Table of Contents
A Telegram username is sold at auction on Fragment: The owner puts the name up for sale, the auction turns it into an NFT for the winner, and the platform keeps 5% of the sale.
Key Takeaways
- Break-even point: Converting a basic name into an NFT pays off from 6.3 Gram (prev. Toncoin) by a calculation based on Fragment’s fees, while the floor price of the Telegram Usernames collection stays lower - 5.89 Gram (according to Getgems, September 2026).
- Identity check: Fragment requires KYC verification with documents, so selling a Telegram username is not anonymous.
- First bid: It starts a seven-day auction, and after it you can neither take the name off sale nor undo the conversion into an NFT.
What Telegram Usernames Are
A Telegram username is a public name in the @name format in Telegram, the messenger Pavel Durov launched in 2013 and that more than a billion people use today. The name gives you the link t.me/username, shows your account in global search and lets people write to you without knowing your phone number; a free name of 5 to 32 characters is taken in the account settings at no cost.
People buy names for recognition: A short dictionary word or a brand name brings people to the chat by itself, so catchy Telegram usernames are taken in advance and resold for more.
Fun fact: The first wave of auctions in November 2022 brought $50 million in sales in less than a month, and eight of the ten record deals still belong to that month.
Which Telegram Usernames You Can Sell
You can sell any Telegram username from your account, channel or group: The name is put up for auction on Fragment, the official platform of the Telegram ecosystem. When the auction ends, the name becomes an NFT (a non-fungible token, that is a record on a blockchain that exists in a single copy) and goes to the winner, while the money arrives in the seller’s wallet.
The names that sell highest are the ones that are easy to remember and to say out loud:
- Short Names: 4 to 5 characters, the most liquid asset on the platform.
- Dictionary Words and Brands: @auto, @bank and @chat work as ready-made signs.
- First and Last Names: Personal names such as @pavel are bought for people and for projects.
- Ordinary Personal Names: Any name of yours can go up for auction too, as long as it does not break Telegram rules.
What Is a Collectible Telegram Username
A collectible Telegram username is a name in the @name format in the form of an NFT: The rights to it are written in the TON blockchain and belong to a crypto wallet, not to the messenger account.
Inside the messenger a collectible name works like a regular one - it gives a t.me link and shows the account in global search. The difference is elsewhere: Such a name is sold, gifted and transferred to any TON address, and names of 4 characters exist only in collectible form.
Why You Cannot Sell a Telegram Username
There are four reasons why a Telegram username cannot be sold, and the refusal comes from Telegram, not from Fragment:
- No Two-Factor Authentication: It has to be set up in advance, and a name is not let through to auction right after you turn it on.
- Short Ownership Period: Neither Telegram nor Fragment publishes the exact term, but a name you have just taken cannot be put up for sale.
- Recent Transfer: A name you moved from your profile to a channel, or back, a few days ago will not pass either.
- No Verification: Fragment requires full KYC with documents.
All four conditions apply only to the first auction, the one that turns a basic name into a collectible. A collectible Telegram username is resold without them.
How to Sell a Telegram Username in 2026: Step by Step
Setting up the sale of a Telegram username on Fragment takes a few minutes.
- Connect Account and Wallet: Open Fragment and connect your Telegram account and Gram Wallet, a wallet that supports the TON blockchain.
- Pick the Username: In the My Assets section open Convert Usernames to Collectibles - the Non-Collectible Usernames list shows all your basic names, including the names of channels and groups.
- Set the Minimum Bid: Tap Place on Auction next to the name you need and set the minimum bid in Gram, below which nobody can buy your Telegram username. The conversion fee is shown right there, on the page of the name.
- Wait for the First Bid: A Telegram username stays in the list of names available for auction as long as you like, and while there are no bids the name can be taken off sale.
- The Name Becomes an NFT: When the auction ends, the Telegram username becomes an NFT on the TON network and goes to the winner’s wallet.
The sale amount arrives in Gram in the connected wallet, minus the platform fees.
Important: While a Telegram username is up for auction, it cannot be reassigned to another channel or profile - the name can only be removed from a chat and put back in the same place.
How to sell a Telegram username. Source: fragment.com
What Is a Telegram Username Auction
A Telegram username auction is open bidding on Fragment, where the name goes to the wallet with the highest bid. The auction of a basic name runs for seven days, and for the resale of a collectible one the owner sets the term: The platform holds auctions that end in a day and auctions that end in a year at the same time (Fragment data, September 2026).
The bidding runs on four rules:
- Start: The first bid from a buyer starts the auction, and from that minute the name cannot be taken off sale.
- Bid Step: The next bid equals the current one plus the Bid Step, and the page of the name shows it as Minimum Bid.
- Refund: An outbid amount returns to the participant’s wallet automatically, within seconds.
- Instant Buy: The Buy for button closes the bidding early at the fixed price set by the owner.
The bid history with dates and wallet addresses is open on the page of every name, so you can see the prices of past deals before you place your own bid.
A Telegram username auction on Fragment
Direct Sale or Auction for a Username
A collectible Telegram username is sold in two ways: You set a fixed price at which the buyer takes the name right away, or you leave the price to the bids. The table below compares the two formats by four parameters, September 2026.
| Parameter | Direct sale | Auction |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Set by the owner | Set by the buyers’ bids |
| Start of the deal | The buyer pays the named price | The first bid starts the countdown |
| Term | Not limited | 7 days from the first bid |
| Stopping it | Until a buyer appears | Only before the first bid |
How Much It Costs to Sell a Telegram Username
Selling a Telegram username costs 5% of the sale amount plus a one-time fee of 5 Gram for turning the name into a collectible and about 1 Gram of network fee (Fragment data, September 2026).
Out of a sale for 100 Gram the fees take about 11 Gram, and the seller is left with around 89 Gram, about $130 at the September 2026 rate. The break-even point at these fees is about 6.3 Gram, while the floor price of the Telegram Usernames collection stays lower: 5.89 Gram, around $8.6 (according to Getgems, September 2026). Putting a basic name up for the floor price makes no sense - the deal will not even cover the conversion.
On a resale the conversion is not paid again, and only the platform percentage and the network fee in Gram are left: A small reserve of the coin is kept on the balance in advance, and you can buy Gram right in the wallet with a credit card.
Where Else Telegram Usernames Are Sold
Besides Fragment, a collectible Telegram username is listed on open marketplaces of the TON network, and every option has its own terms:
- Getgems: The marketplace fee is the same as on Fragment, and it asks for no identity verification; a small reserve of Gram is kept on the wallet balance for network costs.
- Other TON Marketplaces: The name stays in the owner’s wallet until the deal itself, so it can be listed in several places at once.
- A Deal in Chat: The riskiest option of all, because there is no escrow and no way to reverse a transfer - the name goes first, the payment may never arrive, and an NFT cannot be taken back from someone else’s wallet.
The secondary market of names has long been bigger than the primary one: The Telegram Usernames collection holds 646,000 names, about one in six of them is up for sale, and the total volume of deals has reached 132 million Gram (according to Getgems, September 2026).
Until the sale itself, a collectible Telegram username can be kept safely and privately in Gem Wallet, a self-custodial wallet that supports the whole TON ecosystem, where Telegram names and gifts sit next to the Gram coin, and swaps and staking are available right in the app.
