NFT stickers and gifts in Telegram on TON (2026)

NFT gifts and stickers in Telegram are the most “native” way for an ordinary user to own an on-chain asset without ever knowing what blockchain is. Across 2024–2026 the segment grew from an experimental feature into a real market with tens of millions of dollars in volume and high-profile brand collaborations. This piece — what it is, how it works, where to trade, and whether to participate.

What a Telegram gift actually is

Originally, in 2024, Telegram launched “gifts” — a simple mechanic to send a contact an animated icon (a star, a bear, a cake) for Telegram Stars. The user buys a gift with Stars, sends it to a friend, and a collection of received gifts shows on their profile.

In late 2024 / early 2025 the feature got a second wind. Telegram announced gifts could be “painted” — converted into NFTs on the TON blockchain. After painting:

The gift becomes a unique token with a serial number.
The tie to the Telegram account is severed — the NFT lives in your TON wallet.
It can be sold, gifted, transferred, stored outside Telegram.
It can be “worn” — displayed as profile background or detail.

In May 2026 Telegram launched its own in-app marketplace for trading gifts — no need for external services.

NFT stickers — a separate story

Alongside gifts, NFT stickers appeared. These are collectible stickers issued in a limited series:

Each series — a few thousand units.
Every sticker has a serial number from 1 to n.
Designs are richer than regular stickers — better animation, restricted colour palettes.
Stored in a TON wallet as ordinary NFTs.

Stickers can be used in chats like regular ones, while still being unique assets. It’s a successful hybrid of “collectible” and “utility” — the sticker isn’t dead weight, you actively use it.

Market timeline

Late 2023 — 2024. Launch of the basic gift system. Volumes are tiny.

Late 2024. Conversion of gifts into TON NFTs is announced. The primary market begins.

Early 2025. A run of partner collabs with brands and celebrities. First external marketplaces (MRKT, Tonnel) appear.

Summer 2025. Snoop Dogg launches the first brand collection — a $12M sellout in 30 minutes. A precedent for the industry.

Late 2025. Khabib Nurmagomedov releases a virtual papakha collection through an auction format.

February 2026. Secondary market volume tops $34M.

9 May 2026. Telegram launches the official in-app marketplace for trading gifts. Operations are in Stars.

What people collect

The segment splits into four asset types.

1. Common gifts

Cheap, mass-issued, low secondary value. Stars price — 5 to 50 ($0.10–1). After painting into NFT, floor is roughly $0.50–5.

These suit gifting friends, not collecting. Some users assemble “walls” of thousands of small gifts as profile aesthetics.

2. Premium gifts

Animated, limited to series of 1,000–10,000. Price — 100 to 10,000 Stars ($2–200). Secondary prices can sit several times above the primary.

This is the bulk of traded volume.

3. Brand collabs

Issues from celebrities and brands — Snoop Dogg, Khabib, fashion brands, musicians. Limits — usually 5,000–25,000 units; primary price — $10 to $1,000.

Secondary outcomes diverge: “fading” collabs decay quickly; “iconic” ones (Snoop) rise 5–10×.

4. NFT sticker collections

Animated sticker packs released in limited print runs. Used in chats and traded. Volumes are still smaller than gifts, but the segment is growing fast.

How to buy and sell

Telegram’s in-app marketplace. Open a profile with gifts, browse the market, pay in Stars. Minimal friction, no external wallet. Downsides — Telegram fees plus Stars overhead.

MRKT. The most mature external TON NFT marketplace. Accepts TON and USDT-jetton. Available as a Telegram mini-app and a standalone site. Real TON-priced trades run 10–25% cheaper than going through Stars.

Tonnel. Alternative marketplace focused on gifts. Deep liquidity on top collections.

Getgems. TON’s oldest NFT marketplace; supports gifts since 2025.

P2P in chats. Direct deals between users. Cheapest, but no escrow — only for trusted counterparties.

!
P2P without escrow — 100% risk

Don’t buy gifts via direct DMs with strangers. The classic scam — they ask you to send TON “in advance”, then disappear. Use marketplaces with built-in escrow.

What’s under the hood

NFT gifts run on the TIP-62 / TON NFT standard — a standard token on TON. Each gift is a separate smart contract storing:

Metadata (image, animation, description).
Serial number.
Owner address.
Transfer history.

After painting in Telegram, the original “cosmetic” version disappears from the Telegram profile and an NFT appears in the TON wallet. Lose the Telegram account — the NFT stays in the wallet (if the wallet isn’t tied to Telegram).

Lose the wallet — the NFT is gone forever. The standard rule: seed phrase = access to the gift.

Key 2025–2026 collabs

Snoop Dogg

The first brand collaboration. A collection styled after the rapper, limited to a few thousand. Sellout in 30 minutes, ~$12M in volume. Secondary prices for limited variants rose 3–5×.

The precedent caught industry attention: it showed Telegram NFTs could be a mass-monetisation channel for celebrities.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

An auction-style sellout of virtual papakhas. The unique mechanic — not fixed price, but auction. That brought attention to new formats inside Telegram (everything had been fixed-price before).

Brand collections

A series of smaller partnerships with local artists, fashion brands, musicians. Not every release lands, but the count grows month over month.

Risks and pitfalls

1. Wild primary demand, weak secondary. Most collections shed 50–80% after the primary wave. Not every drop is Snoop Dogg.

2. Counterfeits. Scam copies of popular collections with similar names and addresses. Always check the contract address through Tonscan.

3. Marketplace dependence. If an external marketplace shuts down, segment liquidity drops. Diversifying across venues helps.

4. Regulation. In the EU, MiCA’s extension to NFTs is being debated. Some gift types may fall under expanded oversight.

5. Technical mistakes. Painting into NFT is irreversible. Painted a gift you intended for a non-crypto friend? You can’t roll back to the Stars-only form.

Strategies

For collectors. Buy what you visually like, with no expectation of investment returns. Budget — what you can lose. Floor purchases on favourite collections.

For traders. Watch new releases via MRKT and ecosystem channels; flip in 24–72 hours at hype peaks. Requires active presence.

For long-term holders. Buy limited series after the primary hype has cooled (1–3 months in). Filter by brand, holder count, community activity.

For gifting. Buy ordinary Stars gifts for loved ones — without investment intent. Painting into NFT can come later if the recipient turns out to be a crypto enthusiast.

Need a wallet for NFT gifts?

Tonkeeper supports every NFT standard on TON, including Telegram Gifts. Displays your collection cleanly and connects to MRKT/Tonnel in one click.
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What’s next

A 2026–2027 forecast:

More brand drops. 10–15 high-profile celebrity collabs per year.
Game integration. NFT gifts as “skins” inside TON games. Catizen and others are heading there.
Cross-chain bridges. Selling TON NFT gifts on Ethereum via bridge — not live yet, but on the roadmap.
AI generation. Personalised gifts from AI — buy a unique piece on demand, not from a collection.
Regulation. Possible European limits on certain collection types (especially with gambling-like elements).

Telegram NFT gifts are the most mass-market on-chain activity for non-crypto users. It’s the “yeast” segment that pulls millions of new wallets into TON every month.