Author: Chloe, PANews
After the news of the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France was released, he dropped a bomb in the community, shocking the world. TON (The Open Network), a blockchain network backed by Telegram, also issued a statement on the X platform as soon as possible, assuring everyone that the TON community is still strong and fully operational. "As a community committed to freedom of speech and decentralization, we firmly support Pavel Durov in this challenging time. He has always been a loyal advocate of these values, and we believe that his efforts to promote an open and decentralized Internet will continue to inspire millions of people. In the current situation, the TON community remains focused on its mission and will work tirelessly to uphold the principles we cherish. We call on everyone to remain calm, unite, and face this challenge together. Thank you for your continued support and trust."
According to TF1, a well-known French news website , Durov was arrested in France and detained by agents of the French National Anti-Fraud Office after traveling from Azerbaijan with a woman and her bodyguard to Paris Le Bourget Airport, which specializes in servicing private jets.
Durov has always known that he is considered a person who needs to be monitored by the country in France and even in Europe and the United States, so he usually only travels to countries where he can avoid surveillance, such as the United Arab Emirates, the former Soviet republics and South America. There is no definite information on why Durov set foot on French territory ( some say that the plane must land to refuel) , and his arrest warrant will only take effect when he sets foot on French territory, which is also a situation he has been careful to avoid in the past.
The arrest may be due to a game between major powers
According to preliminary investigations, Durov is the subject of a search warrant issued by OFMIN, France's investigation agency against child sexual exploitation. TF1 predicts that Durov may be indicted on Sunday on "multiple charges: terrorism, drugs, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, pedophilia" and possibly even more. Durov, who has dual French and Russian citizenship, may face up to 20 years in prison.
From the regulator's point of view, the arrest of Durov is equivalent to sending a clear warning to those who use Telegram to engage in criminal activities, and is also intended to encourage European countries to strengthen cooperation and implement stricter supervision of the communication platform, especially in the field of counter-terrorism.
At the same time, Russian State Duma Deputy Chairman Davankov called on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action to rescue Durov, indicating that the incident has gone beyond the legal level and has begun to involve the field of international politics. Russian State Duma Deputy Chairman Vladislav Davankov called on the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media to immediately block the websites of major French companies operating in Russia.
Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Russian Alliance for a Secure Internet, directly named Pavel Durov, one of the founders of Telegram, who was arrested in France at the request of the United States. She wrote on her personal channel on Telegram: "I have long believed that the head of Telegram is in danger outside of Russia and may be arrested at any time. Similar situations have happened before at the request of the United States. I originally thought that no one touched him because he might have cooperated with Western intelligence agencies, but recent news shows that everything seems to be different." In addition, Mizulina believes that the arrest of Durov is to crack down on the super currency Toncoin circulating on Telegram. She said that in this way, the United States will continue its sanctions policy.
Jackson Hinkle, an independent American political commentator, said on the X platform that the hackers who had previously stolen several GB of sensitive Israeli data had been posting confidential information on Telegram, and Telegram had rejected Israel's request for censorship.
Previously, the outside world generally believed that Durov resigned and left Russia in 2013 because he refused Russia's censorship of the social media VK he founded before , and then founded Telegram . His relationship with the Russian political circles was not friendly. However, the attitude of the Russian officials after his arrest can't help but make people doubt the actual relationship between Durov and the Russian government. It is worth mentioning that since the Ukrainian-Russian war, Telegram has become the preferred communication method for Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his officials. The Kremlin and the Russian government also use it to spread news. It has also become one of the few platforms where Russians can get war-related news.
According to Forbes Chinese website, in 2024, Pavel Durov ranked 122nd on the "2024 Forbes Global Billionaires List" with a fortune of US$15.5 billion.
TON urgently declares that it will maintain independent operation
As of this writing, TON has fallen nearly 17% in the past 24 hours, from $6.80 before the news to $5.61 currently, according to CoinStats.
