Telegram has outplayed everyone once again. While some are busy chasing meme token trends and the latest Binance listings, a new economy is quietly but steadily emerging within the Telegram ecosystem — digital gifts issued as NFTs. At first glance, these gifts are just fun animations or pixel memes, but in reality, they’re assets that can multiply in value 10x, 50x, or even more in just a few weeks. At Crypto Insite, we decided to dig deeper to uncover what’s really behind the hype: how the technology works, why people are buying virtual bananas for $500, and where you can buy or sell these Telegram gifts without being left holding the bag. Yes, there are risks and hidden pitfalls — but also real-life stories of people earning more on NFT gifts than they did from DeFi throughout all of 2023.
In this article, we’ve gathered the most useful information for those who want to understand Telegram Gifts from scratch and start profiting from them. We’ll explain how and why they emerged, why interest in them has skyrocketed recently, and which bots already provide access to buying and selling these gifts. We’ll also show you how to send gifts, where to buy Telegram Stars (the internal currency) at the best rates, and where you can avoid verification and unnecessary hassle. No fluff — just real, verified info. If you want to ride the Telegram hype wave and not miss the trend, get comfortable. It’s going to be interesting — and possibly profitable.
How Telegram Gifts Work and Why They Matter
At first glance, Telegram gifts may seem like just fun animations, cute stickers, or quirky graphics you can send to a friend for their birthday. But under the hood, there’s something much more substantial going on. Technically, each gift is an NFT token on the TON blockchain (The Open Network), which can be bought, sold, collected, or even held in anticipation of price growth. In other words, we’re talking about a fully-fledged digital asset wrapped in a fun package and seamlessly integrated into the familiar Telegram interface.
How does it work? A user buys a gift using Telegram Stars — Telegram’s internal currency, which can be topped up with fiat (via Google Pay, Apple Pay, or a bank card) or purchased from third-party sellers. Each gift is tied to a specific NFT contract and appears in your profile or transaction history. You can send it to any Telegram user in just a couple of clicks — just like sharing a sticker. However, the blockchain records the token transfer, and the new owner receives a full-fledged digital asset with resale rights.
Why does it matter? First of all, it looks cool. Telegram has created incredibly stylish gift designs — from pixelated unicorns to animated cakes exploding with confetti.
Secondly, it’s a status symbol — just like blue checkmarks and flashy avatars were in Web2, Telegram gifts are becoming a Web3 way to stand out. Some of them are released in limited editions, sell out quickly, and are resold on the secondary market for 5–10 times the original price. Thirdly, it’s a speculative tool. Traders have already emerged who scoop up rare gifts at launch to resell them a few hours later at a markup. It’s basically NFT trading — right inside Telegram, with no need for OpenSea or any hassle.
Pro Tip! Telegram Gifts aren’t just fun visuals — they represent a new branch of the crypto economy, built on emotions, viral appeal, blockchain tech, and ease of use. These gifts combine several major trends at once: the tokenization of emotions, the gamification of messengers, the rise of TON, and the evolution of Web3’s SOCIAL LAYER. If before you sent emojis just for fun, now you can send something that actually holds value — and might be worth 10 times more a week later.
History of Telegram Gifts
The story of gifts in Telegram didn’t start with cute stickers, but with ambition. The ambition of Pavel Durov and his team to turn the messenger into more than just a communication tool — into a full-fledged Web3 platform where every user can own, transfer, and monetize digital assets. The foundation for this was the ecosystem of The Open Network (TON) — a blockchain initially developed by Telegram but handed over to the community after being blocked by the SEC in 2020. Officially, Telegram stepped away from the project, but in practice, it continued integrating TON step by step.
On October 8, 2024, Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram, announced in his channel a set of upcoming updates featuring 10 improvements.
The first major sign came with Telegram usernames — unique user handles that could be bought and sold on the Fragment marketplace. All transactions were carried out via smart contracts, and the proceeds from these trades went toward developing the ecosystem. Usernames like @casino, @wallet, and @ai sold for tens of thousands of dollars, and the market quickly became speculative. It was essentially a minimum viable product (MVP) — a test to see whether Telegram could introduce blockchain mechanics into a mainstream UX environment. And it worked.
Next came Telegram Stars — an in-app currency used to purchase stickers, gifts, and other premium features. Stars could be topped up via fiat (card, Apple Pay, etc.) or crypto using P2P services or third-party bots. This gave Telegram a powerful monetization model — with minimal friction for the user.
In April 2024, the first Telegram gifts were introduced — designed as NFTs on the TON blockchain. These gifts were tied to token mechanics, had limited editions, and were recorded on-chain. The first wave featured simple visual designs: birthday cakes, confetti, surprise boxes. Even at that early stage, a few market enthusiasts noticed that some gifts sold out among subscribers within minutes, and their resale prices jumped 3–5x on secondary markets. In other words, a single gift could end up being worth several times more.
