News that Telegram's founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, has been temporarily released from France prompted a rally in TON, The Open Network blockchain's native token that’s supported by Telegram.
On Monday morning (UTC time), TON, the 14th largest crypto asset by market capitalization (per CoinMarketCap data), is trading around $3.44 and is up 28% in a week after the price rallied this past weekend following the news. The daily trading volume during the weekend picked up more than sixfold, surpassing $800 million. It's still elevated compared to last week, while the TON price is still holding most of its gains. The TON blockchain is "the exclusive blockchain partner of Telegram."
"TON will be our blockchain infrastructure for tokenization, payouts, mini-app integrations, and more," Durov said earlier this year on his Telegram channel.
TON traders rushed to buy the token after AFP reported, citing undisclosed sources this past Saturday, that Durov, now 40, was allowed to leave France for several weeks. According to the report, the Telegram boss left for Dubai. No official comments from Telegram or Durov himself have been announced. However, the official X account of the TON blockchain posted that "Pavel Durov is free" and that "This news marks a significant moment of resolution."
"As part of the decentralized TON community, we have stood in solidarity with Pavel, supporting his unwavering dedication to defending the right to free speech and privacy online," the foundation said, despite the terms of the release and the status of the legal battle between Durov and France's prosecutors remaining unclear.
Yat Siu, the chairman of blockchain powerhouse Animoca Brands, also reacted to the news by saying that this release is "a big win for [Telegram] and [the TON blockchain], the whole $TON community and broadly for all who love freedom!"
As reported by Cybernews.com, Durov was arrested in France in August 2024 as prosecutors launched an official probe into Durov and organized crime on the platform. Soon after, he was released on a €5 million bail and was obliged to report twice a week to police and not leave French territory. This arrest prompted debates on whether it could change social media for good while also putting other tech CEOs on alert.
Since the arrest, Durov has been posting on his Telegram channel about how the company is ramping up its content moderation efforts while also crossposting on the X platform that he's "proud that Telegram has supported freedom of speech long before it became politically safe to do so. Our values don’t depend on US electoral cycles." To this, X owner Elon Musk replied, "Good for you."
Durov claims that Telegram's total revenue surpassed $1 billion in 2024, while the number of Telegram Premium subscribers tripled, exceeding 12 million. In July 2024, Durov said that the platform had 950 million monthly active users in total.
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