fresh rollout: meta officially started rolling out username reservations on june 29, 2026.

not in your app yet?: it is launching gradually in phases. if you do not see it yet, do not worry—whatsapp will notify you in the app as soon as it hits your account.

you still need a number: you still need a phone number to create and setup a whatsapp account.

hidden phone numbers: once you set a username, you can chat with new people and strangers without revealing your actual phone number.

added privacy pin: you can set an optional 4-digit pin so strangers cannot spam your username without knowing the code.

the app still works: the main telegram app is working perfectly. inside the app, all chats, channels, and links function normally.

browsers are blocked: if you click a t.me link from facebook, twitter, or any website, it will show an error and will not open.

the new fix: telegram has replaced the broken links with a longer version: telegram.me when you copy a link inside the app now, it automatically updates to the new address.

the official registry that manages all ".me" web addresses has placed the t.me domain on a technical status called serverhold. this means the registry has completely removed t.me from the internet's global phonebook.

a registry usually triggers a serverhold block for a few specific reasons:

abuse and reports: telegram hosts thousands of public channels, some of which get flagged for copyright issues, spam, or financial scams.

legal compliance: the registry might have received legal complaints or government orders to suspend the domain until telegram addresses specific security concerns.

identity verification: sometimes domains are temporarily frozen for mandatory compliance checks.

neither telegram nor the registry has released an official statement yet, but the block was a deliberate action taken by the domain registry, not a technical bug or an app crash.

there is no official timeline for a fix. because the block is controlled by an outside registry and not by telegram's own engineering team, telegram cannot fix it with a simple app update.

if telegram resolves the legal or compliance issues with the .me registry, the t.me domain might start working again in a few days or weeks. however, because registry suspensions can sometimes be permanent, telegram has already built a permanent backup by shifting entirely to telegram.me

what you should do right now
if you share your telegram channel links on external social media, websites, or profile bios, you must manually update your links.

old broken format: t.me/yourusername

new working format: telegram.me/yourusername

make sure to update your shared links immediately, or your followers will get an error screen when they try to click through to your channel from outside the app.

links are restored: you can now use and click t.me links normally in browsers like chrome, safari, and edge. they resolve instantly without any errors.

telegram.me still works: the backup domain telegram.me created during the crash remains fully active as a secure alternative.

thanks to direct statements from the registry operator identity digital, the exact reason for the temporary serverhold block has been confirmed:

the vpn sanction mistake: the united states treasury department (ofac) recently issued sanctions against a malicious vpn provider called first vpn service, which was helping cybercriminals distribute ransomware.

the registry's error: in the official government documents, the u.s. treasury listed the vpn's telegram channel link (t.me/firstvpnservice) as an active target.

the complete shutdown: instead of blocking just that specific channel, the american registry operator identity digital followed the ofac order by shutting down the entire t.me root domain, instantly breaking millions of links worldwide by mistake.

the issue was tracked and corrected within a few hours. on the afternoon of july 14, the registry recognized the mistake, lifted the serverhold status, and restored t.me to the global dns system.

you do not need to panic or rush to change all your external social media links anymore. both formatting options work perfectly fine:

format 1 (original): t.me/yourusername

format 2 (backup): telegram.me/yourusername

if you have already updated your bios or posts to telegram.me, you can leave them as they are, but any new links you share using the standard t.me shortener are completely safe to use again.

premium users can now create complete article-style posts directly inside chat boxes and channels. the update allows you to write long-form posts up to 32,768 characters with proper formatting like headings, tables, bulleted or numbered lists, code blocks, and quotes. you can also place photos and videos anywhere between your paragraphs. a built-in text helper running on the privacy-focused cocoon network allows users to generate and modify text, formulas, and tables securely without compromising data.

telegram has introduced communities, giving admins the power to group multiple related channels, discussion groups, and bots into a single unified space. members can see and jump between all connected chats from one central location in their main chat list. community managers can choose to make individual chats visible to everyone or keep them hidden for specific member tiers or admin tools.

to prevent public group chats from getting flooded with bot replies, bots can now send hidden or disappearing responses that only the specific interacting user can see. these ephemeral private messages can deliver greetings, error alerts, buttons, menus, or automated summaries without showing up for other group members.

