Irina Chuchkina on Wallet in Telegram, Super-Apps, and Why Finance Is Moving Into Messaging | Ep. 508

In an exclusive interview with Cryptonews, Irina Chuchkina, Chief Growth Officer at Wallet in Telegram, explains why messaging apps are quickly evolving into the next-generation interface for digital life—where people don’t just chat, but also pay, invest, and manage assets without leaving the conversation. Drawing on her experience helping build Grab’s super-app strategy in Southeast Asia, Chuchkina argues that wallets are the “transaction engine” behind every super-app, enabling payments to become seamless and nearly invisible. She believes Telegram is uniquely positioned to prove this model at global scale: with roughly 1 billion monthly active users, Telegram functions as a daily “intranet” in many emerging markets—where users wake up, read news, communicate, and transact all inside the same app.

Chuchkina also highlights why crypto adoption often starts in emerging markets: inflation, limited brokerage access, and fragmented financial infrastructure create real demand for stablecoins, simple savings tools, and borderless transfers. Wallet in Telegram is designed to meet those needs with the two ingredients most wallets struggle to earn: distribution and trust. Integrated directly into Telegram’s interface, Wallet can reach users where they already spend time, inside communities they already rely on—reducing friction and making “Web3 rails” feel like a familiar Web2 experience.

Irina Chuchkina on Tokenized Stocks Inside a Messenger App

One of the biggest developments discussed is the launch of xStocks inside Telegram’s wallet experience—bringing tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs into a messaging-based financial flow. Chuchkina frames this as a major step toward democratizing investing for users who can’t access traditional brokerages or don’t have large balances to start. With tokenized, fractional investing, people can begin with small amounts, invest 24/7 through a self-custodial or custodial setup, and interact with markets through an interface they already use daily. She believes this “always-on, mobile-first investing” will reshape retail behavior—especially among younger users who hate juggling multiple finance apps and want investing to feel native inside their social and messaging experiences.