Wear Collectible Gifts, Move Gifts to the Blockchain, Send Gifts to Channels, and More

Today's update adds 6 new features to Telegram, including the ability to wear collectible gifts as an emoji status, move gifts to the blockchain, send gifts to channels — and more.

Wear Your Unique Gifts

Gifts that you upgrade to collectibles can now be used as a unique emoji status.

Using a gift as your status gives it a glittering star effect and changes the appearance of your profile to match the backdrop and symbol from your collectible.

To wear one of your gifts, go to My Profile > Gifts, tap a gift and select 'Wear'. If you take off the gift later, your profile will return to its original appearance.

Move Gifts to the Blockchain

Like collectible usernames and numbers, gifts can now be transferred or auctioned via the TON blockchain. This gives owners permanent control — even if they lose access to or delete their Telegram account.

Moving a gift to a TON wallet also allows you to connect to outside services, such as auction sites or platforms that offer extra perks for collectibles.

To move gifts to the blockchain, go to My Profile > Gifts and tap one of your gifts, then select Transfer > Send via Blockchain.

Give Gifts to Channels

To celebrate holidays and achievements, Telegram users can now congratulate channels by sending gifts that are displayed on the channel's profile.

Just like when sending gifts to friends, subscribers can use Stars to upgrade the gift before sending — letting the recipient convert it into a unique collectible for free.

To send a gift to a channel, tap the gift icon in the bottom corner of the channel.

Channel owners can transfer their gifts to other users and channels or auction them on the blockchain. Content creators and charities can use this functionality to raise funds for special projects and important causes.

Note: Gifts to channels will be rolling out gradually and may not be available everywhere immediately. But everyone can already check out how this feature works in this channel

Share Gifts

Collectible gifts on your profile can be posted to your story — generating an elegant animated preview to show off your rare artwork and lucky numbers.

To post a gift to your story, go to My Profile > Gifts, tap one of your gifts and select Share > Post to Story.

Every collectible gift has a unique link in the format of t.me/nft which you can share with friends or post to a channel.

Filter Gifts on Channel Profiles

The 'Gifts' tab on the profiles of channels includes filters to sort gifts by their value and collectible status, the date they were received, and whether they are from a limited or unlimited collection.

Admins can enable notifications from the Gifts tab of their channels to keep track of the gifts that are sent to the channel.

That's all for Telegram's second update of January. We'll be back soon — after trying on all our best gifts.

January 24, 2025
The Telegram Team