Gifts and the blockchain

What Is an NFT in Telegram?

In Telegram, an NFT is a collectible gift moved to the TON blockchain. Ordinary gifts are not NFTs; an upgraded gift becomes one when its owner sends it to a TON wallet.

GiftsWatch team · Sources and methodology

Updated Oct 10, 2026

How a Telegram gift becomes an NFT

Ordinary giftBought with Stars
CollectibleModel, backdrop, symbol, number
Send via BlockchainImported on Fragment
NFT on TONThe wallet owns the gift

Gift images: Telegram, via Fragment.

On this page

At a glance

Ordinary gift, collectible gift and NFT

Question	Ordinary gift	Collectible in Telegram	NFT on TON
Who holds it	Your Telegram account	Your Telegram account	A TON wallet address
Unique traits	None; every copy looks the same	Model, backdrop, symbol and number	The same traits, shown on Fragment
Can be sold	No; it can be converted into Stars, by default within 7 days	Yes, for Stars or TON on Telegram's marketplace and in gift apps	Yes, on Fragment and other TON marketplaces
Shown on your profile	Yes	Yes, and can be worn as an emoji status	Yes, as a hosted gift
If you lose access	Tied to your Telegram account	Tied to your Telegram account	Tied to the wallet's recovery words

The short answer

In Telegram, an NFT is a collectible gift that has been moved to the TON blockchain. Ordinary gifts are not NFTs. An upgraded, collectible gift becomes an NFT when its owner sends it to a TON wallet with Transfer > Send via Blockchain.

Telegram added this option on 24 January 2025. It says a gift on the blockchain stays under its owner's control even if they lose access to their Telegram account or delete it.

Ordinary gift, collectible gift, NFT

An ordinary gift is bought with Stars and shown on the recipient's profile. The recipient can keep it, upgrade it, or convert it into Stars within 7 days by default, which can return fewer Stars than it cost.

Upgrading turns it into a collectible gift with a random model, backdrop, symbol and number. Collectibles can be transferred to other users, sold for Stars or TON on Telegram's marketplace and worn as an emoji status.

A collectible becomes an NFT when it leaves Telegram for a TON wallet. From then on, the TON blockchain records which wallet address owns it.

What makes it an NFT

On TON, each NFT is its own smart contract. The item contract holds its collection address, its index, its current owner and its metadata, and the collection contract can return the address of each of its items.

To transfer an NFT, the current owner sends a message to the item contract, and the contract records the new owner. Fragment's item pages show the owner's address and the ownership history.

Names and pictures can be copied, so TON's documentation recommends checking an item through its collection: ask the collection for the address at the item's index and compare it with the item's address.

What changes when you withdraw a gift to a TON wallet

To withdraw, Telegram asks for your two-step verification password and opens Fragment, where the gift is imported as an NFT into the TON wallet you connect. Telegram may show a date before which a gift cannot be exported.

Ownership: the wallet owns the gift. Whoever controls the wallet's recovery words controls the gift.
Selling: you can sell it on Fragment for TON. Fragment charges 5% per sale plus a network fee of about 1 TON.
Display: Telegram can still show it on your profile as a hosted gift, and you can wear it as an emoji status while the wallet stays the owner.
Crafting: a crafted gift reuses the ID of the first gift you put in, so that first gift has to be in Telegram, not on the blockchain.
Account loss: Telegram says an on-chain gift stays under your control even if you lose your Telegram account.

What you take on with a wallet

Fragment cannot restore a lost wallet. Write down the recovery words before you move a gift: losing them means losing the wallet, its coins and its collectibles.

Copy wallet addresses from the wallet app instead of typing them. Fragment warns that a wrong address can mean lost funds.