One such case involved a user with the handle @web3collector, who bought 100 “Pixel Love” gifts on release day for 9 Stars each (about $0.80 apiece), and sold most of them a week later for $12–$18 each. His ROI exceeded 1,000% in just 7 days. Another user, @tonfrens, shared on Twitter/X that he bought a limited edition “Cakebox 2024” gift for $20 and sold a single unit to a collector for $150 within just 48 hours.
This gifting mechanic resonated with the market. By summer 2024, Telegram began testing “gift tournaments” — where limited NFT gifts were distributed to the first N users or granted for specific activity. Communities started tracking release drops, sniping gifts early, and building speculative strategies. By fall 2024, the Telegram Gifts market resembled the early days of the NFT boom on Ethereum: hype, rarity, flipping, collecting, frenzy — and hundreds of thousands of dollars in daily volume.
In 2025, Telegram officially expanded gift integration into bots, chats, and Premium subscriptions, amplifying their reach. A gift was no longer just a cute gesture — it became a way to onboard users into the ecosystem, demonstrate blockchain mechanics with a single tap, and — let’s be honest — profit by reselling gifts to other users.
What’s Behind the Hype Around Telegram Gifts
Why have Telegram gifts suddenly become a hot topic, capturing the attention not only of crypto enthusiasts but also of everyday users? The answer lies in a unique mix of virality, gamification, real value, and accessibility. This is a rare case where a product built on NFTs and blockchain doesn’t feel like a complicated DeFi scheme or a pseudo-game, but rather a natural extension of the everyday messenger experience.
- First of all, Telegram currently has over 1 billion users, and anything that launches at this scale immediately gains exposure. When you receive a beautiful animated gift wrapped in NFT form, it doesn’t feel like a boring transaction — it feels like an emotion, attention, a digital event. These things go viral fast: people forward gifts, discuss them in chats, and collect them. Once scarcity kicks in, interest multiplies. “Did you manage to grab that rare gift?” becomes a status symbol.
- Secondly, these gifts aren’t just pretty visuals — they’re digital assets that can generate profit. Users are starting to realize: what lands in your Telegram chat isn’t just an animation — it’s an NFT you can sell. And not just sell — sell in a couple of clicks, directly from the app interface. The hype is amplified by real success stories: someone bought a gift for $5 and sold it for $50 — and these cases are popping up more often. It’s the same logic as the golden days of Ethereum minting: buy early, sell high.
- Third — gamification. Telegram cleverly integrated gifts into Premium subscriptions, Stars, and in-chat achievement systems. You can send a gift as a reaction, as a thank you for a great post, or for someone’s birthday — turning NFTs into a tool of social economy. It’s like Discord or DAO rewards, but more native and with a stronger wow effect. Plus, gifts are bought using Telegram Stars, a simple in-app currency that you can top up with a card — no wallet, no MetaMask, no KYC required. It just works out of the box.
- The fourth factor is the TON boom. The TON ecosystem exploded in 2024–2025, growing from ~$0.80 to over $7, with dozens of new tokens, DEXs, NFT marketplaces, games, and DeFi projects launching. Gifts fit perfectly into this trend, acting as a “showcase” for Telegram’s blockchain tech. They’re not hardcore DeFi — they’re emotional, but still follow tokenomics. This pulls in a whole new wave of users — especially those who used to be skeptical of crypto.
- And lastly, the psychology of collecting. People love to collect — whether it’s stamps, in-game skins, or Telegram stickers. Anything limited-time sparks the urge to “grab it before it’s gone.” Especially if there’s a resale opportunity. And yes, Telegram nailed it: by launching series of gifts, with limited runs and timed drops, they tap directly into the powerful FOMO (fear of missing out) mechanic — the fear of losing a profit opportunity.
Important! Telegram Gifts are not just a new visual format — they represent the intersection of emotion, blockchain, status, and money. This is one of those rare cases where NFTs don’t scare users away with technical complexity — instead, they attract and delight with simplicity and visual appeal.
Where to Buy or Sell Gifts
So, we’ve established that Telegram Gifts are not just fun pixel images but actual NFT assets — which brings up a logical question: where can you actually buy or sell these gifts?
Especially if you’re looking to go beyond just sending a gift to a friend and want to treat it as an investment asset — with the potential for flipping (reselling) or holding for future growth.
Telegram hasn’t implemented a unified gift marketplace — instead, there are several different paths depending on what exactly you’re looking for: new gifts, secondary market items, drops, rare limited editions, or even collectible series. Below, we’ve broken down the main platforms where you can buy or sell gifts in Telegram.
