CryptoMediaClub
Friday, October 3, 2025
  • All news
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Altcoins
  • NFT
  • Blockchain
  • Analysis
No Result
View All Result
  • All news
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Altcoins
  • NFT
  • Blockchain
  • Analysis
No Result
View All Result
CryptoMediaClub
No Result
View All Result
Home All news

How Pavel Durov’s Arrest Affects the TON Ecosystem

28.08.2024
A A
0
121
VIEWS
ShareShare

Key Takeaways:

  • The price of Toncoin, the native token on the TON blockchain, dropped by over 25% after the arrest of Pavel Durov.
  • TVL plunged nearly 40% while some liquidity providers withdrew liquidity from Toncoin pools.
  • Projects built on TON expressed support for Durov, saying they will continue developing their projects on the blockchain.

Durov, who holds citizenship of Russia, France, the UAE, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was arrested at Paris airport under a warrant related to the Telegram messaging app. On Aug. 26, French prosecutors charged the Russian-born billionaire with 12 different offenses, including insufficient content moderation.

Prosecutors said the charges are part of an investigation into organized cybercrime. These include “providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without a certified declaration” and several counts of “complicity” with alleged crimes committed by Telegram users. The criminal activity relates to drug trafficking, child porn, and fraud.

Pavel Durov Faces 20 Years in Prison

Durov, 39, could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Following his arrest, messages of support from key figures in the crypto industry flooded the internet. Whistleblower Edward Snowden said Durov’s arrest was “an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association.”

Tron founder Justin Sun pledged $1 million to a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, pushing for his release. Elon Musk, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, former U.S. presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and many others have all voiced their support for Durov under the hashtag #FreeDurov.

POV: It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme https://t.co/OkZ6YS3u2P

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2024

Telegram posted a statement saying that Durov “has nothing to hide.” The messaging app said it abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act. It added that “its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving.”

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the abuse of that platform,” Telegram said. “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation.”

Telegram is used by 950 million people worldwide. In June, Durov said, “Hundreds of millions of people [will] become familiar with blockchain” in 2024. He said the app “is at the epicenter of this societal transformation.”

The platform, together with its TON blockchain, has become a hub for so-called “clicker games” like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin. The games, which pay users for tapping their smartphone screens, enjoy a huge following. Hamster Kombat alone claims to have 300 million players. Notcoin reached 35 million users within three months of launch.

At the heart of the boom are Telegram “mini-apps”—web apps that run inside the messaging platform. Crypto projects can launch the apps directly in Telegram. Durov previously said that mini-apps have grown quickly because users don’t need to install them on their devices.

TON Price Nosedives as User Engagement Declines

However, the arrest of the Telegram CEO and the risk of his long-term incarceration are causing concern within the crypto industry. For example, the price of Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain, slumped more than 25% in the 48 hours following Durov’s arrest, losing $2.4 billion of its market value.

TON plunged from $6.84 on Aug. 24 to $5.11 on Aug. 27. Trading volume has remained depressed, with an average of $980 million per day. However, the token has more than doubled in price since January.

Telegram founded Toncoin in 2018 as the Telegram Open Network but later spun off the project following regulatory challenges. In 2020, a group of enthusiasts under the TON Foundation took over the project and renamed it The Open Network (TON), a Layer 1 blockchain.

While the official account of the TON Foundation tweeted that “the TON Network remains strong and operational”, some users are starting to leave. According to an on-chain analyst Lookonchain, a relatively large Toncoin liquidity provider removed nearly $2 million in value from one of the token’s liquidity pools, putting pressure on the TON price.

After leaving the liquidity pool, the whale immediately started to dump their tokens, selling a total of 356,545 TON within four hours. Liquidity pools – a collection of crypto held in a smart contract – are key to the flow of trades on decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, providing users with the liquidity they need to swap between currencies.

A $TON liquidity provider removed all liquidity of $TON and sold 356,545 $TON($1.98M) at $5.57 in the past 4 hours. #TONCOIN
Address:
0xaba6b18cbcd388745f6b0de936495cb90dbc80d2 pic.twitter.com/rS98WwXYOy

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 26, 2024

The whale was later identified by analytics firm Nansen as “Elite Uniswap V3 LP” and is currently sitting on $1.2 million worth of USDT and over $1 million in Ethereum. But not everyone is selling. Andrei Grachev, head of web3 investor DWF Labs, bought $500,000 in TON in support of Durov.

Meanwhile, the total amount of value locked (TVL) in the TON network plummeted 38% to $311 million since Durov’s arrest, per data from Defillama. TVL is a measure of user activity and adoption in a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol.

TON
Total value locked in TON DeFi markets. Source: Defillama

It is notable that the TON blockchain had already been losing value since hitting a peak of about $770 million in TVL in late July. By the time Durov got arrested, the protocol had lost over $260 million in total value locked.

Toncoin has also emerged as a risky trading asset since Aug. 24. At press time, open interest—an indicator of market sentiment—swelled from $220 million to $349 million as traders capitalized on the increased volatility.

TON Projects Stay Positive Despite the Arrest

The most recent project to launch on The Open Network is the Dogs token, the native cryptocurrency of a Telegram-based game of the same name. The launch appears to have been successful, and the Dogs token moved on-chain to start trading on Aug. 26, two days after Durov’s arrest.

Several other games on Telegram, which are planning to release tokens on TON, have signaled support for Pavel Durov and his privacy goals. Gotbit Hedge Fund, which is working with the Hamster Kombat team as an advisor, tweeted that “the current situation will not critically affect” the project, arguably the biggest play-to-earn clicker game on Telegram.

