Telegram Wallet Becomes Walt: What Changed, Fees, Limits and How to Withdraw

The Telegram wallet that tens of millions of people used under the name Wallet was renamed Walt on September 28, 2026. At the same time Telegram introduced a second product, Gram Wallet. Users are asking where their USDT went, what to install and whether they need to verify again. Here is how the Telegram wallet works after the split, what operations cost and how to withdraw crypto to an external address.

Key takeaways

• Wallet in Telegram is now Walt: a separate custodial app for trading, investing and storage, found by searching @walt.
• Gram Wallet is a new self-custodial wallet built into Telegram for Stars, gifts, usernames and in-app purchases.
• Existing users keep their accounts, balances, history and addresses; no re-verification is needed.
• Withdrawal fees depend on the network: 1 USDT on TON versus 3.5 USDT on TRC-20.
• Verification is mandatory: a basic level for everyone, document plus liveness check for P2P and higher limits.

Key terms

• Custodial wallet is a service that holds the private keys for you; Walt is custodial.
• Self-custodial wallet is one where only you hold the keys and the recovery phrase; Gram Wallet and DeFi Account are self-custodial.
• Gram is the new name of Toncoin, the native coin of the TON blockchain, adopted in 2026.
• DeFi Account is the self-custodial TON address inside Walt, formerly called TON Space.
• P2P Market is Walt's marketplace where users buy and sell crypto from each other with escrow protection.

What changed on September 28

Until now there was one service in Telegram: Wallet, a custodial crypto wallet where the operator held the keys and the user managed a balance through a mini app. The two directions are now separate.

• Walt is the former Wallet: a standalone app inside Telegram for trading, investing and storage with more than 200 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, USDT, Ethereum and Gram, tokenised US stocks and ETFs, perpetual futures and yield products.
• Gram Wallet is a built-in self-custodial wallet for everyday actions inside the platform: Stars, gifts, usernames and mini-app purchases. It is designed for small sums, not for trading, and will become the default option in Telegram settings as the rollout proceeds.

The rollout of Gram Wallet is phased. If it has not appeared in your Telegram settings yet, your turn has not come; do not install third-party apps with the same name, those are phishing.

One more rename explains the new labels: since summer 2026 the TON coin is called Gram, and Walt's interface shows it as "GRAM (prev. TON)".

Existing users do not need to move anything. Accounts, balances, transaction history and wallet addresses are preserved, and there is no repeat verification. Open Walt and check that everything is in place.

Getting started with Walt

Registration takes a couple of minutes: open @walt, accept the terms and set a passcode. The service is protected by Telegram's encryption, a separate passcode for operations and two-factor authentication, which is worth enabling immediately.

Identity verification in Walt is mandatory because it is a custodial service operating under regulatory requirements. There are three levels:

Limits on incoming transfers, deposits and purchases depend on the level and region and are shown in Settings under Identification Level. If you exceed them, Walt may ask for proof of the source of funds. Why platforms ask for passports and selfies is covered in our guide to crypto exchange KYC.

How to deposit and buy crypto

There are three ways to fund the balance.

1. Transfer from an external address. Deposits are free. Each coin has a minimum: 0.003 USDT on the TRON network, for example, while Bitcoin has no minimum. Anything below the minimum is not credited.
2. Card purchase. Handled by third-party providers Mercuryo and Alchemy Pay on their own terms. Through Mercuryo, USDT can be bought without a markup up to a limit that depends on your tier. For Russian bank cards this route is closed, so in Russia the main option is the third one.
3. P2P Market. Users post ads to buy and sell crypto for rubles and other currencies, with payment by bank transfer or card. The seller's coins are locked in escrow and released to the buyer once payment is confirmed. Whoever responds to an existing ad pays 0%; fees are charged only to ad creators and only on completed orders. Posting ads requires Merchant status and a security deposit.

Buying on P2P is simpler than it looks, but there is one rule: pay only from a card in your own name and only to the seller whose ad you chose. Payment from someone else's card is grounds for freezing the order.

Walt fees and limits

Deposits are free, in-app swap fees depend on your tier (Settings, Tiers), and withdrawals to the blockchain carry a fixed fee. Current fees are shown on the confirmation screen; the figures below are reference values at the time of publication.

