Durov says a billion Telegram users could soon own yourname.gram — a website built from one prompt.
Every outlet reprinted that. Nobody checked the paperwork. Three things are sitting in it. 
Telegram is not the only applicant
A Malta registry, Link Freedom Group, published its entire filing early — 316 strings, the largest on record.
.gram is on the list. Filed under lifestyle, suggested uses:
photo.gram·dia.gram·weight.gram
Same four letters. Zero reference to Telegram. 
And he can’t just buy them out
In 2012, contested names were settled privately — loser takes a payout, walks away.
That route is banned this round. (Applicant Guidebook)
What’s left is an ICANN auction, where the money goes to ICANN — not to the loser. 
Uneven fight: Link Freedom is spread across 316 strings. Telegram staked one word — the back half of its own name.
™️ “GRAM” already belongs to someone else
To lock every name to a Telegram account, the bid needs a .Brand status. That requires a registered trademark, owned by the applicant, issued before filing. (ICANN criteria)
Here’s the history 
- 2018 — Telegram sues Lantah LLC over the GRAM mark. Wins.
- 2020 — SEC kills the $1.7bn token sale. Telegram drops its own case and tells the court it’s abandoning the mark.
- Pays Lantah $618,240 in fees.
- Today — USPTO: GRAM · Reg. 7697652 · owner Lantah LLC · REGISTERED
(record)
Telegram let go of the word. Someone else picked it up. 
Why he wants his own registry anyway
13 July. US Treasury sanctions a VPN service and lists five web addresses. Four belong to the VPN. The fifth is t.me/FirstVPNService — a page on someone else’s platform.
A registry can’t switch off one page. So it killed the whole domain.
Every channel link, invite code, bot and wallet link — dark for 19 hours.
Durov had to ask on X what happened to his own links. Then he bought t.you as a spare. (TechCrunch · The Register)
.me is Montenegro’s — but it’s run by two American companies, and it also carries PayPal, WordPress and Meta short links.
Dates to watch
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Mid-Sept | ICANN names the Reveal Day date |
| October |  Reveal Day — who applied for what, finally public |
| +14 days | Applicants may swap to a backup string |
| November | String Confirmation Day |
| Late 2027+ | Earliest possible launch |
⚠️ What owning .gram would NOT fix
A domain ending is run under contract with ICANN, a California corporation. Owning the registry moves the decision to a different desk — not to a different legal system.
What it does fix is blast radius: a sanctions listing would hit one name instead of taking down everything above it.
And “your own domain” is doing heavy lifting. If Telegram runs the registry, your name lives inside a namespace Telegram controls. Nothing says it could ever be transferred out — and if Telegram stops recognising your account, the address stops working.
The rival CEO made the point by accident, justifying his own bid: users “still don’t truly own their place on the internet.”
Already under the microscope: in early July, India’s IT ministry asked Telegram how it stops usernames being used for phishing, fake support desks and investment fraud — and why the feature should continue. Turning those same usernames into permanent websites doesn’t answer that.
Bottom line 
yourname.gram isn’t a feature, it’s an application — with a rival on the same four letters, no way to pay them off, and the trademark in a third party’s hands.
Mark October. 
(Unrelated but often confused: Toncoin renamed itself Gram on 15 June after an 81.22% vote. Same coin, new label — nothing to do with this.)
The Core-Community team has improved the post above using AI.
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