How to Recover Access to Telegram Wallet or a Lost TON Wallet

Whether you can recover a Telegram wallet depends on who held the keys. A custodial balance, held by the wallet company for you, comes back when you regain your Telegram account and, if needed, prove your identity to the wallet's support. A self-custodial wallet comes back only from its recovery phrase or a backup you set up in advance. Nobody, including Telegram, can restore it otherwise.

This guide helps you work out which situation you are in and walks through each one. It is general information, not financial advice.

First, a note on names

Crypto wallets inside Telegram have been renamed and reorganised several times. You may know your wallet by one of these names:

• Wallet, opened through the @wallet bot or from Telegram's settings. This is a separate company's service that runs inside Telegram. It was renamed Walt in 2026, and the @wallet address still opens it.
• TON Space, later called TON Wallet and then DeFi Account. This was the self-custodial part of Wallet.
• Gram wallet, a wallet Telegram announced in 2026 as a native, non-custodial wallet built into the Telegram apps, rolling out gradually.
• Separate TON wallet apps, installed on their own and connected to Telegram through links and TON Connect.

The coin on the TON network was also renamed from Toncoin to Gram in 2026. Holders did not need to do anything. Messages telling you to "migrate", "claim" or "convert" coins because of any of these renames are scams.

Names will keep changing. What decides your recovery options is not the name but the custody model, so start there.

Step one: work out which kind of wallet you had

Answer these three questions. They tell you which section of this guide to read.

Did you ever write down a list of words?

If, when you set up the wallet, you were shown a list of words, usually 24 for TON wallets, and asked to save them, you had a self-custodial wallet with a recovery phrase. The phrase is the wallet. Read the section on lost recovery phrases and the section on restoring from a phrase.

Did you only ever log in through Telegram?

If you opened the wallet inside Telegram, saw a balance, and never handled any words, you most likely had a custodial balance. The company held the funds and tied them to your Telegram account. Read the sections on lost phones, passcodes and lost Telegram accounts.

Did you set up email or cloud recovery instead of a phrase?

Some newer self-custodial wallets offer recovery through your Telegram account plus an email address or a cloud backup, instead of, or as well as, a phrase. If you set this up, your recovery depends on still having those things. Read the section on backup-based recovery.

Still not sure?

Look for clues:

• In the wallet's settings, an option to "show recovery phrase" or "back up" suggests a self-custodial wallet.
• Identity verification screens, purchase limits and a built-in exchange suggest a custodial account.
• Many people have both: a custodial balance and a self-custodial section in the same app.

Our Telegram Wallet explained and Tonkeeper vs Telegram Wallet guides explain the difference in more detail.

Why custody decides everything

A custodial wallet is like a bank account. The company holds the keys and keeps a record of how much belongs to you. If you lose your login, the company can let you back in once you prove you are the owner.

A self-custodial wallet is like cash in a safe that only you can open. The recovery phrase is the combination. Nobody keeps a copy. That is what makes it private and resistant to account freezes, and also what makes a lost phrase final.

Every recovery route below follows from this difference.

Situation 1: you lost or replaced your phone, but you can still log in to Telegram

This is the most common case and usually the easiest.

Custodial balance

1. Install Telegram on the new phone and log in. Our guide to moving Telegram to a new phone covers the login steps.
2. Open the wallet from the @wallet bot (now Walt) or from Telegram's settings.
3. If the wallet asks for a passcode, enter it. If you have forgotten it, read Situation 2.
4. Your custodial balance should appear, because it is tied to your Telegram account, not the phone.

Self-custodial wallet with a phrase

1. Open the wallet on the new phone.
2. Choose to restore or import an existing wallet.
3. Enter the recovery phrase in the correct order.
4. Your balance and tokens appear once the app finds the wallet. If the balance shows as zero, read the section on wallet versions below before you panic.

Self-custodial wallet with email or cloud backup

Follow the wallet's restore option and confirm through the email or cloud account you linked. This works only if you set it up before losing the phone and still have access to that email or cloud account.

If the old phone was stolen

Act on security before recovery:

1. From another device where you are logged in, end the session on the stolen phone in Telegram's privacy and security settings, under active sessions or devices.
2. Change your two-step verification password if you think it may be known. See setting up two-step verification.
3. If you had a self-custodial wallet on that phone, and the phone was unlocked or the phrase was stored on it, move your funds to a new wallet with a new phrase as soon as you restore. Assume the old phrase may be exposed.

Situation 2: you forgot the wallet's passcode

Many wallets ask for a passcode or PIN on top of your Telegram login. Forgetting it does not mean losing the funds, but the fix depends on the wallet.