telegram has fully overhauled its gif search engine by transitioning to an internally managed offline library. the engine contains over 350 million high-quality animations across 36 languages, indexed using open-source ai models to ensure fast loading times while keeping searches completely private from third-party networks.

the gram rebranding: the recent community vote that officially changed the native token name from toncoin to gram (gram) on june 15, 2026, alters the identity and branding, but it does not inherently print wealth for individual holders.

blockchain speed updates: technical advancements and speed accelerations on the network make transactions faster for developers, but they do not add immediate balance to a regular user's wallet.

the mtonga dilemma: community meme initiatives like make ton great again (mtonga) attempt to revive community hype but struggle significantly because structural attention models are fading. without concrete user-utility, sustaining these projects becomes nearly impossible.

gimmicks like telegram gifts and basic tapping apps are no longer enough to support a multi-billion dollar ecosystem. until pavel durov and telegram developers create structured, sustainable protocols to properly monetize global user attention, speculative assets will continue to face fatigue. true community monetization requires real economic utility, not just ad-heavy clicker loops.

the multi-billion empire: trump's official 2025 financial disclosures reveal a massive $1.4 billion extracted via token licensing deals, stablecoin holdco shares, and private equity profits tied directly to his personal ecosystem.

the prediction market game: even institutional text monitoring is compromised. his personal white house teleprompter operator, gabriel perez, was officially put on unpaid leave after being caught using advance speech text access to game the kalshi mentions market for over $100,000.

the retail devastation: while the inner core extracts massive wealth, public projects are collapsing. the flagship family protocol token $WLFI dropped over 85% from its launch valuation, generic licensing memecoins plummeted over 98%, and global macro crypto valuation lost nearly 2 trillion dollars in total market cap during the peak stagnation cycles.

the ultimate sign of institutional greed happened on july 16, 2026, when trump media formally launched the truth api. the service explicitly sells direct, real-time access to the president’s market-moving updates to high-frequency trading firms and wall street banks milliseconds before the general public can see them.

rather than building global decentralized infrastructure, the model has shifted to charging corporate premiums for early market access while regular retail traders absorb the downside volatility. the expectation of a structural revolution has turned into a classic monetization trap.

mrkt has officially announced that it is ending structural support for sticker packs and in-game assets originating from not games. following the announcement, users were given a strict 23-hour window to withdraw their digital holdings—over 30,000 uncollected sticker packs currently remain sitting on the protocol.

mrkt's proprietary digital collections were launched roughly a year ago, but the core team has now openly acknowledged that sticker packs have failed to prove themselves as a sustainable or suitable investment vehicle. as a result, they plan to systematically return all corporate profits generated from the initial sales back to the community users.

visit @mrkt immediately just in case, verify if your wallet holds any active stickers on the marketplace, and manually withdraw everything you have left before the protocol access closes completely.

the platform: the tournament features 32 global teams from top universities and tech enterprises. every single team is given the exact same base model, the engineai t800 general humanoid robot, standing at 1.73 meters tall.

the rules: teams are allowed to program their own custom combat behavior algorithms, design martial arts movements, install structural armor, and make mechanical engineering upgrades to the limbs.

the prize: the grand champion of the tiered tournament running through the end of 2026 will receive a gold championship belt valued at 10 million yuan, equivalent to roughly 1.5 million dollars.

the opening bouts delivered a dramatic moment that went completely viral across global media networks. during a fight between two t800 units named white eagle and matador, the white robot executed a precise martial arts high kick directly to the head socket of its opponent.

the impact completely dislodged the robot's head module, leaving it swinging precariously by internal wires. despite losing its head-mounted cameras and visual sensors, the robot continued to throw punches and absorb strikes using its torso-based core processing unit before finally collapsing. martial arts star donnie yen, who served as an event mentor, noted that the live visual execution outperformed anything seen in modern science fiction films.

this is no longer battlebots featuring simple remote-controlled saw blades or wheeled wedges. this is an autonomous software stress-test utilizing advanced posture control, dynamic balance perception, and bipedal physics. the league serves as a massive experimental platform to gather real-world durability and impact data for commercial humanoids. as engineering teams rapidly optimize high-intensity combat code, structural bipedal fighting leagues are shifting from standard entertainment to a massive technological category.

