Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, announced that the company has applied for the ".gram" top-level domain; if approved by ICANN, approximately 1 billion Telegram users could register second-level domains in the format "yourname.gram".

Durov stated that the plan is still contingent on ICANN's approval, and Telegram has only submitted the application; ".gram" has not yet become a publicly registrable, tradable, or resolvable internet domain suffix.

Telegram envisions binding user identities, usernames, and domain names. Existing Telegram usernames may correspond to the same name as a ".gram" second-level domain in the future, allowing users to connect their chat accounts, public pages, and on-chain or application service entrances through a unified identifier.

Durov mentioned that users will be able to create interactive websites hosted on Telegram using "a prompt." The public announcement did not disclose the website building model, deployment architecture, domain allocation rules, storage and bandwidth costs, content review, or developer fee models.

The ".gram" application continues the branding associated with Telegram's previous explorations around TON, TON DNS, and human-readable on-chain addresses, but the ICANN domain system and blockchain naming system belong to different root domain governance, resolution, and registration systems; even if approved, how the two will be compatible has not been disclosed.

In terms of market mechanisms, potential buyers are Telegram users and developers looking to acquire brand domain names, personal identity pages, bot entrances, merchant sites, or community addresses; the supply side consists of registration, hosting, website building, identity, and content distribution capabilities provided by Telegram. If ".gram" is approved, scarce short domain names, well-known brand names, and high-traffic usernames will likely see initial demand for registration and secondary transfer; Telegram could establish new revenue streams from domain registration, renewal, hosting, advertising, payments, or commercial tools, while existing username holders may face disputes over identity ownership and domain priority.

Source: Public Information