In Wallet (Walt)

Wallet's help pages describe a reset through the email address you linked earlier. You choose the option for a forgotten passcode, receive a code at that email, and set a new passcode. Repeated wrong attempts also lead to an offer to send a recovery code to the linked email.

If you no longer have access to that email:

1. Try to recover the email account first, with your email provider's own recovery steps.
2. If that fails and you completed identity verification in the wallet earlier, contact the wallet's support from inside the app's settings. Verified identity is what lets support confirm you are the owner.

If you always used fingerprint or face unlock

Biometric unlock is usually a shortcut to the passcode, not a replacement for it. After you reinstall an app, move to a new phone, or change your phone's biometric settings, the wallet often asks for the passcode itself again. Many people discover only then that they never memorised it. Once you are back in, write the passcode somewhere safe, such as a password manager, separate from any recovery phrase.

In a separate self-custodial app

Most apps let you reset the passcode by removing the wallet from the app and restoring it from the recovery phrase. This is safe only if you have the phrase. Do not remove a wallet whose phrase you do not have.

Situation 3: you lost access to your Telegram account

Here the order matters. Recover Telegram first, then the wallet.

Step 1: recover the Telegram account

• If login codes are not arriving, see Telegram not sending a login code.
• If you hit a limit after several tries, see Telegram too many attempts.
• If you lost your SIM, ask your mobile carrier for a replacement with the same number. Telegram can then send the code by SMS.
• If you have two-step verification and forgot the password, use the recovery email you set for it. Without that email, Telegram's options are limited.
• If someone else took over the account, follow how to recover a hacked Telegram account.

Step 2: open the wallet

Once you are back in the same Telegram account, a custodial balance should be there. For self-custodial wallets, you still need the phrase or the backup.

If the Telegram account was deleted

This is the hard case. Wallet's help pages say that when a Telegram account is deleted, the data linked to it is removed. Signing up again with the same phone number creates a new Telegram account with a new ID, and old data is not restored automatically. Email-based wallet recovery generally only works with the same Telegram account it was set up on.

What can still help:

• For a custodial balance: contact the wallet's support from inside the app on your new account. Wallet's help says completed identity verification can help restore a wallet account when Telegram access is lost. Have your verification details ready.
• For a self-custodial wallet: the recovery phrase still works. It does not depend on Telegram at all. Restore it in any compatible TON wallet.

Accounts can be deleted after a long period of inactivity, depending on your Telegram settings. Our guide on what happens when you delete a Telegram account explains the self-destruct timer.

Situation 4: you lost the recovery phrase

If you still have the wallet open somewhere

This is not an emergency yet. It becomes one the moment you lose that device.

1. Open the wallet on the device that still works.
2. Find the option to view or back up the recovery phrase. You may need your passcode.
3. Write the words on paper, in order, and check each one.
4. Store the paper somewhere safe and private. Consider a second copy in another place.
5. If the wallet cannot show the phrase, create a new wallet, back up its new phrase properly, and send your funds to it.

If you have no device with the wallet and no phrase

For a classic self-custodial wallet, the funds cannot be recovered. Wallet's own help pages and Fragment's help page both say this plainly. No support team, developer or Telegram employee has the phrase.

Before you give up, check every place a copy might be:

• Paper notes, notebooks, document folders and safes.
• A password manager.
• Old phones, tablets or computers that may still have the wallet installed and unlocked.
• Email drafts or notes apps, if you saved it there. This is unsafe, but it may have happened.
• A cloud or email backup, if the wallet offered one and you turned it on.

If the wallet used email or cloud backup instead

Follow the restore option and confirm through the linked email or cloud account. Wallet's help warns that if you lose both your keys and access to your Telegram account or device, a backup alone may not be enough. Read the specific wallet's help page on what its backup needs.

Situation 5: you have the phrase, but the restored wallet shows zero

This scares many people, and it is often fixable.

Wallet versions

TON wallets are smart contracts, and there are several versions of the wallet contract. The same recovery phrase produces a different address for each version. If you restore your phrase in an app that defaults to a different version than the one you used, you see an empty address.

1. Open the restored wallet's settings and look for wallet versions or addresses.
2. Switch between the available versions and check each balance.
3. Compare the addresses with an old transaction, a deposit screen screenshot, or an exchange withdrawal record.

Wrong network

If you are looking for USDT, check that you are looking at USDT on TON, not on another blockchain. A token sent on a different network does not appear in a TON wallet. Our USDT on TON guide explains the networks.

