The top-up button in Gram Wallet — the "Wallet" section in Telegram — opens Walt, formerly Wallet, and offers four ways: buy Gram with a card via MoonPay, send cryptocurrency from another network, buy Gram from other people on P2P, or transfer it from your Walt balance. Only the last option is commission-free. On October 16, buying with a card was approximately 4% more expensive than the exchange rate, while depositing USDT, BTC, and ETH incurred a 1.2% difference, and SOL a 3.8% difference.
Four Methods in One Table
| Method | Loss on Exchange Rate and Fees | Minimum | Identity Verification | Waiting Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Card | around 4% | $20 | KYC with MoonPay | first purchase — from minutes to several hours, subsequent ones — around 20 minutes |
| Cryptocurrency from another network | 0.9% according to Walt's rules, in practice 1.2%, for SOL 3.8% | from $10 to $24 depending on the coin | MoonPay verifies funds | usually 5–10 minutes |
| P2P Express | Walt charges no fee from the buyer, the seller sets the rate | set by seller | document and liveness check | after the seller confirms payment |
| From Walt balance | 0 | — | — | after transfer verification |
In all four cases, Gram is credited to your "Wallet" account. Walt automatically exchanges USDT, BTC, ETH, and other coins along the way.
How to Initiate a Top-Up
The top-up process begins in the wallet itself: the Add Funds button in the "Wallet" section redirects you to Walt. If you don't have a Walt account yet, it is created automatically. Walt is the former Wallet bot: it was renamed at the end of September, and Gram Wallet took its place in Telegram's settings.
Next, Walt displays a list of methods. Which ones are available depends on your country and account, so the list may differ for various users.
With a Card via MoonPay
The Bank Card option opens the MoonPay page directly within Walt. The amount is entered in dollars or another currency of your choice, with preset buttons for $100, $250, $500, and $1,000. You cannot buy less than $20: this is MoonPay's general minimum for any currency.
Before the first purchase, MoonPay requires you to complete KYC — identity verification with a document — on their platform, separate from Walt. MoonPay account login is confirmed with a code from an email, sent by "Telegram via MoonPay".
There is no separate fee line on the screen: it is embedded in the exchange rate. On October 16, for $20, MoonPay offered 14.15 Gram, which means $1.413 per coin, while the exchange price was around $1.357. The difference is about 4%. Walt warns that MoonPay may charge a fee, and your bank may also charge its own fee for currency conversion.
MoonPay processes card payments, Apple Pay, or Google Pay instantly. The time is spent on verification: the first purchase, due to verification, can take from a few minutes to several hours, while subsequent ones usually take about 20 minutes. MoonPay does not process transactions sent for manual review until the review is complete — up to 72 hours. If a purchase fails, the amount blocked on the card is returned within up to 10 business days, depending on the bank.
With Cryptocurrency from Another Network
The Cryptocurrency option provides an address to which the coin is sent from an exchange or a third-party wallet. It arrives in your account as Gram. Walt accepts five coins:
| Coin | Networks |
|---|---|
| USDT | Tron (TRC-20), TON, Ethereum, BSC, Solana, Arbitrum, Polygon |
| USDC | Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon |
| BTC | Bitcoin |
| ETH | Ethereum |
| SOL | Solana |
The address is one-time: Walt usually issues a new one for each deposit. A saved address from a previous top-up cannot be used — it may no longer work, and the funds could be lost. The coin and network must match those selected on the screen.
Fees
Walt states that it charges 0.9% for conversion and includes it in the exchange rate. In practice, the rate is lower than the exchange rate by more. Here's what the deposit screen showed on October 16:
| Coin | Walt Rate | Below Exchange Rate by |
|---|---|---|
| USDT | 1 USDT ≈ 0.727941 Gram | 1.2% |
| BTC | 1 BTC ≈ 59 087.96 Gram | 1.2% |
| ETH | 1 ETH ≈ 1 757.35 Gram | 1.25% |
| SOL | 1 SOL ≈ 73.447 Gram | 3.8% |
For USDT, BTC, and ETH, the difference is the same, approximately 1.2%: about 0.3% difference between the provider's rate and the exchange rate is added to the 0.9% fee. SOL is valued worse than the others by 2.5 percentage points, and Walt does not explain this anywhere.
Minimum and Maximum
Limits are shown on the deposit screen, specific to each coin and network:
| Coin and Network | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| USDT (TRC-20) | 10 USDT | 383 084 USDT |
| BTC | 0.0003 BTC, about $24 | 4.7163 BTC |
| ETH | 0.0051 ETH, about $12 | 157.4663 ETH |
| SOL | 0.12 SOL, about $12 | 3 682.5896 SOL |
The maximum for all four is approximately the same — about $380 thousand per deposit. A transfer below the minimum is not credited, and the funds may be lost.
From the minimum amount, on October 16, you would have received:
| Sent | Exchange Value | Would Have Received | Exchange Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 USDT | $10.00 | 7.28 Gram | $9.88 |
| 0.0003 BTC | $24.35 | 17.73 Gram | $24.05 |
| 0.0051 ETH | $12.32 | 8.96 Gram | $12.16 |
| 0.12 SOL | $12.44 | 8.81 Gram | $11.96 |
The network fee for sending is paid by the originating side — the exchange or wallet — and is not included in the table. For comparison: Walt itself charges 1 USDT for withdrawal in the TON network, 1.5 in Solana, 3.5 in Tron, and 4 in Ethereum. For a 10 USDT deposit, such a fee might exceed all losses within Walt.
