Telegram gifts: what they are, how they work and what they cost
Short answer: a Telegram gift is a digital item that one user sends to another for Telegram Stars. It appears on the recipient's profile. Some gifts can be “upgraded” into collectibles (unique items with a number and rare attributes), and these are bought and sold as NFTs.
How gifts work
You can send a gift from a person's profile or from a chat: tap the gift button and choose an item. Payment is made in Telegram Stars, an in-app currency you buy inside the app.
The recipient sees the gift on their profile. They can keep it, hide it from the profile, or exchange it for Stars within the first 7 days. The app shows the exchange amount (usually slightly less than the gift's price), and after the exchange the gift is gone for good.
Regular and collectible gifts
- A regular gift is a profile decoration. It can't be sold on a marketplace, but within the first 7 days you can exchange it for Stars.
- A collectible gift is one that has been upgraded. Telegram gives it a serial number and a random set of attributes: model, backdrop and symbol. The rarer the combination and the smaller the supply, the more it usually costs.
Upgrading is irreversible and paid: the app shows the price at the moment of the upgrade. After that, the gift is recorded on the TON blockchain as an NFT and can move between users.
What affects the price
- Collection and supply. The fewer gifts in a collection, the higher the demand.
- Rarity of attributes. Model, backdrop, symbol and number.
- The floor price is the lowest price at which a gift from the collection is currently on sale. Buyers and sellers use it as the main reference point.
- News. New gifts, Telegram updates and seasonal events move prices. We break this down in our Telegram channel (in Russian).
Where gifts are bought and sold
Telegram has its own gift marketplace: collectible gifts are sold for Stars or for GRAM (the new name of the TON network coin), with filters by model, backdrop and symbol. It is the simplest option for a beginner, but usually the least profitable, because its fee is high. There are also third-party marketplaces where the fee may be zero or noticeably lower. Popular ones are Bubble, MRKT, Portals, Tonnel and GetGems (the links are in the guide on selling). Each has its own rules and they change, so read the rules of a specific platform before you make a deal.
More details in the guide How to sell a Telegram gift.
What to watch for so you don't lose money
- Don't send a gift or pay at the request of strangers in private messages: most scams work this way.
- Check the name of the bot or platform: fakes copy the original names.
- Don't invest more than you are ready to lose. The gift market is volatile and prices can drop sharply.
- Upgrading a gift costs money and can't be undone. Before upgrading, compare the market prices of a regular and a collectible gift.
- Buy Stars for upgrades officially, through Fragment. If the Stars were bought through third-party bots, the sale of the upgraded gift may be restricted for up to 21 days.
What's next
At Crypto HITLIST we don't shill, we analyze: which gifts and collections really deserve attention, and which ones are just loudly advertised. New breakdowns appear in Telegram before they appear on the site.