Crypto Bot 2026: a guide to Telegram payments

Crypto Bot (@CryptoBot, short link t.me/send) is one of the oldest and busiest in-Telegram wallet bots. Launched in 2019 by the CG (Crypto Guards) team, long before the TON Foundation shipped its built-in Wallet, it now processes tens of millions of transactions per month, exposes an open Crypto Pay API, and is the default tool for small payments inside Telegram. This guide covers what is inside, how it differs from Wallet, and where the real risks live.

The short version: what it is for

• Micro-payments in chats — send a friend 5 USDT for a beer or 1 TON for a sticker pack: cheque, Receive button, done.
• Tipping in groups — the built-in /tip command for admins and active members.
• P2P onboarding — buy TON or USDT for fiat (RUB, UAH, USD, EUR…) via escrow.
• Accepting payments — for Telegram shops, bots and micro-services through the Crypto Pay API.
• NOT for storage. Crypto Bot is custodial; you do not hold the keys, so park real savings in non-custodial TON wallets.

What Crypto Bot actually is

Technically, it is a Telegram bot with an extended UI — button menus, web-app sheets — and a CG backend that holds real on-chain addresses and keys for each network. When you top up, the bot generates a deposit address in the chosen network, you send to it, and the operator credits your “internal balance”, which is a row in their database, not an on-chain transfer.

You open it inside any Telegram client via the @CryptoBot chat or the short link t.me/send. It is cross-platform — the same balance shows up in mobile, desktop and Web Telegram, because the balance is server-side rather than local.

Supported assets (2026)

The list keeps growing — about 15 assets across 6 networks as of 2026. For onboarding into TON, the most common pick is USDT-TRC20 (lowest fee, familiar stablecoin) or TON itself if you plan to use the ecosystem natively. Long-term, you want to move funds into a non-custodial wallet — see our best TON wallets guide.

Cheques: the headline feature

A “cheque” (/cheques in the menu) is a way to pre-fund a sum and turn it into a link any recipient inside Telegram can claim. The flow:

1. Open Crypto Bot → menu → Cheques → Create.
2. Pick the asset and amount (say, 5 USDT) and the cheque type.
3. Get a link like t.me/CryptoBot?start=CQxxxxxxxxxx or a one-time code.
4. Drop it into a chat, a tweet, a public channel — anywhere.
5. The recipient opens the link, the bot prompts “Receive 5 USDT?”, they tap Receive, funds arrive.

Cheque types:

• Personal — only a specific user (by handle or ID) can claim it.
• Group / multi-claim — several recipients, e.g. 100 USDT split across the first 10 claimants.
• Password-protected — opens only with a password, useful for offline handover.
• With expiry — if nobody claims it within N hours, the amount returns to you.

Cheques are widely used as a gifting, raffle, tipping and micro-payroll mechanism. The alternative is direct @username transfers, but cheques win when you have many recipients or want to publish a link without disclosing who can claim it.

P2P market: buy crypto with fiat

The P2P feature turns Crypto Bot into a fiat on-ramp. The P2P tab shows offers with:

• Buy / Sell — direction.
• Asset — typically USDT, TON, BTC.
• Fiat — RUB, UAH, KZT, BYN, USD, EUR, GEL and more.
• Payment method — SBP, Tinkoff, Sberbank, bank transfer, PIX, cash.
• Rate and limits — min/max order size.

The mechanics are textbook P2P:

1. The buyer reserves an order for N USDT.
2. The bot freezes USDT on the seller’s balance into escrow.
3. The buyer sends fiat directly to the seller (via SBP, for example).
4. The seller confirms receipt inside the bot.
5. Escrow releases, USDT moves to the buyer.

Disputes go through Crypto Bot’s built-in arbitration (you upload screenshots, payment confirmations, chat history). It is the same shape as Bybit P2P or Binance P2P, but wrapped in Telegram and with a TON focus. For users in CIS jurisdictions it is often the fastest way to acquire TON for fiat without registering on a centralised exchange.

For the fiat side of the equation — payment methods, fraud-resistance tips, why SBP beats card transfers in Russia — see our wallets guide and Telegram Stars vs TON payments.