what it means

built-in: sits directly inside the core app software without requiring extra downloads or third-party bots

full control: non-custodial means you hold your own private keys. neither telegram nor any third party can freeze, block, or access your funds


how it works

sending crypto will be as simple and fast as sending a photo or voice note in a chat window

transactions settle instantly with zero network fees


difference from @wallet

@wallet bot: custodial service run by a third-party partner, functioning like a centralized bank

new gram wallet: 100% self-custodial and built directly into telegram's native app code


context & scale

metamask, the largest self-custody wallet today, serves tens of millions of users. telegram is deploying self-custody directly to over 1 billion monthly active users

the existing @wallet bot will remain an optional hub for advanced trading, while the new native wallet serves as a seamless, zero-fee onboarding tool


impact

enables global instant peer-to-peer transfers, creator tipping, and frictionless mini-app payments at zero cost

smart collars: each cow wears an ai-powered collar developed by agtech startup cowmed that continuously monitors location, rumination, and overall health metrics

encrypted digital identity: this real-time data is converted into a tamper-resistant digital asset tied to a registered rural credit contract (cpr-f)

exchange registration: the credit rights were processed through target fidc and officially registered on b3, brazil's primary stock exchange

ending bank discounts: traditional banks historically apply heavy discounts (up to 60%) on livestock collateral due to the risk of disease, theft, or untracked loss

continuous verification: continuous sensor data eliminates physical bank inspections, giving lenders real-time transparency and allowing farmers to secure higher loan amounts at better credit terms

july 23, 2026 (immediate): new user registrations have been permanently disabled. all staked $bmex tokens have been unstaked and credited back to user wallets.

august 26, 2026 (risk restrictions): users will no longer be able to open new leverage positions. only position reduction and closing trades will be allowed as bitmex systematically force-closes open contracts.

september 23, 2026 (final shutdown): all remaining open positions will be force-closed. services will switch exclusively to withdrawal mode.

abandoned fund penalty: users who fail to withdraw their funds after the final closure date will be charged a monthly account maintenance fee of $50 or 1% per year (whichever is greater).

invented the perpetual swap: founded in 2014 by arthur hayes, ben delo, and samuel reed, bitmex created the perpetual futures contract with up to 100x leverage. this product became the single most popular trading instrument in global crypto markets.

former market titan: at its peak between 2018 and 2020, bitmex handled roughly 57% of global crypto derivatives volume, regularly processing $3 billion to $5 billion in daily trades.

flawless security record: unlike many legacy exchanges, bitmex operated for over 11 years with zero funds lost to hacks or exploits.

the exchange confirmed that user funds remain fully safe and backed 1:1, with proof of reserves confirming assets exceed liabilities. the decision follows a strategic review rather than insolvency or a sudden hack.

active traders are advised to close open positions and request asset withdrawals early to avoid potential network delays near the final deadline.

july 26, 2026 (immediate suspension): new account sign-ups, crypto deposits, fiat deposits, and new order placements have been permanently disabled. futures accounts have been placed into reduce-only mode.

august 26, 2026 at 01:00 utc (trading halt): all spot, futures, copy trading, staking, lending, and launchpad services will stop completely. any remaining open futures positions will be automatically force-closed.

august 26, 2026 at 05:00 utc (recommended withdrawal window): bitmart strongly advises users to submit withdrawal requests before this deadline to avoid extended manual compliance checks.

january 31, 2027 at 15:59 utc (final platform shutdown): final day to submit withdrawal requests before all server access and domain operations cease permanently.

additional verification: withdrawals submitted after august 26 will undergo manual risk screening, including travel rule compliance, sanctions screening, and proof-of-funds verification, which will extend processing times.

scam warning: bitmart explicitly clarified that they will never charge an "expedited withdrawal fee" or ask for account passwords, seed phrases, or 2FA codes.

native token crash: bitmart's native token $bmx crashed by over 70% within 24 hours of the announcement.

