Three currencies.

The reference economy runs on three currencies, each with a different meaning. Keys are the paid currency: a player buys them with Telegram Stars and spends them to enter paid rooms. Clips are the free currency, earned and spent in free rooms, carrying no cash value. Diamonds are the prize currency, won from a game’s bank and convertible to keys at a fixed rate of ten to one.

Keeping the currencies distinct is what keeps the economy legible. A free player never touches anything of value, so a free room cannot be a back door to cash; a paid player’s stake and a winner’s prize are different tokens with a defined exchange between them. The boundary between play money and real value is drawn once, at the points where stars become keys and diamonds become keys.

Real money enters through commerce, not through the game. A purchase of keys is an order paid in stars, recorded on its own payment ledger and confirmed by an idempotent webhook, and only a confirmed purchase credits the wallet. The game itself moves keys, clips, and diamonds; it never sees a card or a star directly, which keeps the payment path on one side of a clean line.