Backing @Durov with strong support during these tough times 💪
GHF firmly believes that @Ton_Blockchain remains strong and fully operational, and the current situation will not critically affect the projects on TON, like @realDogsHouse & @hamster_kombat
For our part, we're… pic.twitter.com/ARBdINCAcJ

— Gotbit Hedge Fund (@gotbit_io) August 26, 2024

Time Farm, a platform that rewards users with tokens for completing tasks, said on X that it will continue “to build and develop projects on the TON blockchain” in honor of Durov’s “vision of a censorship-free and innovative internet.”

David Kanitsky, chief operating officer at layer-1 protocol Quai Network, believes that the world and its geopolitical climate will work for crypto. The former Kraken executive spoke about the value of censorship resistance, decentralization, and sovereignty in building apps that gain mainstream adoption. Kanitsky told Cryptonews:

“We will only see more demands and the use of force by nations to control and access user information and social narratives like the Telegram CEO arrest, and slowly but very quickly, this will foster crypto adoption.”

The post How Pavel Durov’s Arrest Affects the TON Ecosystem appeared first on Cryptonews.

Share9Tweet6ShareSharePin2

Related Posts

October 3 [LIVE] US Economic Data Mixed as PMI Shows Divergence – Positive Trigger for BTC?
All news

October 3 [LIVE] US Economic Data Mixed as PMI Shows Divergence – Positive Trigger for BTC?

03.10.2025
0

US economic data released today presents a mixed picture with the September S&P Composite PMI rising to 53.9 and Services...

Read moreDetails
US Government Shutdown Triggers Cryptocurrency Market Recovery: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple Prices Soar

US Government Shutdown Triggers Cryptocurrency Market Recovery: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple Prices Soar

03.10.2025
Why Is Crypto Up Today? – October 3, 2025

Why Is Crypto Up Today? – October 3, 2025

03.10.2025
NY Senator Introduces Bill to Tax High-Consumption Crypto Miners in New York

NY Senator Introduces Bill to Tax High-Consumption Crypto Miners in New York

03.10.2025
Nomura Unit Eyes Wider Access To Crypto Trading In Japan: Report

Nomura Unit Eyes Wider Access To Crypto Trading In Japan: Report

03.10.2025
Load More
Next Post
European International Blockchain Infrastructure Successfully Tested

European International Blockchain Infrastructure Successfully Tested

0 0 votes
Рейтинг статьи
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
guest
0 комментариев
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Recommended

BlackRock’s BUIDL Leads Surge as Tokenized Treasury Funds Cross $2 Billion

BlackRock’s BUIDL Leads Surge as Tokenized Treasury Funds Cross $2 Billion

1 year ago
Worldcoin’s WLD Token Makes Waves in Crypto Market

Worldcoin’s WLD Token Makes Waves in Crypto Market

2 years ago
Canada Warns of Rising Pig Butchering and Crypto Investment Scams

Canada Warns of Rising Pig Butchering and Crypto Investment Scams

1 year ago
How to strike a balance between blockchain transparency and privacy: Nansen CEO

How to strike a balance between blockchain transparency and privacy: Nansen CEO

2 years ago

Categories

  • All news
  • Altcoins
  • Analysis
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Ethereum
  • NFT
No Result
View All Result

Highlights

US Government Shutdown Triggers Cryptocurrency Market Recovery: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple Prices Soar

Why Is Crypto Up Today? – October 3, 2025

NY Senator Introduces Bill to Tax High-Consumption Crypto Miners in New York

Nomura Unit Eyes Wider Access To Crypto Trading In Japan: Report

Bitcoin Breaks $120K As ‘Uptober’ Momentum Rises, Shutdown Fails To Stall Gains

Crypto Price Prediction Today October 2 – XRP, Pepe, Dogecoin

Trending

Record $300B stablecoin liquidity ready to fund Bitcoin and Ethereum purchases
Analysis

Record $300B stablecoin liquidity ready to fund Bitcoin and Ethereum purchases

03.10.2025
0

The stablecoin market has crossed a landmark $300 billion capitalization, reflecting its growing role as the connective...

October 3 [LIVE] US Economic Data Mixed as PMI Shows Divergence – Positive Trigger for BTC?

October 3 [LIVE] US Economic Data Mixed as PMI Shows Divergence – Positive Trigger for BTC?

03.10.2025
Bitcoin above $120k: Here’s 3 data points bulls must watch next

Bitcoin above $120k: Here’s 3 data points bulls must watch next

03.10.2025
US Government Shutdown Triggers Cryptocurrency Market Recovery: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple Prices Soar

US Government Shutdown Triggers Cryptocurrency Market Recovery: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple Prices Soar

03.10.2025
Why Is Crypto Up Today? – October 3, 2025

Why Is Crypto Up Today? – October 3, 2025

03.10.2025
  • All news
  • Altcoins
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Ethereum
  • NFT
  • Analysis
Editor: cryptomediaclub.com@gmail.com
Advertising: digestmediaholding@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoMediaClub is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoMediaClub on whether to sell, buy or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk.
CryptoMediaClub covers fintech, blockchain and Bitcoin bringing you the latest crypto news and analyses on the future of money.

© 2023 Crypto News. All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • All news
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Altcoins
  • NFT
  • Blockchain
  • Analysis

Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoMediaClub is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoMediaClub on whether to sell, buy or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk.
CryptoMediaClub covers fintech, blockchain and Bitcoin bringing you the latest crypto news and analyses on the future of money.

© 2023 Crypto News. All Rights Reserved

wpDiscuz