Invoices and the Crypto Pay API

If you run a Telegram shop, a bot, a mini-app or a website, the Crypto Pay API lets you accept crypto payments without operating your own backend wallet.

How it works:

1. Inside @CryptoBot, open Crypto Pay → My Apps → Create App.
2. Get an API token.
3. From your server, POST:

POST https://pay.crypt.bot/api/createInvoice
Content-Type: application/json
Crypto-Pay-API-Token: <token>

{
  "asset": "USDT",
  "amount": "9.99",
  "description": "PRO subscription, monthly",
  "paid_btn_name": "openBot",
  "paid_btn_url": "https://t.me/your_bot"
}

4. The bot returns a pay_url — show it to the buyer.
5. The buyer pays inside Crypto Bot, the bot fires a webhook to the URL you registered.

Multi-currency support, fiat equivalents, payment history in-app — all included. The downside: you depend on CG’s uptime, and a ToS violation can get your app turned off. For serious e-commerce, combine Crypto Pay with direct on-chain acceptance through your own backend.

In-chat tipping

In group chats, the /tip <amount> <asset> command (or the Tip button in the bot menu) sends crypto to another participant. The crypto crowd uses it to thank a good post, settle a small bet, or reward a helpful answer in a support chat. The UX resembles Telegram Stars, but the coins are real and move on-chain (instant inside the bot, normal network fee on withdrawal).

For a deeper comparison of in-Telegram payment rails — Stars vs the built-in Wallet vs Crypto Bot — read Telegram Stars vs TON payments.

Security and risk

The section worth reading the rest of the article for.

Custody is the headline risk

Crypto Bot does not hand you a seed phrase. All keys are operator-side. That implies:

• If your Telegram account is hijacked, the funds go with it. Enable Telegram 2FA, protect your SIM against swaps.
• If the service breaks or shuts down, your balance access depends on the CG team. They have been around since 2019 and the track record is clean — but it is not a mathematical guarantee the way a non-custodial wallet is.
• Under regulatory pressure, the bot can restrict withdrawals or freeze accounts.

Safe pattern: keep working capital in Crypto Bot (tens to a few hundred dollars), and withdraw the rest to Tonkeeper / MyTonWallet for cold storage. It is free (you only pay the network fee) and takes 30 seconds.

Phishing impostors

Telegram is full of clones with similar names — @CryptoBot_real, @CryptoBoot, @CryptoBot_Pay — all scams. The real bot is one and only: @CryptoBot (short link t.me/send), with the blue Telegram verified checkmark. Never enter a seed phrase — the real Crypto Bot does not ask for one (you do not have one to give).

P2P social-engineering

The most common P2P scams:

• Fake payment screenshots — verify the fiat actually landed in your bank app, not on a screenshot.
• Card chargebacks — prefer SBP and other instant pull-only rails.
• “Cancel the order, I’ll pay separately” — never cancel an order until you have the fiat in hand.

Crypto Bot vs alternatives

For the full landscape of TON wallets, see Best TON wallets 2026. For the official in-Telegram wallet, see Wallet in Telegram: features and limits.

A practical setup

A minimal safe workflow with Crypto Bot:

1. Open Crypto Bot via t.me/send or search for @CryptoBot (verify the blue tick).
2. Enable Telegram 2FA (Settings → Privacy → Two-Step Verification).
3. Buy TON through P2P for fiat (say, 100–300 USD equivalent).
4. Withdraw the bulk to Tonkeeper immediately — only keep in the bot what you plan to spend in the next few days.
5. Use cheques for gifts and tips — that way you do not expose your address or your full balance.

Bottom line

Crypto Bot in 2026 is a mature service that fills several niches at once: P2P onboarding into TON, cheques and raffles, merchant invoices, in-chat tipping. The headline upside is zero friction inside Telegram. The headline downside is custody — you do not hold the keys.

Use it as a pocket wallet for working capital and as a fiat gateway. For long-term storage, move TON into Tonkeeper or another non-custodial wallet. The rule is simple and prevents 90% of fund-loss scenarios.

Sources

• help.crypt.bot — official Crypto Bot documentation.
• help.crypt.bot/crypto-pay-api — Crypto Pay API specification.
• TON Foundation: Wallet vs third-party bots — overview of custodial Telegram solutions.