Fund Verification
Deposits from other networks are processed by MoonPay, and it verifies both the funds themselves and the addresses associated with them. Funds linked to sanctioned exchanges and services do not pass verification. Walt's list includes Garantex, Grinex, Bitpapa, Suex, Chatex, Cryptex, PM2BTC, HTX (formerly Huobi), Rapira, ABCEX, Exnode, USDKG, EXMO, Aifory Pro, Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, Ramzinex, Cryptomus, Heleket, TokenSpot, and Tsunami Payments.
A deposit that fails verification is either returned — for this, you need to contact Walt support and provide a return address — or frozen. Typically, a deposit is credited within 5–10 minutes, but sometimes longer.
P2P Express
P2P Express is the purchase of Gram for fiat currency from other Walt users. It can only be used after Extended level verification: uploading a document and passing a liveness check — you need to slowly turn your head in a circle in front of the camera.
The purchase works as follows: you select the currency, amount, and payment method, and Walt automatically finds the best offer among sellers with high ratings. The seller accepts the request, usually in less than a minute. The buyer transfers money using the seller's payment details, uploads a receipt, and after the seller confirms payment, Gram is sent to the "Wallet" section commission-free, but after the transaction is reviewed.
Walt charges a fee only from the maker — the ad creator, i.e., the seller. This is 1.2% (0.9% for sellers with Trusted Merchant status), and in rubles, it's 2% (1.6%). Transactions in currencies not listed in the fee table are free even for the seller, and from October 9 to 16, Gram sales were commission-free in all currencies.
The buyer pays nothing to Walt but loses on the exchange rate: the seller sets the price, and an ad can be placed within approximately 70% to 150% of the market price. The buyer pays their bank's transfer fee themselves, in addition to the transaction amount.
You can only pay from your own account: the name on your card must match the name used for verification in Walt. Before payment, Walt displays the seller's first name and the first letter of their last name; you must verify these with the payment recipient at your bank. Payment details sent in the deal chat, rather than those specified in the order, cannot be used.
If the desired currency is not available in P2P Express, it means there are currently no sellers offering express deals in that currency. In that case, you can use the regular Walt P2P market, where you manually select an ad.
From Walt Balance
If you already have Gram in Walt, you can transfer it to the "Wallet" section using the Deposit from Walt button — free of charge, after the transfer is reviewed. If you don't have enough Gram, you can exchange another coin from your Walt balance for Gram directly during the top-up process.
Exchanges within Walt are subject to fees, and the price depends on your account level. On October 16, exchanging 2 USDT for Gram cost 0,013 Gram, or 0,9%, while at the Gold level, it cost 0,0013 Gram, which is ten times less. You cannot exchange less than 1,4 USDT.
A regular transfer from Walt to a wallet address — not via the top-up button, but via Send — costs 0,05 Gram.
How long do checks take?
The timeframes stated by Walt and MoonPay themselves:
| What is being checked | Timeframe |
|---|---|
| Cryptocurrency deposit | usually 5–10 minutes |
| Transaction in Walt | typically up to 12 hours |
| Documents requested by Walt (source of funds, address) | up to 12 hours after upload |
| MoonPay purchase under manual review | up to 72 hours |
| Freeze during enhanced review in Walt | usually up to 30 business days |
If a transaction in Walt remains in "Pending" status for more than 12 hours, Walt advises contacting support.
Where Walt is unavailable
P2P and other top-up methods work wherever Walt itself is available. There is no separate list of countries for P2P. Walt is unavailable to citizens, residents, and those located in:
- the USA and its territories;
- Crimea, DNR, LNR, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Kosovo, and Northern Cyprus;
- most EU countries, as well as the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein;
- some countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean — including Egypt, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Panama;
- Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
Russia, Ukraine (excluding the listed territories), Belarus, and Kazakhstan are not on the list. Walt's rules prohibit bypassing restrictions via VPN or Tor. Anyone who has been in a listed country but lives in another can restore access with a proof of residence document.
How much is held in wallets
On October 16, 25,979 non-empty Telegram wallets created before October 14 held 77,3 thousand Gram (about $104 thousand) and 2,072 USDT. On October 11, all Telegram wallets held 38,5 thousand Gram — the amount doubled in five days.
Funds are distributed unevenly. Half of the non-empty wallets have dust balances — leftovers after transfers, less than 0,0001 Gram. More than 1 Gram or 1 USDT is held in 2,252 wallets. The ten largest holders account for 46% of all Gram, with the largest holding 10,803 Gram. Of the 2,072 USDT, 1,402 are held in one wallet. There is no USDC on the TON network in Telegram wallets at all.
New wallets and hourly transfers are available on the Gram Wallet dashboard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which top-up method is the cheapest?
Transferring Gram that is already in Walt: it's free. Among paid methods, depositing USDT, BTC, or ETH is the cheapest — about 1,2%. P2P can be both cheaper and more expensive: it all depends on the seller's exchange rate.
Is KYC required?
For card payments — yes, with MoonPay. For P2P — yes, Extended level in Walt with a document and liveness check. Cryptocurrency deposits undergo a check of the funds themselves, and for large amounts or suspicious transfers, Walt may request documents.
What happens if I send less than the minimum or to the wrong network?
Transfers below the minimum are not credited, and the funds may be lost. MoonPay cannot recover coins sent to the wrong network.
Can I top up to the same address a second time?
No. Each deposit requires an address from the current screen; an old address may no longer be valid.
What if the funds haven't arrived?
Check that the address was taken from the current deposit screen, that the coin and network match those selected, and that the amount is not less than the minimum. If everything is correct, contact Walt support with the transaction hash. You can find it in the network explorer using the sender's address, amount, and time of sending.
