Telegram Gift NFT Sells For $20,000 As Pavel Durov Backs Young Coders

A US high school student sold a Telegram Gift NFT for 15,000 Grams, or about $20,400, after winning gold at the 2026 International Olympiad in Informatics. The sale was roughly 40 times Telegram’s implied average prize value, according to BeInCrypto, and Pavel Durov said the proceeds could serve as startup money. Durov said he once launched his first company with $20,000 and urged other winners to put their Grams to similar use. Telegram awarded 235 medalists a combined $117,000 in Algorithm Cups, while Gram traded near $1.36 on Sunday.