- If you want to buy a gift right at launch — especially during official Telegram drops — use AutoGiftsBot. It automatically snipes drops while most people are still manually clicking buttons.
- If you’re hunting for rare or already hyped NFT gifts that might multiply in value — your go-to is Portals. It’s home to real traders, gift rarity analytics, and sales history.
- If you just want to send a fun gift to someone without chasing profits — use Tonnel or the built-in Telegram Premium tools.
- And if you’re an advanced user ready to trade P2P in themed chats (like @tonnftmarketplace or @giftstradinghub), you can find good deals — but you’ll need to watch out for scams and fakes.
It’s also important to understand that all gifts “live” on the blockchain, and you can always check their NFT history via TON Explorer. This adds transparency — you can see when a gift was purchased, at what price, and how many transactions it went through. Telegram offers maximum UX comfort on the surface, but under the hood, it runs on real tokenomics and blockchain logic.
Tip from Crypto Insite: If you’re just getting started — create a wallet through TON Space in the Telegram Wallet. This will give you access to full functionality and ensure the security of your NFT gifts. After that, you can start connecting bots and catching drops.
TOP Telegram Bots for Buying and Selling Gifts
One of Telegram’s key features as a Web3 platform is its deep integration of bots. And when it comes to buying and reselling NFT gifts, Telegram bots have become the main trading tool. No need for external websites, no wallet downloads — just click a button, confirm, and you’ve bought or sold. Below is an overview of the three most powerful and popular bots for gift trading — each offering unique benefits for traders, collectors, or casual enthusiasts.
1. Portals Bot — a full-fledged marketplace for NFT gifts
Portals Bot — is one of the most advanced bots for the secondary market of gifts and other NFTs. It serves as a full-featured interface for buying, selling, and tracking collectible gifts. The interface is native and intuitively easy to navigate.
Features:
- Buy and sell gifts directly in the messenger
- Sort by drop date, rarity, price, and liquidity
- List your gift for sale in just a couple of clicks
- Support for TON wallets and TON Connect
- Display of metadata: release date, series, ID, ownership history
Why choose Portals: Think of it as OpenSea inside Telegram, but without the clutter. For collectors and flippers hunting rare drops, this bot is a must-have.
2. Tonnel Bot — fast purchase and sale of gifts
Tonnel positions itself as a “bridge between drops and the market,” and that’s exactly where its strength lies. It’s lightning-fast at detecting new gift releases and displays liquidity for active collections. It’s especially useful for those looking to snatch up fresh drops before prices spike.
Features:
- Auto-detection of new drops
- Overview of active collections and instant purchases
- Manual “reservation” of gifts before launch
- Support for TON and Stars
- Integration with Telegram Wallet
Best for: Traders who like to “ride the wave” and quickly flip gifts at their peak. The bot is often among the first to list new drops — especially premium ones from the TON community.
3. AutoGiftsBot — Automatic Gift Sniper
AutoGiftsBot — is a true sniper bot. Its main purpose is to automatically scoop up rare gifts right after they drop — when prices are still low and demand hasn’t peaked. It’s especially effective for limited collections that sell out within minutes.
AutoGiftsBot highlights:
- Auto-purchasing drops based on your target price
- Custom limits and filters: quantity, price, rarity
- Supports Telegram Stars and TON
- Reports on successful trades and profits
- “Night hunt” mode (runs while you sleep)
Best for: Those who want to farm gift drops with minimal effort. No need to stay glued to your phone — the bot will buy, notify, and even resell on your behalf if needed.
How to Send a Gift
Sending a Telegram gift is an intuitive and user-friendly process that requires no crypto experience or the installation of external wallets. Everything is seamlessly integrated into the messenger’s ecosystem and works in just a few clicks.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open any chat or channel where you want to send the gift.
- Tap the “Stars” icon next to the stickers.
- Go to the “Gifts” section — here you’ll see available NFTs with covers, animations, and short descriptions.
- Choose a gift → tap “Send” → confirm the transaction.
- Done! The gift will be delivered to the recipient as a beautiful animation, and you can track its status in your wallet.
If you’re using bots (like Portals or AutoGiftsBot), you can often set up gift delivery directly from the purchase interface. Many of them offer a “buy and send immediately” feature.
How to Upgrade Gifts in Telegram
If you already know how to send gifts, purchase them through bots or marketplaces, it’s time to understand how to upgrade your gifts and make them truly unique, rare, and more valuable—both for your collection and for resale.
- First, Telegram allows you to upgrade gifts—for example, by adding animations, changing their cover, decorating them with effects, or even embedding extra information. This is based on NFT mechanics, where each gift isn’t just a sticker or GIF, but a full-fledged token with its own ID and history. Some rare gifts become true digital artifacts, especially if they were sent on a special date, from a notable account, or as part of a limited-edition collection.