Management Shock: Terminated CEO Nenter Chow stated publicly he was excluded from the decision-making process.

exchange exit trend: bitmart becomes the third trading venue to exit in july 2026 alongside bitmex and exmo.

massive valuation jump: acquired in 2023 for under $250, the handle's market value has surged over 2,200x alongside polymarket's global rise as a prediction platform leader

digital real estate speculation: whether the top bidder is an independent domain investor holding out for a resale or polymarket's team securing their brand handle, high-tier handles on fragment command massive capital

full self-custody: handles on fragment exist as ton-based nfts, providing true, un-revokable ownership over social identity

The Target: Satoshi wasn't replying to a random skeptic. He was responding to Daniel Larimer (who later founded BitShares, Steem, and EOS)

The Technical Debate: Larimer argued that Bitcoin’s 10-minute block time was too slow for daily commerce compared to credit cards

The Solution Satoshi Proposed: Nakamoto explained how payment channels could allow near-instant transaction confirmations without waiting for a block—foreshadowing what we now know as the Layer-2 Lightning Network today

The Outcome: When Larimer kept pushing back, Satoshi closed the debate with his iconic line on July 29, 2010

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
The pseudonymous, anonymous creator (or group of creators) who authored the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and launched the first decentralized cryptocurrency network in 2009 before vanishing in 2010.

What is BitcoinTalk?
The original online forum founded by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It served as the birthplace of early crypto discussions, open-source development, and historical events like the first 10,000 BTC pizza transaction.

Dating Chatbot Recruitment: Russian authorities specifically targeted "Daivinchik" (Leo)—a massive Telegram dating chatbot. The FSB alleges Ukrainian intelligence operatives posed as young women on the bot to groom and recruit 46 Russian citizens (aged 12–22) for arson, sabotage, and physical attacks on energy and military infrastructure.

Ignored Removal Orders: Russia’s telecom regulator (Roskomnadzor) claims to have issued over 150,000 official content removal requests to Telegram. The FSB alleges Telegram's refusal to purge these bots and encrypted chats directly resulted in high-profile attacks—including the Crocus City Hall tragedy, assassinations of high-ranking military officials, and over 153,000 platform-linked crimes recorded since 2022.

Official Telegram X Account: Minutes after the FSB press release, Telegram’s official X handle responded by posting an unedited image of Durov extending his middle finger.

Personal Telegram Account Satire: Durov updated his personal verified Telegram account (@monk) avatar to an AI-edited photo of himself in full extremist attire—mocking the Kremlin’s narrative. His profile bio was updated with a satirical audio track referencing VPN bans and state censorship.

His Direct Stance: Addressing ongoing state prosecution, Durov previously noted:

"They must be suspecting me of defending Articles 29 and 23 of the Russian Constitution — which guarantee freedom of speech and the right to private correspondence. Proud to be guilty!"

The April 2026 Precursor: Russian authorities formally delivered a suspect summons for "P.V. Durov" to a Saint Petersburg apartment building Durov hasn't lived in for over 20 years.

Extradition & Legal Immunity: Holding dual citizenship in France and the UAE while operating out of Dubai, Durov faces near-zero physical extradition risk to Russia.

The Push for State Surveillance: Russia is using the charges to force citizens off Telegram and onto "MAX"—a state-controlled messaging platform lacking end-to-end encryption that mandates direct data sharing with intelligence agencies.

The Operational Hypocrisy: Despite restricting the platform for everyday citizens, the Russian Ministry of Defense, state media, and frontline military units remain heavily reliant on Telegram as their primary real-time battlefield communication channel.

@polymarket — 354,900 $gram
@cole — 66,666 $gram
@monkey — 26,686 $gram
@wingram — 20,000 $gram
@pornhubbot — 18,090 $gram
@friend — 17,777 $gram
@trxbot — 13,888 $gram
@okey — 12,400 $gram
@theproduct — 12,000 $gram*
@a999 — 10,000 $gram
@grieve — 10,000 $gram*
@coal — 8,888 $gram
@drained — 8,390 $gram
@castle — 7,777 $gram
@nobu — 7,500 $gram
@limb — 6,817 $gram
@oktapus — 6,969 $gram*
@pace — 6,183 $gram

* note: flagged as potential self-mint / wash trading transfers