On October 21, Telegram enabled the transfer of collectible gifts from a user's profile to the built-in wallet. Blockchain data shows the first gift arrived at a Telegram wallet at 07:10 UTC. Between 07:00 and 12:00 UTC, gifts were transferred to Telegram wallets 2,624 times. In total, 3,639 gifts moved from profiles to the blockchain during these five hours. Additionally, 195 gifts were returned from a Telegram wallet back to a profile. For comparison, on October 19, during the same hours, four gifts passed through Telegram wallets.
What Was Enabled
The transfer functionality was ready in clients before launch. On October 16–17, beta versions of Telegram for macOS and Android introduced methods and interface strings for transferring gifts to and from a profile. On October 18, transfer strings for iOS appeared on the translation platform. On October 20, the same methods were incorporated into the Telegram Desktop API schema (layer 232):
payments.withdrawStarGifttransfers a gift to the wallet and responds simply "yes" or "no," without a link to a website. The request includes atmp_passwordfield—presumably a two-step verification password, similar to withdrawing Stars—and akeep_on_profileflag, which, by its name, keeps the gift visible in the profile.payments.depositStarGiftreturns a gift from the wallet to the profile. The recipient is specified by thepeerfield, meaning, according to the schema, it can also be another person, and thehide_senderflag conceals the sender. The server responds with the NFT address, payload, and amount—apparently for a transaction that the wallet then sends itself.- In the wallet history, such an operation has its own type:
walletTransactionPeerTelegramGift. On iOS, it has two labels: transfer from profile and transfer to profile.
Previously, gifts could only be withdrawn to the blockchain via the Fragment website and only to an external TON wallet; Telegram would provide a withdrawal link (the getStarGiftWithdrawalUrl method remains in the schema). The new method does not return a link; the transfer occurs directly from the Telegram interface.
How It Appears on the Blockchain
There is no website link in the transfer, and the address from which gifts move to the blockchain remains the same. Gifts are minted on the blockchain by an address that TonAPI labels as Fragment Gift Minter. This is a highload wallet that was previously used for withdrawals via Fragment. A gift leaves it in one of two ways:
- Minting — the gift has never been on the blockchain before, and the minter deploys a new NFT within the collection contract (
telemint_msg_deploy_v2message). - Transfer — the gift has already been on the blockchain, was then returned to Telegram, and the NFT has been held at the minter's address ever since. Now the minter forwards it using a standard
nft_transfer.
The reverse path also goes through this address: the NFT is sent to the minter with a comment like Ref#…, and Telegram credits the gift to the profile. Returns from a Telegram wallet are structured the same way as previous returns via Fragment: the address is the same, and the comment format is the same. This comment is likely the payload from the depositStarGift response, but this cannot be verified from the blockchain.
The Telegram wallet is distinguished by its contract code: the tg-wallet has its own code hash. Based on this hash, each gift recipient is categorized into two types: a Telegram wallet or any other wallet.
The First Five Hours
Times are UTC, October 21. "To Telegram wallet" includes mints and transfers where the recipient has the tg-wallet code.
| Hour | Moved from profiles | Of these, to Telegram wallet | Returned from Telegram wallet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00–08:00 | 293 | 194 | 2 |
| 08:00–09:00 | 1 044 | 778 | 30 |
| 09:00–10:00 | 801 | 662 | 56 |
| 10:00–11:00 | 845 | 563 | 48 |
| 11:00–12:00 | 656 | 427 | 59 |
| Total | 3 639 | 2 624 | 195 |
For comparison, on October 19, from 07:00 to 12:00 UTC, 772 gifts moved from profiles, and only four of them went to addresses that currently have the Telegram wallet code. Before the launch, a gift would reach such an address, apparently, through a regular withdrawal via Fragment, where the recipient's address is manually specified. There were no returns from Telegram wallets during those hours.
The first transfer to a Telegram wallet occurred at 07:10:31 UTC, the first mint at 07:11:05 (the Fresh Socks gift), and the first return to a profile at 07:22:41.
Another 451 mints and 93 transfers during these hours went to undeployed addresses. Such an address could belong to a Telegram wallet that has not yet had any outgoing transactions, or to any other wallet, so they are only counted in the first column of the table. The recipient's code was captured on October 21 at 12:02 UTC.
Who Is Transferring
1,019 Telegram wallets received gifts. 592 of them received one gift each, while the largest received 36 gifts. 126 wallets returned gifts to profiles.
The most frequently minted gifts to Telegram wallets were Chill Flame (133 times), Liberty Figure (117), and Vice Cream (115). All three numbers represent mints: these instances entered the blockchain for the first time.
What Is Not Visible from the Blockchain
The blockchain only shows the moment the minter sent the gift. It does not reveal how much time passed from clicking the button in the profile to the transaction. Any transfer fee, if applicable, is also not visible: for each mint, the minter itself sends 0.06 TON to the collection contract, but whether Telegram charges anything from the gift owner is not visible on the blockchain. The transfer in the interface was not reproduced for this article.