- Second, you can use bots to combine multiple gifts into one or to level them up. Some gifts have attributes like “rarity,” “emotional impact,” or even “social value”—and with upgrades, you can boost these characteristics. The higher the rarity, the higher the chance that such a gift can be sold for a good price on marketplaces.
- Third, don’t forget about presentation. People are more likely to forward and collect well-designed gifts with a unique twist. You can customize the message text, add background music (available in some bots), or create an interactive cover—this all increases the gift’s value as a digital asset and improves its potential to go viral.
- And finally: if you want your gift to truly stand out, watch for new drops and buy gifts right at launch. These limited-edition gifts almost always appreciate in value and become excellent investment assets within the Telegram ecosystem.
So don’t just send—upgrade your gifts. Let each one become part of your digital story… or at the very least, bring a few extra TONs into your wallet.
Where to Buy Telegram Stars at a Discount and Without KYC
Telegram Stars are Telegram’s internal payment unit, used to purchase Premium features, subscriptions, stickers, and of course, digital gifts. It’s convenient, fast, and doesn’t require dealing with complex crypto infrastructure.
But there’s a catch: if you buy Stars directly through Google Play or the App Store, you end up overpaying — platform fees can eat up to 30% of the total amount.
That’s why more and more users are looking for ways to buy Stars at a lower price and without KYC (meaning without the need to verify their identity with a passport or selfie). And such methods do exist — through trusted Telegram bots and third-party platforms that have already become part of the TON ecosystem:
Split.TG
Split.TG — is a decentralized P2P marketplace for Telegram Stars and Premium subscriptions. Here, users sell Stars directly to each other — at market prices and without App Store markups.
Advantages:
- No KYC;
- Prices 10–25% lower than official rates;
- Escrow system ensures secure transactions: funds are held until confirmation;
- Supports TON Wallet and Stars wallets;
- You can resell Stars for profit.
Best for:
Advanced users looking to buy large amounts or resell Stars to others.
MemHashStarsBOT
MemHashStarsBOT operates within MemHash — one of the most well-known platforms focused on micro-transactions. You can exchange TON for Stars at favorable rates — all within the Telegram interface.
Key features:
- Instant Stars purchase;
- Payment via TON Wallet or TON Space;
- No KYC — anonymous wallets are accepted;
- Rates are usually better than in Telegram Premium.
The bot often runs promos, bonuses, and referral programs — you can earn Stars for being active.
Premium Bot
Premium Bot — is the official tool to gift or buy Telegram Premium for yourself or a friend. It also offers Stars bundles under favorable terms, especially when paying in TON.
Why use it:
- No App Store commission;
- Pay via crypto or bank card;
- Backed by Telegram (official bot);
- Often includes Stars + Premium bundles.
Downside:
Prices aren’t always the lowest — especially compared to Split.TG — but it’s the cleanest and most trusted method.
Fragment
Fragment.com — is the official platform for buying and selling usernames, gifts, and Stars. You can also buy Stars here using TON, but recently, the service started requiring KYC.
Pros:
- Maximum security;
- Payment in TON only;
- Connected to Telegram Wallet;
- Occasionally offers large Stars bundles with discounts.
However, Fragment is geared more toward advanced users. The interface might seem complex to beginners, and the prices aren’t always the most attractive.
Take note! If you regularly take part in gift drops or resell Telegram Gifts, getting Stars at a discount is a must-have. Use Split.TG for large batches and MemHashStarsBOT for quick retail purchases. And remember: Stars are your fuel in Telegram’s new Web3 economy.
FAQ. Fequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
The world of Telegram is evolving rapidly — and it’s no longer just a messaging app. It’s now an entire ecosystem where digital gifts have transformed into full-fledged NFT assets with real value, liquidity, and even speculative potential. Blockchain-based gifts blend gamification, marketing, and Web3 economics, engaging millions of users without the usual crypto complexity. Everything is convenient, visually appealing, and… profitable — if you know where to dig.
In this article, we broke down in detail how Telegram gifts work, why they’re more than just a fun feature, where the massive hype came from, and why they’re far from being “just for fun.” We showed you where to buy or sell gifts, which bots actually deliver results (Portals, Tonnel, AutoGiftsBot), how to get Telegram Stars at a discount and without verification, and how to quickly dive into this new wave of digital culture. But the key takeaway is simple: Telegram today isn’t just about chatting — it’s about digital identity, digital assets, and making money from trends that seemed like toys yesterday but are now trading for dozens of TON.
So if you haven’t sent a gift to a friend or tried grabbing a rare drop — now’s the time. Because the next x10 Telegram Gift might already be waiting in your chat!
