Telegram's Next Big Thing Is Nothing Like Messaging

Introduction

Telegram is usually where people share memes, send stickers and spend hours chatting in groups. But there's another side of the platform that is getting increasingly interesting, especially for crypto enthusiasts.

People are buying and selling digital gifts, collecting rare sticker packs, trading special phone numbers and even turning familiar Telegram characters into memecoins.

A rare Plush Pepe reportedly sold for $230,000, one anonymous Telegram number fetched 666,666 GRAM, and a familiar yellow duck sticker has inspired a TON memecoin with a market cap approaching $20 million.

So, what's happening inside Telegram?

The Sticker Craze Is Turning Into a Market of Its Own

Stickers have always been a big part of Telegram's appeal. But the ecosystem has grown beyond people simply adding funny characters to their chats.

Projects and artists are now launching limited-edition sticker packs that users can collect, trade and even mint as NFTs on TON.

The demand has been impressive. When BAYC launched its Bored Ape Originals sticker pack, it attracted more than 300,000 claim attempts. Azuki's sticker collection also recorded over 112,000 claims, according to TON's June 2025 ecosystem report.

Users can display these collectibles on their profiles, transfer them to other accounts and trade them through Telegram's marketplace or external TON-based platforms. This has created a new market where familiar Telegram characters can carry serious financial value.

There's also a payment layer connecting these digital assets. Telegram's native Money wallet allows users to send and receive GRAM directly through chats. We explored this feature in more detail in our previous article, If You Think Telegram Is Just a Messaging App.. Think Again, where we explain how Telegram Money works and how users can send, receive and spend GRAM within the ecosystem.

Platforms like Sticker Pad have taken things further by allowing creators to launch sticker collections on-chain. Once a pack sells out, it becomes an NFT that can be traded on secondary marketplaces. Creators receive 95% of initial sales.

The community's own launch data is worth a look too. On Sticker Pad's first day, 127 packs were launched, attracting 13,281 buyers and 6,968 sellers.

Meet UTYA, The Telegram Duck That Became a Memecoin

One interesting example is Utya, the familiar yellow duck sticker created by illustrator Egor Zhgun in 2019.

What started as a simple Telegram sticker pack has since inspired $UTYA, a memecoin on TON.

The token has become one of the standout plays in the sticker-inspired meme market. As of November 6, 2026, it had a market cap of roughly $19 million, according to DeFiLlama.

UTYA reached an all-time high of around $0.063 in May 2026 and has since pulled back to approximately $0.019. That's a sizeable correction, but the token still shows how a popular internet character can turn into a tradable crypto asset.

You can check out the original Utya sticker collection and the token's market performance.

Plush Pepe: When a Digital Gift Sells for $230,000

Stickers are one part of Telegram's collectibles market. Gifts are another.

Telegram allows users to upgrade certain gifts into unique collectibles, each with its own model, background, symbol and serial number. These can be displayed on profiles, transferred and traded across marketplaces.

One collection that has attracted serious money is Plush Pepe. Inspired by the famous Pepe frog meme, the collection features different plush characters with varying levels of rarity. Some are much harder to find than others.

In September 2026, Plush Pepe #350 reportedly sold for $230,000 on Marketapp. The collection recorded approximately $1.86 million in trading volume that month.

October remained active, with 188 deals worth around $1.76 million. More recently, its floor price climbed 13.8% over the week ending November 5, according to Bubble's gift-market report. Another Plush Pepe, #1348, sold for 39,600 GRAM on November 4.

This Frank DeGods screenshot is a nice example of how owning one has become something of a flex in Telegram's crypto circles.

You can follow the @plushpepesales account for collection updates and individual sales.

Resistance Dog and the New Sticker Meta

Resistance Dog is another collection getting plenty of attention. During Telegram's 12th-birthday celebrations, Pavel Durov introduced a limited-edition Resistance Dog gift alongside several other collectibles. The entire release generated over $11 million, with Resistance Dog reportedly selling out in just 15 seconds.

But there's a new reason collectors are paying attention.

Telegram's October 2026 update introduced customisation options for Gram Wallet cards. Users can now decorate their wallet cards with collectible gifts as stickers, while Plush Pepe and Resistance Dog can also be used to customise the card backgrounds.

This gives holders another way to show off their collectibles directly on their Telegram profiles. Then there's the burn mechanism.

Telegram introduced gift crafting in February 2026. Users can combine up to four collectible gifts of the same type to try and create a rarer Uncommon, Rare, Epic or Legendary version.

Here's the interesting bit: all the gifts submitted for a valid crafting attempt are permanently burned, whether the craft succeeds or fails. If it succeeds, a new collectible is created using the first gift's ID. So, combining four gifts into one successful craft reduces the collection's total count by three, rather than four.

This has attracted some serious collectors. One prominent Resistance Dog holder, @plugontele, claimed on October 28 that he had burned over 500 Resistance Dog gifts worth more than $400,000 since the collection launched.

Telegram Phone Numbers Are Selling for Nearly $1 Million

Perhaps the strangest part of this entire ecosystem is the market for Telegram's private phone numbers.

These special +888 numbers are available through Fragment and allow people to create Telegram accounts without purchasing a physical SIM card. They don't receive regular calls or SMS messages. Instead, login codes are delivered through Fragment. The numbers are also blockchain-based collectibles that can be transferred and resold.

So why are people paying so much for them?

There are two big reasons. First, they offer a separate Telegram identity without tying the account to a personal mobile number or SIM card. Second, the supply is limited.

A total of 136,566 numbers were released in December 2022, and all of them sold out. No new numbers are being minted, so buyers have to find existing owners willing to sell.

One of the biggest examples was +888 8 666, which sold for 666,666 GRAM on August 25, 2026, making it the most expensive Telegram number sale reported so far.

Even the cheaper numbers aren't exactly affordable. On November 6, the collection's floor was around 3,000 GRAM, or approximately $3,288. For comparison, 431 numbers sold for just 9 GRAM each during the original launch week in December 2022.

There is one privacy caveat: these numbers offer SIM-free Telegram access, but Fragment requires identity verification for buyers. They aren't a guarantee of complete anonymity.

Telegram Is Becoming a Collectibles Playground

What's happening here is pretty interesting. Telegram's everyday features, from stickers and gifts to usernames and phone numbers, are developing their own secondary markets.

A yellow duck sticker can inspire a memecoin. A digital frog can become a six-figure collectible. A phone number can turn into an asset worth more than a house.

Of course, the prices are speculative, and a handful of record-breaking sales don't mean every collectible will appreciate.

But Telegram has managed to turn things people already enjoy using into things they can collect, trade and show off. And judging by the activity around these markets, its users seem to be having quite a lot of fun with it.

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