[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] As selling spreads across the broader cryptocurrency market, Telegram's native cryptocurrency Gram (GRAM) is showing relative strength. Telegram founder Pavel Durov (파벨 듀로프) said Gram rose even in a down market and voiced confidence it could enter the top three by market capitalisation over the long term.

According to blockchain media outlet U.Today on Nov. 11 (local time), Durov recently said on X, formerly Twitter, "The crypto market is a sea of red, but only Gram is up 8%." He stressed that an ecosystem directly connected to Telegram is Gram's differentiated competitiveness. He said it is securing a real user base by being linked with existing social media services.

Durov argued that Gram's current value is still significantly undervalued. He further forecast that it could enter the top three in CoinMarketCap's market-cap rankings over the long term. Compared with its current market-cap ranking, it is a fairly aggressive goal.

Durov's remark that only Gram rose does not accurately reflect the overall market trend. According to CoinGecko, Gram is trading at around $1.15, and its gain over the past 24 hours is about 4.5%. Its market capitalisation was estimated at about $3.28 billion and it ranked 29th. Over the same period, Bitway (BTW) rose 18.8%, Lighter (LIT) 10.8% and Internet Computer (ICP) 8.2%, posting higher gains than Gram.

Even so, it is notable that Gram is holding up relatively well among major cryptocurrencies. That is because the cryptocurrency ecosystem is expanding around the Telegram messenger.

In June, TON's native cryptocurrency officially changed its name from Toncoin (TON) to Gram. It restored a name that had been proposed in the early stages of the Telegram blockchain project. In the vote on the name change, 81.22% supported it, and existing holders did not need to go through a separate token conversion procedure.

Telegram is also speeding up the rollout of self-custody Gram wallets. The wallet is designed to allow users to send and receive cryptocurrency directly within the messenger. Durov said on Nov. 9 that more than 700,000 self-custody wallets were created on Telegram over 48 hours. He also stressed that users can receive Gram by having a wallet automatically activated without a complicated activation procedure.

There are also signs that institutional investors are increasing their holdings. Nasdaq-listed TON Strategy said it held about 235.1 million Gram tokens as of the end of the third quarter. The company reported quarterly revenue of $13.1 million on Nov. 10.

Ultimately, Gram's medium- and long-term growth potential depends on whether Telegram's user base can be converted into actual cryptocurrency demand. If in-messenger wallet adoption leads to real transactions and payments, and is supported by expanding institutional holdings, it could also be possible to expect a revaluation driven by ecosystem growth.

Still, Durov's target of reaching third place by market capitalisation leaves a significant gap from the current ranking, so it is necessary to watch whether user growth leads to sustained demand and price gains.

Crypto’s a sea of red. Only Gram is up +8%. No surprise there. It’s the only coin built into a real social ecosystem. Still ridiculously undervalued — it belongs in CMC’s top 3. One day it’ll get there. https://t.co/vp8q8z1puO