Telegram Tests Live-Streaming and Gift Auctions

Telegram begins tests of live streaming in Stories and time-limited auctions for collectible gifts. What this means for creators, users and platform risk.

Atlantic Post

November 15, 2025

2–4 minutes

auctions, digital gifts, live streaming, NFTs, Pavel Durov, social media trends, Telegram, TON

Telegram Tests Live-Streaming in Stories and Auctions for Gifts: Founder Announces Time-Limited Telegram Plane Sale

Telegram’s founder has quietly set in motion a significant commercial shift for the messaging app. A post forwarded from Pavel Durov confirms Telegram is testing live-streaming inside Stories alongside auction mechanics for collectible gifts.

The immediate test item is an exclusive Telegram Plane gift. It will be sold across 50 rapid rounds. There will be 20 units per round. The announcement urged users to update their apps before the auction start.

This move follows Telegram’s recent rollout of collectible gifts. The gift marketplace is intended to let users buy, sell, and convert limited edition gifts into unique tokenised items on the TON blockchain.

Telegram’s official blog has described features that allow transfer and external minting of select gifts. It also mentions a marketplace for trading them. The auction experiment appears to be an operational test ahead of higher profile celebrity drops.

The timing is no accident. Telegram now counts among the world’s largest messaging platforms and is expanding beyond simple chat.

The company publicly announced it had passed one billion monthly active users earlier this year. This scale turns even modest monetisation experiments into material commercial levers. It also creates regulatory flashpoints.

Platforms with such reach can make auctions and live commerce into major revenue streams very quickly.

Live streaming itself is a market in clear growth. Industry trackers report billions of hours watched in 2024 and sustained annual growth across gaming and social live video.

Analysts expect the live streaming market to expand rapidly through this decade as advertising, tipping and commerce features mature.

Integrating live streams into ephemeral formats like Stories mirrors moves already made by big social firms. It offers creators new immediate revenue paths.

But the combination of auctioned digital collectibles, celebrity drops and live commerce is not without risk. Telegram has begun linking gifts to tokenisation and external marketplaces. Early reports and app notes have already flagged scams, high secondary prices and safety concerns around rare items.

When platforms allow scarcity and resale they must also harden defences against fraud, account takeovers and extortion. Telegram’s own guidance and recent moderation efforts will be tested as this functionality scales.

Pavel Durov has a history of interest in NFT style auctions for usernames and digital goods. The company has explored NFT-like smart contracts publicly since 2022. We are seeing those ideas being practically rolled out now. This rollout is happening inside the app, where the company controls the user experience.

That changes the policy calculus for regulators. It also affects creators who will soon rely on Telegram as a direct to fan commerce channel.

For users, the immediate advice is straightforward and conservative. Update Telegram before participating, treat auctioned collectibles as speculative assets, and be wary of high-pressure bidding and external resale offers.

For creators and channel owners, the auction test is an invitation to plan compliance, tax and consumer protection measures now.

For regulators and security teams, the duty is to watch for fraud patterns. They must demand transparent rules from platforms that convert social attention into scarce tradable goods.

In short this is more than a novelty drop. It marks the start of Telegram’s shift from a privacy-first messenger. The aim is to become a large scale social commerce venue. That is a profitable future, but one that brings new responsibilities the company must show it can meet.