This is Pavel Durov, the founder of the famous social platform Telegram.
The blockchain project TON he created is worth tens of billions of dollars, and Telegram has also developed into one of the world's largest social communication apps.
Now, he has been arrested by the French government and faces multiple charges including money laundering and terrorism.
The crypto is in turmoil! The market value of the related token $TON evaporated by $2.7 billion on the same day...
Why did the tech giant end up like this?
Where should Telegram and TON go?
Here is the untold story of his highs and lows.
0 1Childhood Education: Enlightenment of Knowledge
Pavel Durov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1984. Both his parents are university professors, and his family environment is full of intellectual atmosphere.
His father, Valery Durov, is a famous linguistics professor, and his mother, Albina Durova, is a linguist. Durov's family background provided him with a good educational environment.
When he was four years old, Durov's family moved to Turin, Italy, where his father taught at the local university. Durov spent most of his childhood in Italy, receiving an Italian education and learning several languages.
This experience not only enriched his cultural horizons, but also cultivated his sensitivity to different languages and cultures. In 2001, Durov returned to Russia and entered the Experimental School in St. Petersburg, and then was admitted to the Linguistics Department of St. Petersburg State University and obtained a degree.
During his university years, Durov developed a strong interest in computer programming and began to teach himself programming languages. He also participated in a number of scientific and technological projects during his time at school, demonstrating his extraordinary talent and love for technology. It was these experiences that laid a solid foundation for his subsequent entrepreneurial journey.
0 2 Early Startups: The Rise of VKontakte
In 2006, Durov and his brother Nikolay co-founded the social network VKontakte (VK). The platform quickly became a huge success in Russia and became the main channel for young people to communicate.
VK was designed to allow users to easily share photos, videos and music, which attracted a large number of users. Durov attracted millions of users with his unique management style and emphasis on user privacy.
Pavel Durov's profile on VK
In the early stages of VK, Durov adopted many innovative marketing strategies. For example, he introduced the concept of "wall" in social networks, allowing users to leave messages on their friends' pages, increasing interactivity. In addition, he launched a music sharing function, making VK one of the largest music platforms in Russia.
By 2013, VK was valued at $3 billion and became an iconic platform on the Russian Internet. Durov's success attracted widespread media attention and he was even called "Russia's Zuckerberg".
However, as VK grew rapidly, Durov's relationship with the Russian government became increasingly strained.
In 2014, the Ukrainian crisis broke out and Durov refused to provide Russian security agencies with the private data of Ukrainian users, further intensifying the conflict with the government.
The Russian government has tightened its supervision of social media and asked VK to delete some pages involving politically sensitive content. Durov firmly rejected this request and said: "I would rather close VK than compromise with the government."
This persistence earned him a good reputation among the public, but also deepened his conflict with the government. In April 2014, Durov was forced to resign as CEO of VK and sold his shares in the company in the same year.
His departure marked a complete break with VK, and Durov said goodbye with "Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish", quoting Douglas Adams' classic work and expressing his yearning for freedom.
After leaving VK, Durov chose to live in exile. He obtained the citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis by investing $250,000 and began to travel around the world.
During this time, he has lived in Europe, the United States and the UAE, gaining extensive international experience.
0 3Founding Telegram: The pursuit of privacy and security
In 2013, Durov and his brother Nikolay co-founded the instant messaging application Telegram, aiming to provide users with a secure and private communication platform.
The launch of Telegram marked Durov's second entrepreneurial success, and it quickly attracted global users with its strong privacy protection and security, especially in regions with high demand for privacy.
Telegram was designed to allow users to communicate freely in an uncensored environment. Durov introduced end-to-end encryption technology into the application to ensure that users' messages cannot be eavesdropped or monitored by third parties.
In addition, Telegram also allows users to create anonymous chats and self-destructing messages, further enhancing user privacy protection.
In 2018, the Russian government blocked Telegram after Durov refused to provide user data, and the ban was not lifted until 2020.
Despite facing numerous difficulties, Telegram continues to expand around the world and become one of the most popular communication applications.
According to statistics, the number of active users of Telegram worldwide exceeded 800 million in July 2023, and more than 2.5 million new users registered for Telegram every day, making it the third largest instant messaging application in the world.
0 4From Telegram to TON: The pursuit of a decentralized internet
The story of TON (The Open Network) is full of innovation and challenges.
TON was originally developed by the Telegram team in 2018 with the aim of building a high-performance blockchain platform that supports decentralized applications and digital assets. Its design philosophy is to provide a fast, secure and user-friendly blockchain infrastructure that everyone can use easily.
The launch of the project was accompanied by an ICO (Initial Coin Offering), which successfully raised more than $1.7 billion in funds and attracted the attention of investors around the world.
However, TON's road has not been smooth. In 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Telegram, arguing that its ICO constituted the sale of unregistered securities.
This legal challenge forced Durov to announce a halt to TON development in 2020, disappointing many investors. Nevertheless, TON’s open source code has attracted the attention of developers around the world, and the project has not died.
With Durov's support, the TON community gradually grew, and developers began to continue to advance the project based on the original code.
In 2020, control of TON was handed over to the community, and developers actively discussed and collaborated on Telegram to promote the restart of the TON ecosystem.
With the efforts of the community, TON has gradually developed a series of ecological projects, including TON Wallet, TON DNS, etc., which support users to conduct cryptocurrency transactions, domain name registration and other services. TON's ecosystem has begun to take shape, attracting more and more users and developers to participate.
In 2024, the TON ecosystem exploded, with the total locked value (TVL) exceeding $600 million, a 1,000-fold increase since 2024. The establishment of the foundation further promoted the development of the project, providing a number of services such as developer support, user education, and brand cooperation.
In the future, TON plans to launch features such as gas-free transactions, official cross-chain bridges, and a new generation of wallets to further enhance its competitiveness. With Telegram's huge user base, TON is expected to make breakthroughs in decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFT), and other fields.
0 5 Recent events: Arrest controversy
However, Durov's road to success has not been smooth sailing. He was recently arrested in France for allegedly spreading illegal content on Telegram. French authorities said the arrest was due to the lack of regulation on the platform, which led to a large number of criminal activities including the spread of false information and hate speech. This incident has attracted widespread attention from the global media. Many people are concerned about Durov's future, believing that this may be a suppression of his insistence on privacy protection.
After the news of the arrest came out, TON token Toncoin plummeted by more than 20% and its market value evaporated by US$2.7 billion.
Durov's supporters began to speak out, believing that he was a hero who fought for freedom of speech and privacy. They called on the international community to pay attention to Durov's situation and hoped that he would be released as soon as possible. Despite the legal challenges, Durov still insisted on his belief that protecting user privacy and freedom of speech is his life's mission.
0 6 Conclusion
Pavel Durov's story is a legend of innovation, freedom and persistence. He grew from a young entrepreneur to a fighter for privacy and freedom, and experienced both glory and challenges. How Durov's story will develop in the future is worth our continued attention.
As he firmly believes, true freedom and privacy are rights that everyone should pursue.
