Telegram applies for .gram domain to offer users personal websites

Telegram has applied to ICANN for the .gram top-level domain, which could allow more than one billion Telegram users to register addresses such as yourname.gram and build Telegram-hosted websites if the application is approved.

Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, said in an X post that the company had submitted the application for the .gram domain zone and plans to make second-level domains available to its users. Telegram passed one billion monthly active users in 2025, according to the company’s official press information.

“Telegram has applied for the .gram domain zone,” Durov wrote, adding that approval could give a billion users access to their own second-level domains.

The proposal would also connect the domain system with website creation inside Telegram. Durov said users would be able to create interactive websites hosted by Telegram “with one prompt,” although he did not provide technical details about the planned hosting system, pricing, domain allocation rules or when registrations could begin.

Approval remains subject to ICANN’s evaluation process, meaning .gram cannot be launched simply because Telegram has submitted an application.

Telegram .gram domains would operate as regular internet addresses

Telegram’s filing comes through ICANN’s 2026 New Generic Top-Level Domain Program, under which organizations can apply to operate new domain extensions.

ICANN opened the latest application window on April 30 and closed submissions on Aug. 12. A successful application gives an operator control of a top-level domain registry, subject to ICANN’s evaluation requirements and a registry agreement before the domain can be delegated into the internet’s Domain Name System.

Under the proposed structure described by Durov, .gram would serve as the top-level domain, while a Telegram user could register a second-level name before it. An address such as alice.gram, for example, would place alice at the second level.

ICANN distinguishes applications for new top-level domains from ordinary domain registrations. Applicants seeking a new extension are applying to operate the registry infrastructure supporting that part of the Domain Name System, while individual users normally register names beneath an existing top-level domain through registrars.

Durov has not said whether Telegram intends to act directly as the registry operator, which registry service provider would support .gram, or how domain ownership would interact with existing Telegram usernames.

The founder also did not specify whether .gram domains would be sold, distributed free to users, auctioned or tied to existing usernames. His post only said Telegram users “could get their own second-level domains” if ICANN approves the application.

One-prompt websites would add another layer to Telegram

Website hosting forms the second part of Telegram’s proposed .gram system.

According to Durov, users would be able to set up interactive websites hosted by Telegram using a single prompt. He did not identify the technology that would generate the sites or explain whether the prompt-based system would use Telegram-developed tools or third-party services.

Telegram already lets developers build Mini Apps that run inside the messenger and use Telegram accounts for authentication. Its developer documentation describes the Mini App platform as available to more than one billion Telegram users.

A .gram domain paired with hosted websites could give those services an internet address outside the normal Telegram username and bot structure, depending on how the company implements the system.

Telegram has spent several years adding web and application functions around its messaging service. In August 2024, crypto.news reported on Telegram’s browser and Mini App store, which allowed users to access TON Sites through the platform’s in-app browser while bringing Mini Apps into a dedicated discovery section.

At the time, Telegram said hundreds of millions of users interacted with Mini Apps every month. Products including Notcoin and Hamster Kombat had helped bring blockchain-based games and services directly into the messenger without requiring users to install separate applications.

The .gram proposal would use conventional internet domain infrastructure overseen by ICANN, based on the details disclosed by Durov. He did not describe .gram as a blockchain naming service or say that ownership would be recorded on The Open Network.

The Gram name has returned across Telegram’s TON strategy

Telegram’s choice of .gram also follows the return of the Gram name within The Open Network ecosystem this year.

On June 15, Toncoin was renamed Gram after a community vote approved the change with 81.22% support. As covered in June, the rename changed the token’s name, ticker and logo while leaving balances, wallet addresses, staking positions and the underlying network unchanged.

The blockchain itself retained The Open Network name, while its native token switched from the TON ticker to GRAM.

Gram had originally been the name planned for Telegram’s cryptocurrency when the company developed the Telegram Open Network. The project was halted after a dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over Telegram’s token sale, and Telegram stepped away from the blockchain in 2020.

Independent developers later continued the open-source network as The Open Network, with Toncoin becoming its native asset.

Telegram moved much closer to the network again in 2026. On May 4, Durov said Telegram would replace the TON Foundation as the main force directing the network and become its largest validator.

A June crypto.news report detailed the move, which followed the Catchain 2.0 upgrade and a reduction in transaction fees. Telegram’s roadmap also included new developer tools, TON Pay 2.0 for payments and a Bitcoin bridge known as TON Teleport.

The network changes were accompanied by a sharp market reaction. Toncoin climbed from around $1.30 shortly before Durov’s May announcement to above $2 during the following week, while staking inflows and short liquidations increased as traders reacted to Telegram’s direct involvement.

Telegram then backed the return of the Gram name in June, reconnecting the native token with terminology used during the company’s original blockchain project.

ICANN approval remains the next requirement for .gram

Telegram still needs the .gram application to clear ICANN’s New gTLD Program before the domain can become available.

The 2026 application process requires applicants to pass a series of reviews covering areas including technical operation, the proposed domain string and other program requirements. Successful applicants must also enter into a registry agreement with ICANN before their top-level domain can be delegated.

ICANN has said every applicant must use a registry service provider that has passed its technical evaluation process. Those providers handle core registry functions required to operate a generic top-level domain.

Telegram has not disclosed the status of its .gram application within that evaluation process or identified the registry service provider attached to the filing.

Durov also gave no launch date for second-level .gram registrations, saying only that the domains and prompt-created websites would become possible if ICANN approves Telegram’s application.