Telegram applies for .gram to turn user handles into websites

Why it matters

A successful .gram bid would give Telegram control of a global web namespace, extending its usernames and mini-app platform into browser-accessible identity, hosting and site creation.

Pavel Durov (@durov), Telegram's founder and chief executive, said in a post on X on Tuesday that Telegram has applied to operate the .gram top-level domain, setting up a bid to extend Telegram identities beyond chats, channels and mini apps into the public Domain Name System.

If the application clears ICANN's review, Durov said Telegram users could obtain addresses such as yourname.gram and use a prompt to create interactive websites hosted by Telegram. The post did not say how Telegram would distribute or price the domains, what its site generator can build, or whether sites would run only on Telegram infrastructure.

The application gives Durov a route to control both sides of a web address: the .gram registry and the second-level names registered beneath it. Telegram already assigns public usernames that resolve through t.me links, while its collectible usernames can be bought, sold and assigned to accounts, bots and channels. A .gram registry would turn that identity system into standard web addresses instead of links nested under a domain Telegram already owns. Telegram says it passed 1 billion monthly active users in 2025. (telegram.org)

Approval is several steps away

Telegram submitted the application during ICANN's 2026 round, the first application window for new generic top-level domains in more than a decade. The window ran from April 30th through August 12th. Durov disclosed Telegram's bid on August 18th, one day before ICANN's deadline for applicants to pay the required evaluation fee.

ICANN charges $227,000 per application before any conditional evaluation, objection or operating costs. Payment gets an application into the process; it does not secure the string. ICANN will conduct an administrative check before publishing the applied-for domains, applicants and any identical-string contention sets on Reveal Day, expected no later than nine weeks after the application window closed. (newgtldprogram.icann.org)

The subsequent process includes public input, potential objections, technical and financial evaluations, contracting and pre-delegation testing. Another applicant seeking .gram could force Telegram into a contention process. ICANN can also group strings that are similar visually, aurally or in meaning, and unresolved contention can end in an ICANN auction. (newgtldprogram.icann.org)

That timeline means yourname.gram is a proposal rather than an imminent Telegram feature. Even an uncontested application must pass evaluation and produce a registry agreement before ICANN can add .gram to the DNS root.

Durov brings back the Gram name

The choice of .gram revives a label with history inside Telegram. Durov previously used "Gram" for the planned cryptocurrency of Telegram Open Network, the blockchain project Telegram abandoned in 2020 following a U.S. court injunction. Telegram had raised $1.7 billion through token sales; a settlement required Telegram to return more than $1.2 billion to investors and pay an $18.5 million penalty. (t.me)

Telegram later built a separate market for collectible usernames secured through the TON blockchain. Those names currently point to Telegram accounts and properties through formats including t.me/username and username.t.me. The .gram application would move the naming strategy onto the conventional internet, where a domain can open in an ordinary browser and serve as an independent address. (telegram.org)

The proposed prompt-built sites also fit Telegram's broader push to make its platform host software, commerce and media rather than serve solely as a messenger. Telegram's Mini Apps already run JavaScript interfaces inside the app, support payments and can replace many functions of standalone websites. With .gram, Durov is betting that Telegram can package identity, hosting and AI-assisted creation under a domain users carry outside the app. (core.telegram.org)