The minimum withdrawal is 1 USDT or 0.0001 BTC. In-app swaps run from 1.4 USDT per trade up to 25,000 USDT for most pairs, and up to 100,000 USDT for USDT-BTC and USDT-ETH. Walt warns that all fees can change and that the figures in the app at the moment of the operation take priority over any help article.

For everyday transfers the network choice is decisive: the same USDT costs three and a half times less to withdraw on TON than on TRC-20. If the recipient accepts both, choose TON.

How to withdraw crypto from the Telegram wallet

The procedure is the same for every coin.

1. In the main menu tap Withdraw, then External wallet or exchange.
2. Choose the asset and paste the recipient's address. For TON-network tokens, stocks and ETFs you can enter a .ton or .t.me domain instead of an address.
3. If you are withdrawing to an exchange, add the comment (tag or memo). Exchanges use it to identify the transfer; without it, crediting has to be chased through support.
4. Check the network: USDT on TRON and USDT on TON are different addresses, and mixing them up means losing the transfer.
5. Confirm. After the transaction review, the coins are sent to the blockchain.

Timing depends on the network: TON and TRON transfers go out immediately after review, Bitcoin usually within a few minutes, Ethereum and Solana depending on network load. A transaction hash appears in the history only for operations with the Success status; while the status is Pending, nothing has been sent to the blockchain and the withdrawal can still be cancelled through support.

Can you withdraw to a bank card? Not directly: coins are sold on the P2P Market and the buyer transfers fiat to your card. The general procedure for any platform is in our guide on how to withdraw crypto from exchange accounts.

DeFi Account: the self-custodial part

Inside Walt there is a DeFi Account mode, formerly TON Space. It is a standalone address on the TON blockchain whose keys are held only by you. Access is restored with a seed phrase, and nobody, including support, can recover it for you.

Through DeFi Account you connect to TON ecosystem apps, trade tokens on decentralised exchanges and hold NFTs. The flip side of that freedom is responsibility: on TON anyone can issue a token named after a popular cryptocurrency, so the service specifically warns about unverified jettons, fake NFTs, dust transfers and bots impersonating support. Never store the seed phrase in your notes app and never send it to anyone who asks.

Paying and sending coins

Inside Walt, transfers to another Telegram user go by username, with no addresses and no waiting for blockchain confirmations. That makes it easy to chip in for a gift or repay a debt in USDT right in a chat.

Walt also lets you buy Telegram Stars with Gram and pay for subscriptions and digital goods in bots that accept payments. For purchases outside Telegram it is not the right tool: in Russia crypto is not legal tender, and the service itself notes that it is not in the Bank of Russia registry and is not intended for settlements by Russian residents inside the country.

Settings worth enabling right away

• Passcode for operations. Required for sending, swapping and withdrawing even when the phone is unlocked.
• Two-factor protection for the Telegram account. The messenger account is the key to everything, so a cloud password is mandatory.
• Active sessions check. An unknown device in Telegram's session list means someone else has access to your balance.
• Transaction notifications. Any movement you did not make is a signal to change passwords and contact support.

Is the Telegram wallet safe for storing crypto?

It depends on the amount and on which part of the service you use.

Walt is custodial. While it works, that is convenient: access through a familiar messenger, account recovery through support, protection from your own mistakes with keys. But the coins sit on the operator's addresses, and platform risk never goes away. For sums you would hate to lose, a self-custodial address with a seed phrase or a hardware wallet is safer.

Phishing is the separate threat. "Walt support" bots, offers to "activate your wallet" via a link, giveaways in the service's name: all standard tricks, and all designed to make you hand over a code or a seed phrase yourself. Real support never messages first.

Walt or Tonkeeper?

The same question as "exchange or cold wallet". Walt is a custodial platform with trading, P2P and fiat purchases, convenient for operations. Tonkeeper is a self-custodial wallet for the TON network where the user holds the keys and there is no built-in fiat on-ramp. A sensible setup uses both: Walt for buying and swapping, Tonkeeper or DeFi Account for holding what you do not plan to spend.