The balance was moved

Check the address on a TON blockchain explorer from inside your wallet app. If you see outgoing transfers you did not make, someone else had your phrase. Read Situation 7.

A typo in the phrase

A single wrong word usually makes the phrase invalid, but some wallets may accept it and show a different, empty wallet. Re-enter it slowly and compare each word with your paper copy.

Situation 6: your account is restricted or asks for verification

Custodial wallets follow financial rules. They may ask you to verify your identity before certain amounts or actions, or limit an account while they review it. That is not a loss of access in the same sense, and the fix is to complete the steps the wallet asks for. See Telegram Wallet limits and verification.

If the wallet tells you the service is not available in your country, your options depend on its terms. Contact support from inside the app and ask how to withdraw your balance.

Situation 7: someone else took your funds

If your account was hacked or your phrase was exposed, recovery means two things: securing what is left and reporting what happened.

1. Secure Telegram. End all other sessions, change your two-step verification password, and check the recovery email.
2. Move what remains. For a self-custodial wallet, create a brand-new wallet with a new phrase on a clean device and send any remaining funds there.
3. Contact the wallet's support. For a custodial balance, report it from inside the app. Give dates, amounts and what you saw.
4. Report to the police where you live. A report may be needed for any later investigation or insurance claim.
5. Write down the transaction details. Blockchain transfers are public, so the hashes and addresses are evidence.

Be realistic: blockchain transfers cannot be reversed by the sender. Recovery of stolen crypto is rare. Our guide to crypto scams on Telegram explains how most thefts start, so it does not happen again.

Situation 8: you sent funds to the wrong place

This is not a lost wallet, but it often feels like one. What you can do depends on where the funds went.

To an exchange without the memo or comment

Exchanges often use one shared deposit address for many customers and tell them apart by a memo or comment. If you left it out, the exchange received the funds but does not know they are yours.

1. Find the transaction in your wallet's history and copy its hash or link.
2. Contact the exchange's support through its official website or app.
3. Give the transaction hash, the amount, the time and your exchange account details.
4. Follow their process. Many exchanges can credit the deposit after checking, sometimes for a fee.

To a wrong but valid address

If the address belongs to someone else, the transfer is final. You can only ask the owner to return it, and usually you do not know who that is. If it was a typo of a friend's address, ask them to check.

On the wrong network

If you sent a token from one blockchain to an address on a different network, the outcome depends on the receiving service. Exchanges sometimes recover such deposits; personal wallets usually cannot. Contact the receiving service first.

What to prepare before contacting support

Support can only help as fast as you give them facts. Collect these first:

• Your Telegram username and the account you use the wallet with.
• The email you linked to the wallet, if any.
• Your wallet addresses, copied from the app or from old deposit screens.
• Transaction hashes, dates, amounts and screenshots of the issue.
• Details of any identity verification you completed.
• A short, clear timeline of what happened.

Never include your recovery phrase, passcode or Telegram login code. A real support team does not need them.

The recovery scam: the second loss

People who lose access are the main target for a second scam. Scammers watch for public complaints and reply within minutes.

How it looks

• A "support agent" messages you first in Telegram, often with an official-looking name and logo.
• A "recovery expert" or "blockchain investigator" promises to get your funds back for a fee.
• A bot asks for your recovery phrase to "sync" or "validate" your wallet.
• A website asks you to connect your wallet and approve a transaction to "unlock" funds.

The rules that protect you

• Wallet support never messages first. Wallet's help states that its support only replies to requests you start, and only from the official route inside the app's settings.
• No one needs your recovery phrase. Not support, not Telegram, not a developer. Anyone asking for it is stealing.
• No one can reverse a blockchain transfer for a fee. Paying a "recovery service" adds a second loss to the first.
• Never share a Telegram login code. See never share your Telegram login code.

Example scenarios

Example: the new phone

An illustrative example. Ben drops his phone in a lake. He gets a replacement SIM from his carrier, logs in to Telegram, opens the wallet, and sees his custodial balance. His self-custodial section asks for a phrase. He finds it on paper in his desk and restores it. Total loss: one afternoon.

Example: the forgotten passcode

Rita has not opened the wallet in months and forgets her passcode. She uses the reset option, receives a code at her linked email, and sets a new passcode. She then writes a hint for herself in her password manager.

Example: the deleted account

Omar's Telegram account was deleted after a long period of inactivity. He signs up again with the same number, but the custodial balance is not there. He had completed identity verification in the wallet earlier, so he contacts support from inside the app on his new account. His self-custodial wallet he restores from the phrase in a separate TON wallet app.

