What are Telegram Gifts?

So what exactly are Telegram Gifts?

Over the past six months, if you’ve been following the crypto community, you’ve probably heard about gifts in Telegram. Maybe you already have a few unique gifts that adorn your profile, making it special. Let’s figure out where this trend came from and whether it’s worth joining.

These are digital collectible items available in the Telegram messenger. They were first announced on October 5, 2024, in the official channel of Pavel Durov:

Telegram users can now send each other gifts using Telegram Stars — to mark holidays and congratulate friends with animated illustrations and unique messages.

It’s worth immediately clarifying what Telegram Stars (Stars) are. This is Telegram’s internal currency, which can be purchased with fiat currency directly through the messenger or with cryptocurrency through third-party services. For example, using Fragment (requires KYC verification) or Split (does not require KYC verification).

All gifts are divided into two main types:

• With unlimited supply;
• Limited (rare).

Gifts with unlimited supply have no real value, as they cannot be traded on the secondary market and have no possibility of being converted into NFTs. Examples of gifts with unlimited supply can be seen in the screenshot below:

Rare gifts, in turn, can be upgraded into unique collectible items with randomly assigned traits, namely:

• Model;
• Pattern;
• Background;
• Number (depends on the order in which the gift was upgraded).

Some traits have significantly higher market value. For example, collectors are willing to pay more for a golden model, a black background, or an attractive number than for less rare traits.

Gifts can be pinned to your profile, customizing its appearance to your taste:

Besides this, you can set up a gift showcase, displaying your extensive collection to all Telegram users:

Apart from customizing your profile, you can trade gifts on the secondary market. The most popular third-party service at the moment is the Tonnel platform, where users list their gifts for sale or buy something from the market with cryptocurrency — namely TON, USDT, or TONNEL. A similar trend has emerged with Telegram Stickers, tokenized collectibles on TON that have generated millions in sales and drawn attention from top-tier brands.

On May 9, Telegram launched an internal marketplace for trading gifts. Now users can buy and sell gifts directly in the messenger, without resorting to third-party services. All operations on this marketplace are conducted through Telegram Stars.

The Telegram Gift Upgrade Process

The mechanics of upgrading gifts deserve special attention. Almost all rare gifts are initially released without the possibility of upgrading. This feature appears later, when all additional designs for the gift become available. The initial cost of upgrading is 20,000 stars, which decreases every hour.

20000⭐️→ 15000⭐️→ 10000⭐️→ 7500⭐️→ 5000⭐️→ 2500⭐️→ 2000⭐️→ 1500⭐️→ 1000⭐️→ 750⭐️→ 500⭐️→ 250⭐️→ 200⭐️→ 150⭐️→ 100⭐️→ 75⭐️→ 50⭐️→ 25⭐️

This is done to ensure that valuable numbers are not simply handed out, but go to those who are truly willing to pay a high price for them.

As already noted, when a gift is upgraded, it receives random characteristics (traits). These traits are unique, but some of them occur much less frequently and are of particular value to collectors. This mechanic can be compared to opening cases in Counter Strike, where you never know in advance which item you’ll get.

Gifts by the Numbers

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to get exact information about gift trading volumes because not all gifts are converted into NFTs and traded on the TON blockchain.

However, thanks to @tonundrwrld X and Telegram, we have an approximate idea of the statistics on gifts.

Total number of gifts issued: 110

Gifts that can be upgraded: 76

Current market capitalization, USD: $79,978,306

Current FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation), USD: $104,297,049

Total trading volume of gifts all time, USD: $43,668,808

It’s also worth noting the largest transactions related to gifts. The biggest deal is the purchase of Loot Bag #11217 at the Fragment auction for $34.8k.

Reasons for the Popularity of Telegram Gifts

There may be several reasons for the surge of interest in gifts — from influencers to the simple desire of users to own something valuable that boosts their status. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Influencers

Recently, Snoop Dogg, one of the most influential musicians, shared a photo of his Telegram profile decorated with rare gifts on his X (Twitter) account.

