaced the TON Foundation as the ecosystem's primary steward and largest validator.

Durov did not provide many details in his post on Tuesday, but did tease "instant zero-fee crypto transactions."

The messaging app already provides access to a crypto wallet called Wallet in Telegram (formerly TON Wallet), which earlier this year said it had more than 150 million registered users. The self-custodial wallet allows users to store and trade digital assets.

Given Telegram’s popularity among digital-asset users, the messaging platform has long been viewed as a potential gateway for bringing a wider audience into crypto.

Telegram first launched its TON project in 2018 but then abandoned it a couple of years later amid a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which forced Telegram to halt sales of its GRAM tokens, saying it violated securities laws.