Telegram applies for its own '.gram' web domain

Telegram has formally applied to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for a ".gram" top-level domain, a move that could eventually give the app's more than one billion users personal web addresses tied directly to their usernames.

Founder Pavel Durov announced the application on X, framing it as a way to extend Telegram identities beyond the app itself.

How about Telegram’s username.gram would work?

If approved, a Telegram username like @durov could become durov.gram, giving users a dedicated address separate from their in-app profile.

Doruv stated that the company also plans to allow users to create interactive websites using those domain names by providing a simple natural language instruction without any technical configurations.

The application was made through ICANN's New Generic Top-Level Domain Program for the 2026 period, which expired on August 12, when over 1,600 applications were received for the first major expansion of web domains in more than a decade.

Applying for new generic top-level domains comes at a cost of about $227,000 per name and involves various assessments, including technical and financial ones, a public objections process, and others that may take much more than a year.

ICANN is set to release its list of applicants; this process is referred to by the industry as "Reveal Day", and it will be done no later than within nine weeks from the end of the window, meaning somewhere in late October 2026.

This news came out after Telegram's t.me short link services experienced a difficult period in July when their services were down for almost one day as a result of the registrar holding the ".me" domain.

Owning its own top-level domain would give Telegram direct control over its web infrastructure rather than depending on a third-party registry, reducing the risk of another outage.