This triggered a sharp increase in trading volumes, clearly visible in the infographic:

In addition to globally recognized figures like Snoop Dogg, popular CIS Twitch streamers have also repeatedly stated in their streams their desire to invest in Telegram gifts. Some have positively spoken about Pavel Durov, expressing their trust in him.

All of this somewhat resembles the NFT boom of 2021, when world-famous figures, including Snoop Dogg, were buying NFTs from the BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) collection, thereby promoting the popularity of the entire NFT segment. But in the end, it all ended rather sadly — the entire NFT market collapsed some time after its peak and has not returned to those levels since.

A New Trend for Self-Expression

Some users approach customizing their Telegram profile quite creatively. They try to buy gifts with the same background and in a unified color palette to stand out from the rest.

Others see this and want to do something similar, and the only way is to buy gifts on the secondary market. And since there’s now a global trend towards self-expression, the gifts have come at just the right time, giving everyone the chance to decorate their profile in an interesting way.

Speculation and the Desire to Profit

Of course, apart from the collectible aspect, most are still interested in the opportunity to make money. In the early days, the owners of the Plush Pepe gift, through collective efforts and coordinated actions, managed to significantly increase its value. They negotiated with TON influencers to give them Plush Pepe or to conduct a "showcase" deal for a large sum. All these actions led to the price growing 230 times — from an initial $30 to a current $6,914.

Disadvantages

Like everything in the world, gifts have their downsides. They can be divided into several categories:

• Ratio of overall supply to initial price;
• Lack of liquidity;
• Randomness effect.

Let’s break down each disadvantage separately.

Ratio of Overall Supply to Initial Price

Initially, gifts were sold for literally pennies. Rare gifts from the first batch cost $0.002–$0.004 apiece. Hence the big multipliers. It’s much easier to boost something that costs less than a dollar than to do the same with an item that has a much higher starting price. The current inflated price and the overall supply of gifts are justified by the fact that they continue to be bought in large quantities.

For example, the gifts released on the first day of summer were sold out in just half a day, and one of them in just 37 minutes. Does this indicate that with such demand, they will still show gains? Time will tell.

Lack of Liquidity

The lack of liquidity is due to the fact that there isn’t enough free capital in the Telegram and TON ecosystem to aggressively buy up expensive gifts and push the price up, creating huge volumes similar to NFT trading on Ethereum or Solana. The latest token launches on TON have especially highlighted this issue.

Randomness Effect

Here, I’d like to combine two nuances. The first is the random drop of traits. Unfortunately, there is no way to influence which model of the gift you’ll get — it’s all down to luck. Sometimes luck may turn away from you, and you’ll have to sell an unwanted gift at the market’s bottom price. The second nuance is that before gift upgrades are released, it’s unknown what models it will have. Sometimes, the community doesn’t really like the result, and such gifts start to be actively sold off on the secondary market, thereby lowering their market price.

Advantages

The advantages of gifts are similar to the reasons for their growth and popularity:

• Support from influencers;
• The trend for self-expression;

In addition to these advantages, others can also be highlighted:

Large Telegram Audience

As of March 2025, Telegram has 1 billion active users. About 450 million people use the platform every day. The exact number of gift holders is unknown, but it can be assumed that it’s no more than a million. This suggests that mass adoption of gifts in Telegram is still ahead and they have significant growth potential.

Growth of the TON Ecosystem

Recent changes in the TON leadership indicate upcoming transformations. New leaders understand that the project’s main audience right now is the CIS, Middle East, and Africa. However, they also realize the need to enter the Western market, something they have repeatedly stated. Collaboration with Snoop Dogg and Pudgy Penguins, who are currently actively working on a game in Telegram, confirms this.

Conclusion

No one will dispute the fact that Pavel Durov managed to attract attention to the gifts. However, more and more of them are appearing on the market each time. The question is whether the Telegram team can maintain user interest in the future? Or at some point, will all the gifts turn into “pumpkins,” as once happened with VK’s votes? Unfortunately, no one has answers to these questions.

If you do decide to invest in gifts, choose the models that you’d like to see in your profile. After all, that’s their main purpose — to decorate your profile.