Example: no phrase, no device

Lea used a self-custodial wallet on an old phone that has since been reset to factory settings. She never wrote the phrase down. She checks old devices and her password manager, finds nothing, and accepts that those funds are gone. She then sets up a new wallet properly and stores its phrase in two safe places.

Understanding recovery phrases

Knowing what the phrase is makes it easier to protect.

• It is the wallet, not a password to it. Any app that supports TON can rebuild your wallet from the phrase. That is why it works after your phone is gone, and why anyone else with it can take everything.
• Order matters. The same words in a different order are a different wallet, or an invalid one.
• Spelling matters. Words come from a fixed list. Copy them exactly, in clear handwriting.
• There is no reset. Unlike a password, you cannot change the phrase of an existing wallet. If it is exposed, you create a new wallet and move the funds.
• Digital copies are risky. Photos, cloud notes and chat messages can be reached by anyone who gets into those accounts. Paper, or a fire-resistant metal backup, kept somewhere private, is the usual advice.

Planning for someone else to recover it

If something happened to you, could anyone you trust reach your funds? It is an uncomfortable question that most people skip.

• For self-custodial wallets, the people you trust would need the phrase. Some people leave sealed instructions with a will or in a safe deposit box. Do not hand the phrase to anyone now unless you would trust them with the funds today.
• For custodial balances, the wallet company follows its own process for an account holder's death, usually involving official documents. Its terms or support explain what it needs.
• Write down which wallets exist. Family cannot recover a wallet they do not know about. A simple list of wallet names, without the phrases, kept with your important papers, helps.

Laws on inheritance of crypto differ by country. This is general information, not legal advice.

How to make sure this never happens again

Run through this checklist today, while everything works.

• Write down every recovery phrase on paper, in order, and keep it offline and private. Not in a screenshot, not in Saved Messages, not in a chat.
• Keep two copies in two separate safe places, so a fire or a move does not take both.
• Link a recovery email to the wallet if it offers one, and make sure you can log in to that email.
• Turn on Telegram two-step verification with a recovery email. It protects both the account and anything tied to it.
• Complete identity verification in a custodial wallet if you keep a meaningful balance there. It is what support uses to confirm ownership later.
• Check your Telegram account self-destruct period in privacy settings, so a long break does not delete the account.
• Test your backup. Restore the phrase on a second device or app and check the address matches, then remove it again.
• Keep large amounts out of hot wallets on your daily phone if you are not comfortable managing the risk. This is a general safety point, not investment advice.

Common mistakes

• Searching for "wallet support" and messaging the first account that answers. Use only the support route inside the app.
• Typing a recovery phrase into a website or bot. Phrases go only into wallet apps you installed yourself, for restoring.
• Removing a wallet from an app to fix a passcode without having the phrase.
• Deciding the funds are gone after seeing a zero balance without checking wallet versions.
• Re-registering a deleted Telegram account and expecting old data. It is a new account.
• Paying a "recovery fee". Transfers cannot be reversed for money.
• Storing the phrase in Telegram itself. Anyone who gets into the account gets the wallet.

FAQ

Can Telegram restore my wallet?

Telegram does not hold the keys to self-custodial wallets, so it cannot restore them. For a custodial balance in a third-party wallet inside Telegram, the wallet company's support handles recovery, not Telegram.

Can I recover a TON wallet without the recovery phrase?

Not a classic self-custodial wallet, unless the wallet is still open on a device or you set up a separate backup in advance. Some newer wallets offer email or account-based backup instead, which works only if it was turned on before.

My restored wallet shows zero. Is my money gone?

Not necessarily. Check other wallet versions in the app's settings, check you are on the TON network, and look up the address in a blockchain explorer to see if funds were moved.

I deleted my Telegram account. Is my Wallet balance lost?

Data linked to a deleted account is removed, and a new sign-up is a new account. Contact the wallet's support from inside the app. Identity verification done earlier may help. A self-custodial wallet can still be restored from its phrase.

Will wallet support message me to help?

No. Official support replies only to requests you start from inside the app and never asks for your recovery phrase. Anyone who messages you first is not support.

How do I contact Wallet support?

Open the wallet in Telegram and use the support option in its settings. Do not search for support accounts by name, because impostors copy official names.

Summary

Recovery depends on custody. A custodial balance returns through your Telegram account, an emailed passcode reset, or identity checks by support. A self-custodial wallet returns only through its phrase or a backup made beforehand. Check wallet versions before assuming a restored wallet is empty, ignore anyone who offers "recovery" for a fee, and back up every phrase on paper today.