Durov announced in July this year that Telegram has exceeded the 950 million user mark. Telegram users are distributed all over the world, but users are more concentrated in the Middle East (Iran/Turkey), India and Southeast Asia, Central and Western European countries (such as Germany and France) and Eastern European countries (such as Ukraine), and South America (Argentina/Brazil).
The recent surge in users coincides with the official integration of “mini-apps” that allow users to play cryptocurrency games on Telegram. According to reports , the largest of these, Hamster Kombat , has accumulated more than 300 million players in the months leading up to the upcoming token launch and airdrop.
TON was originally created internally by Telegram, but Telegram parted ways with TON after a legal dispute with the SEC in 2020. Since then, TON has been managed by an independent team of developers. In fact , when TON was restarted in 2021, it was legally isolated from Telegram. The use of TON on Telegram is legally just a "cooperation and use relationship."
Over the past year, Telegram has increasingly embraced and integrated the Ton blockchain network. While this close relationship has significantly boosted TON’s price, which has risen by more than 300% over the past year, it is also because of this relationship that TON’s price has suffered a heavy blow in this incident.
While the collaboration between Telegram and TON has been limited, the relationship has only grown over time, especially with the launch of Mini Apps and wallet integrations on Telegram. However, despite these connections, TON has remained an independent operation, reflecting its determination to pursue independent development. However, for various reasons, including regulatory restrictions, users in certain countries cannot use the TON wallet function, highlighting the challenges faced by blockchain projects in the context of globalization, and also reflecting TON's efforts to strike a balance between seeking growth and compliance.
TON plans to continue to increase TVL by rewarding liquidity providers and developers, introducing new DeFi products and use cases, and expanding community participation. The foundation is also studying how to reduce the dependence of rewards on TVL to ensure the long-term stable development of the ecosystem.
Despite this, there are concerns in the market. As a pawn in the game between major powers, TON , which is highly dependent on Telegram 's traffic , may be delisted by major exchanges if it is subsequently labeled as non-compliant by US regulators. After all, this has happened to the De Fi protocol Tornado .
Technology giants and the crypto industry collectively support
After the incident, heavyweights in the technology and media circles, including Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, publicly expressed their support for Durov. Franklin Bi of Pantera Capital even launched a "FreePavel" call , and Musk also released a video with the hashtag #FreePavel to show his support again .
Meow, the founder of Solana's well-known DeFi Jupiter, also expressed his own views. He believes that this arrest is a declaration of power, which makes people feel extremely chilled. It is completely a formula used since ancient times to ensure obedience. He further emphasized that decentralization is not only a tool for making digital currency, but also an important means to balance the world's power structure. "We need to get rid of the control of centralized systems as much as possible on three levels. First, on the technical level, we must promote the widespread adoption of decentralized technology; second, in terms of finance, we need to weaken the control of centralized forces over the entire economy; finally, on the power level, we must have the right to speak in deciding global issues like big companies and governments."
In addition, Vitalik also said on the X platform, "I have criticized Telegram before for not taking encryption seriously enough. But the arrest of the founder is very bad and makes people worry about the future of software and communication freedom in Europe.
Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said: We are committed to supporting our friends in the TON community in their fight for freedom. Decentralization is the solution to resist censorship and safeguard freedom and rights.
Many projects in the TON ecosystem have expressed their support, saying that their operations will not be affected in any way, including the Meme coin projects in the TON ecosystem, DOGS, Hamster Network, TON Society, TON Takeover, Telegram Wallet, NOTCOIN, etc.
Today, the TON-related ecosystem and all cryptocurrency communities have begun to launch the FreePavel slogan, which has spread rapidly on the X platform, with supporters expressing their support for Durov by forwarding and expressing solidarity.
Although there are still many uncertainties in the subsequent developments, once Durov is arrested, it is certain that a long struggle awaits him and the crypto community in the future. PAN ews will continue to pay attention to subsequent developments.
