Due to financial regulatory reasons, US Telegram users are also restricted from using wallets in the Telegram app.
According to an announcement from the wallet provider on September 9, users in the United Kingdom will temporarily be unable to use Telegram Wallet due to the restructuring of Telegram Wallet joining the open platform, which will be available after the entity registers as a corporate asset provider.
The popular third party said it decided to register as a crypto asset provider under current Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations and will disable the in-app wallet feature for UK residents until Wallet, the company behind the app, obtains the appropriate regulatory license.
Source: Telegram Wallet
Additionally, during this period, Telegram wallet users in the UK will be able to withdraw funds to external wallets for free and will receive updated information about their accounts.
The wallet in Telegram is not operated by Telegram. Its application to the FCA was an independent decision by another organization and is unrelated to the case involving Pavel Durov and other policy changes at Telegram.
Major changes to Telegram policies and features
As part of a policy change following the arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram recently announced that it would begin sharing user data with law enforcement if authorities make a "valid legal request."
This user data includes phone numbers and IP addresses, raising concerns among privacy and anti-censorship advocates because it could be abused by state actors.
When announcing the policy change, Durov defended the decision, arguing that it would protect platform users from criminal activity. In a message to the Telegram community, Durov wrote:
"These measures should deter criminals. Telegram Search is designed to find friends and discover news, not to promote illegal goods. We will not let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for nearly a billion users."
In September 2024, Durov also announced that Telegram would disable the personal geolocation feature in the app and replace it with a "Nearby Businesses" option.
Telegram also stopped supporting the platform's "Telegraph" blogging tool, citing a small number of malicious actors abusing the platform to spread illegal content. Durov made it clear that the vast majority of Telegram users never use the blogging feature to post harmful content.
However, Telegram's founder said the "0.001%" of individuals who use the platform to spread illegal material pose a huge risk to the wider law-abiding community.