Mint a Username

Minting puts the username on a channel or group you own up for auction. It becomes an NFT the moment the first bid is placed, not before. When it sells, you are paid in GRAM to your own wallet. Hoton handles the listing; you keep the channel.

What you need first

Two things, and both are checked before you can continue:

• A channel or group you own. Personal account usernames cannot be minted. Only a channel or a group has a username that can be detached and sold.
• It has to be at least 14 days old. Hoton checks the creation date and blocks anything newer.

There is a third requirement Hoton cannot check for you, and it is the one that catches people out:

This is the one that matters

What Telegram grades the listing on is how long the username has been attached to that channel, not how old the channel is. A three year old channel that you renamed yesterday will not qualify. Hoton can only measure the channel’s age, so you confirm the username’s history yourself before submitting.

You will also want Two-Step Verification switched on for at least 7 days. Telegram requires it for an ownership transfer, and it is not something that can be rushed on the day.

Step by step

1. Enter the username

Type the @name of the channel or group. Hoton resolves it, shows you which one it found, and runs the age check. If it is too new, or it is already an NFT, you are told immediately rather than after you have done the work.

2. Set a starting bid

The lowest the auction can open at is 10 GRAM. Set it higher if you do not want the name going cheap. This is the opening price, not a reserve, so pick a number you would genuinely accept.

3. Review

You connect a wallet here. This is the address your payout lands in, and nothing else. It does not need to hold any funds.

You will also see the fee breakdown for whatever the name eventually sells for, and you confirm the username history point from the caution above.

4. Transfer the channel

Transfer ownership of the channel or group to @hotonminter. This is the part that feels alarming, so here is exactly how long it lasts.

You have 1 hour to complete the transfer, and reminders go out as it runs down. If the channel has not arrived by then the request closes itself and frees the slot, and you can start a new one whenever you are ready.

5. Place the first bid

Once the listing is up, the first bid has to be placed within 1 hour. That bid is what mints the NFT and starts the auction, and the moment it lands your channel or group is transferred straight back to you. Hoton holds it just long enough to list it.

Any wallet can place that first bid. It does not have to be the one you gave for payout.

If nobody bids

No first bid inside the hour and the request cancels itself. Your channel comes back either way. Listing that same username again later costs a 1 GRAM re-listing fee.

6. The auction runs

From here it is a normal Telegram username auction. You can watch it, and if you want to be told the moment someone outbids you on anything you are bidding on, see Auction Alerts.

What it costs

Nothing up front. Every fee comes out of the final sale price:

Fee	Amount
Telegram fee	5 GRAM plus 5% of the final bid
Hoton fee	2% of the final bid, minimum 2 GRAM

So on a name that sells for 100 GRAM, Telegram takes 10, Hoton takes 2, and 88 GRAM reaches your wallet. The exact figures for your own bid are shown on the review screen before you commit to anything.

Backing out

If your channel has not reached us, reminders go out across the hour you have to transfer it. If it never arrives, the request closes itself at the end of that hour and you can simply file again. The usual reason a transfer will not go through is Two-Step Verification, which Telegram requires to have been on and unchanged for 7 days.

You can cancel any time before you transfer the channel, at no cost. There is a cancel control on your request in the tracker.

After the transfer, cancelling is no longer self-serve, because by then the name is listed or about to be. Message support and it is handled manually.

Common questions

Do I lose my channel? No. It goes to Hoton only for as long as it takes to list the name, and comes back the moment the first bid lands. If no bid arrives in an hour, it comes back then instead.

Do I lose my subscribers? No. Only the username is sold. The channel, its members and its history stay yours. It keeps working under its new link.

Can I mint my personal @username? Not through this flow. Channels and groups only.

When do I get paid? After the auction settles. The payout goes to the wallet you connected on the review screen.

Can I set a reserve price? Not directly. The starting bid is the floor, so treat it as the lowest price you would accept.